Author Archive

Thursday, September 7th, 2023

Education: W L Evans Cartooning Course

W L Evans Cartooning Course Brochure

In the teens and twenties, cartooning was a burgeoning field. Every newspaper and magazine employed a crew of artists to fill their pages with topical one panel cartoons and comic strips. Schools were not yet teaching the trade, so several artists took it upon themselves to create mail order cartooning courses.

Here a promotional brochure advertising the W. L. Evans Course in Caricature and Cartooning. Shaped like a miniature artist’s portfolio, and packed with great vintage cartoons and sales information, this brochure outlines why students should take up the noble art of cartooning.

THE W. L. EVANS COURSE (1913)
Promotional Brochure

W L Evans Cartooning Course Brochure
W L Evans Cartooning Course Brochure
W L Evans Cartooning Course Brochure
W L Evans Cartooning Course Brochure
W L Evans Cartooning Course Brochure
W L Evans Cartooning Course Brochure

A cartoonist is a power. His audience is the boundless public. He is talked about. His work is admired in society. He meets the most prominent people, and becomes personally acquainted with them. He is a critic of the world’s happenings.

And he receives a large salary for his work.

W L Evans Cartooning Course Brochure
W L Evans Cartooning Course Brochure
W L Evans Cartooning Course Brochure
W L Evans Cartooning Course Brochure
W L Evans Cartooning Course Brochure
W L Evans Cartooning Course Brochure
W L Evans Cartooning Course Brochure
W L Evans Cartooning Course Brochure
W L Evans Cartooning Course Brochure
W L Evans Cartooning Course Brochure

W L Evans Cartooning Course

In 1913, Elzie Segar, aged 18 began a correspondence course headed up by the Cleveland Leader cartoonist, W. L. Evans. The course cost a dollar per lesson and it took Segar a year and a half to complete the 20 lessons. By 1917, he had landed a job penning the "Charlie Chaplin Comic Capers" and "Looping the Loop" strips. In the ad above, Segar is quoted as saying, "I’m getting along fine, and it’s all your fault."

W L Evans Cartooning CourseW L Evans Cartooning CourseDecades later, Segar made mention of his early education in his strip, Thimble Theater. In 1934, his character, Sappo took the W. L. Evans Cartooning Course and delighted readers with cartoon drawings made from letters of the alphabet. Segar wasn’t the only cartoonist who got his start with this course. Chester Gould of Dick Tracy fame was a graduate of the W. L. Evans course, as was Dennis the Menace creator, Hank Ketcham.

Here are the first two lessons that got these great cartoonists started on their career path. If there is interest, I will post more of this landmark course.

W L Evans Cartooning Course
W L Evans Cartooning CourseW L Evans Cartooning Course
W L Evans Cartooning CourseW L Evans Cartooning Course
W L Evans Cartooning CourseW L Evans Cartooning Course
W L Evans Cartooning CourseW L Evans Cartooning Course
W L Evans Cartooning CourseW L Evans Cartooning Course

THE PLATES
W L Evans Cartooning Course
W L Evans Cartooning Course
W L Evans Cartooning Course

THE W. L. EVANS COURSE (1916)
Lesson Two

W L Evans Cartooning Course Lesson Two
W L Evans Cartooning Course Lesson TwoW L Evans Cartooning Course Lesson Two
W L Evans Cartooning Course Lesson TwoW L Evans Cartooning Course Lesson Two
W L Evans Cartooning Course Lesson TwoW L Evans Cartooning Course Lesson Two
W L Evans Cartooning Course Lesson TwoW L Evans Cartooning Course Lesson Two
W L Evans Cartooning Course Lesson Two
W L Evans Cartooning Course Lesson Two

STUDENTS: Print this stuff out and USE IT!

Stephen Worth
Director
Animation Resources

INSTRUCTIONINSTRUCTION

This posting is part of an online series of articles dealing with Instruction.


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Sample RefPack

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Monday, August 14th, 2023

Illustration: Huckleberry Hound and Rocky & Bullwinkle Golden Books

Huck Hound Builds A House

We scanned Golden Books today… First up was Huckleberry Hound Builds A House. Published in 1959, this was one of the earliest Hanna Barbera books, and it’s one of the best. These H-B characters were beautifully designed and perfectly suited to the TV medium. This book was laid out by Harvey Eisenberg and painted by Al White.

Huck Hound Builds A House

Huck Hound Builds A House

Huck Hound Builds A House

Huck Hound Builds A House

Huck Hound Builds A House

Huck Hound Builds A House

Here is another TV cartoon related Golden Book by Ben De Nunez and Al White.

Rocky And His Friends is interesting because it depicts the characters in a very different way than they appeared in the TV series. White sees the characters as solid objects, not flat designs, and he renders them in a variety of different lighting situations. This book also has a nice balance of textures.

Rocky and Bullwinkle

Rocky and Bullwinkle

Rocky and Bullwinkle

Rocky and Bullwinkle

Rocky and Bullwinkle

Rocky and Bullwinkle

Rocky and Bullwinkle

Rocky and Bullwinkle

Rocky and Bullwinkle

Rocky and Bullwinkle

Rocky and Bullwinkle

Rocky and Bullwinkle

Rocky and Bullwinkle

Stephen Worth
Director
Animation Resources

Animated CartoonsAnimated Cartoons

This posting is part of the online Encyclopedia of Cartooning under the subject heading, Animation.
IllustrationIllustration

This posting is part of a series of articles comprising an online exhibit spotlighting Illustration.

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Wednesday, August 9th, 2023

Magazine Cartoons: Kurtzman and Elder’s Little Annie Fanny

Kurtzman and Elder Little Annie Fanny

Today, we are featuring the work of two giants of cartooning… Harvey Kurtzman and Will Elder.

KurtzmanKurtzmanHarvey Kurtzman made a name for himself in his early years with the one page "Hey Look!" comics, as well as his work editing EC Comics’ war comics. His style was detailed and thorough. His layouts and continuity breakdowns left little room for deviation. When EC decided to create a humor line, Kurtzman was assigned the job as the founding editor of Mad. Beginning as a ten cent comic book, and eventually switching to a twenty five cent magazine (to avoid review by the Comics Code Authority), Mad became a huge hit in the five years it was under Kurtzman’s leadership. Much of the sensibilities of Kurtzman’s work for Mad are shared by "Little Annie Fanny" for Playboy.

Will ElderWill ElderWill Elder worked as an artist under Kurtzman at EC and on Mad, expanding and elaborating on Kurtzman’s detailed layouts. They were a great team, and the combination of Kurtzman’s foreground action and Elder’s background gags became a standard device for them throughout their collaborations. Other artists who worked on the "Little Annie Fanny" series were Jack Davis, Russ Heath and Al Jaffee (all former Mad alumni).

The "Little Annie Fanny" series debuted in the October 1962 issue of Playboy magazine. The comic was a parody of the Playboy image itself, vaguely based on the "Little Orphan Annie" theme, with lots of topical references and pokes at popular culture. The strip was the first fully painted comic in American magazines, and was very time consuming to produce. Kurtzman continued the series until 1988- its 100th episode- when he retired it, stating that all of the possible story ideas for the character had been exhausted.

January 1963

Kurtzman and Elder Little Annie Fanny
Kurtzman and Elder Little Annie Fanny
Kurtzman and Elder Little Annie Fanny
Kurtzman and Elder Little Annie Fanny
Kurtzman and Elder Little Annie Fanny

April 1964

Kurtzman and Elder Little Annie Fanny
Kurtzman and Elder Little Annie Fanny
Kurtzman and Elder Little Annie Fanny
Kurtzman and Elder Little Annie Fanny
Kurtzman and Elder Little Annie Fanny

March 1966

Kurtzman and Elder Little Annie Fanny
Kurtzman and Elder Little Annie Fanny
Kurtzman and Elder Little Annie Fanny

Little Annie FannyCheck out these great "Little Annie Fanny" collections at Amazon.com!

We’ll have more great Playboy cartoons for you soon.

Stephen Worth
Director
Animation Resources

Magazine CartoonsMagazine Cartoons

This posting is part of the online Encyclopedia of Cartooning under the subject heading, Magazine Cartoons.

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