Archive for the ‘cartooning’ Category

Wednesday, October 4th, 2023

Magazine Cartoons: Virgil Partch’s Wild, Wild Women

Virgil VIP Partch

Virgil “Vip” Partch is one of the greatest cartoonists who ever lived, but the simplicity and directness of his style belie its sophistication. Born in 1916, Partch studied under Rico LeBrun at Choiuinard Art Institute, before joining the Disney studios as a story man. His influence can be seen clearly in the Donald Duck cartoon “Duck Pimples”. Partch worked at Disney for four years, until his stay there was cut short by the strike in 1941.

Virgil VIP Partch

Out of work, Partch submitted some one panel cartoons to Colliers, and they were published. This began a fruitful career as a magazine cartoonist. Throughout the 50s, he published small collections of his cartoons, grouped by themes. “Bottle Fatigue” dealt with the spell of alcohol, “Here We Go Again” was a collection of cartoons dealing with Army life, and “Wild, Wild Women” and “Man The Beast” dealt with the battle between the sexes. Partch’s cartoons are absurd, visually delightful and wicked. Most of all, they are unique.

Virgil VIP Partch

As I said before, Vip’s style is so streamlined and simple, it’s easy to overlook the depth of thought beneath the surface of his cartoons. His compositions always read beautifully with clear silhouettes, appealing shapes and interesting negative spaces. The lines define a solid form and simple visual clues indicate rock-solid perspective… His drawings never seem flat, no matter how stylized they are. There’s a wide variety of ways of depicting different facial expressions and expressive personality that is obviously observed from life. It doesn’t get better than this!

Virgil VIP Partch

Partch’s greatest book was "Wild, Wild Women". Check out these beautiful drawings.

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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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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
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THE PLATES
W L Evans Cartooning Course
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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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Thursday, June 8th, 2023

Comic Strips: A Typical Golden Age Comic Section

David Apatoff's Comic Collection

I read the news on the internet the other day that many newspapers are discontinuing their comics sections. I don’t think many people realize just how far the market for cartoons has fallen over the past few decades. Newspaper comics are the clearest example of how quickly a once vital artform can go the way of the dodo bird. This weekend, take a close look at your local Sunday funnies. (If your city’s newspaper still has them that is…) Compare them to these comics from nearly 70 years ago. Keep in mind that this is just an average Sunday from an average newspaper of the time period. I think you’ll be shocked at how different it is from what passes for comics in today’s papers.

David Apatoff's Comic Collection

Until I had a chance to actually see a complete Sunday comics section, I had no idea how huge and diverse the Sunday comics section was in the past. Not all these comics are classics, but even the worst of them are more interesting than the crop in current papers. It’s a crime how lousy newspaper comics have become.

David Apatoff's Comic Collection

Here are some statistics to think about, courtesy of Mike Fontanelli’s research… At the time this newspaper comic section was published, Li’l Abner had a circulation of over 80 million, and Capp made $200,000 a year from the strip- not counting licensing and other ancillary income. At that time, the population of the United States was 145 million, and adjusting for inflation, Capp’s salary in 2008 dollars would be 2.2 million dollars a year. Capp’s cartoon was read every day by more than half of the United States, and he made much more money any modern day print cartoonist makes from his work. But Capp wasn’t alone. Chic Young made $5,000 a week from Blondie. Milton Caniff, Chester Gould, George MacManus, Hal Foster… all of these men made MUCH more than the typical cartoonist today does, (NOT factoring for inflation!) and their work was seen and enjoyed on a single day by more people than current artists can hope for in a decade. The difference in scale is mind boggling.

David Apatoff's Comic Collection

This week, I had the opportunity to spend an afternoon chatting with Ralph Bakshi. I can’t seem to shake one comment he made when he visited and saw what we were doing here at Animation Resources. Ralph said, "Cartooning is in jeopardy." He explained that artists who would have become cartoonists in the past are going into other fields, because the market for cartooning has deteriorated so much. In the past, a cartoonist could do a newspaper strip, or contribute one panel gags to magazines, or do spot illustrations for advertisements, create comic books or make animated cartoons. Today, every single one of those branches of cartooning is struggling for survival. There are animated cartoons today that are neither animated, nor cartoons. The comic book business is suffocating under the weight of an unsupportable business model. Magazines rarely run cartoons, and advertisements are usually just Photoshopped collages. Some markets, like newspaper comics may be on the way out entirely. It’s clear that if you’re determined to become a cartoonist today, you can expect to be swimming against the current.

David Apatoff's Comic Collection

It’s difficult not to be depressed. I’m not sure what can be done to reverse the trend. I can only hope that this website will act as a catalyst to inspire the artists who truly love the medium to create something totally new and exciting. We can only hope that artists will stick with the art of cartooning and build up a totally new market on the internet, because that’s our best hope for the resurgence of cartooning. Perhaps today’s hard work and sacrifices will spawn a market for cartoons that replaces and surpasses all the old models. I sure hope that happens, and I’m doing what I can to see that it does.

David Apatoff's Comic Collection

I hope you cartoonists out there understand what I’m saying… I’m not saying that there are no good cartoonists and no good cartoons today. I’m saying that the market for cartooning has been allowed to dwindle down to nothing. That isn’t good for the business of cartooning or for cartoonists who want to make a living drawing. I’m reminding you here that there was a time when cartoonists didn’t think small or settle for being boxed into a "niche market". To them, becoming successful was the goal, and they didn’t consider that to be the same as "selling out". The aimed straight for the mainstream with a variety of challenging, well drawn comics, and they hit it big. Let’s find a way to do that again.

The New Orleans Times Picayune
First Comic Section
Sunday, June 25th, 1939

1939 Sunday Color Comics
1939 Sunday Color Comics1939 Sunday Color Comics
1939 Sunday Color Comics1939 Sunday Color Comics
1939 Sunday Color Comics1939 Sunday Color
Comics
1939 Sunday Color Comics1939 Sunday Color Comics

Second Comic Section

1939 Sunday Color Comics
1939 Sunday Color Comics1939 Sunday Color Comics
1939 Sunday Color Comics1939 Sunday Color Comics
1939 Sunday Color Comics1939 Sunday Color Comics
1939 Sunday Color Comics1939 Sunday Color Comics

Third Comic Section

1939 Sunday Color Comics
1939 Sunday Color Comics1939 Sunday Color Comics
1939 Sunday Color Comics1939 Sunday Color Comics
1939 Sunday Color Comics1939 Sunday Color Comics
1939 Sunday Color Comics1939 Sunday Color Comics

Stephen Worth
Director
Animation Resources

Newspaper ComicsNewspaper Comics
This posting is part of the online Encyclopedia of Cartooning under the subject heading, Newspaper Comics.

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