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August 11th, 2022

Magazine Cartoons: What’s Wrong With This Picture?

My mother passed away a few years back, and I’ve been going through some boxes of things she left behind. I found a book of crafts, games and puzzles from 1927 that must have been given to her when she was very young. It included these “What’s Wrong With This Picture?” cartoons by Joe McIntosh. They appear to be created as one panel magazine cartoons.

I don’t know anything about the artist, but this style of cartooning was very popular in the 20s. Just about every college newspaper and humor magazine had cartoons that looked very similar. The leading proponent of the simplified round head style was John Held Jr. Early Puppetoons by George Pal also had a similar feel. Although Joe McIntosh’s cartoons aren’t nearly as sophisticated as those of Held or Pal, they’re still very clever and fun.

Whenever I see straightforward, appealing cartoons like this, I wonder… Why are modern animation designs are so needlessly complex and realistic? And why are Flash characters so flat that it limits their ability to be posed? Here are cartoony, stylized designs that have volume and work well within the perspective of a three dimensional environment. These sorts of characters would be easy to animate expressively using just about any technique- hand drawn, CGI, puppet, clay or Flash. Naturally, the subject matter here is dated, but the basic proportions and shapes could easily be applied to a more modern context. I’d love to see contemporary cartoons that are this simple and fun again.

See how many mistakes you can spot!

WHAT’S WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?

How many mistakes did you count?

Stephen Worth
Director
Animation Resources

This posting is part of the online Encyclopedia of Cartooning under the subject heading, Magazine Cartoons.
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Labeled: cartooning, comic, magazine |

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Posted by admin @ 12:30 pm

August 3rd, 2022

Editorial Cartoons: Len Norris, Master of Just About Everything

After the holidays, my pal Jo-Jo Baptista showed me a paperback book of political cartoons he picked up in a junk store when he was visiting his family. It was by a cartoonist I had never heard of before… Len Norris. The second I opened the book, I started to get excited. This guy had everything- great compositions, stylish design, solidly constructed characters, flawless perspective, funny drawings, great fabric folds, expressive hand poses, wild looking kids and animals- and he seemed to be able to draw anything from any angle. He caricatured automobiles and trains as well as the insides of gothic cathedrals and department stores, and depicted fabulous mansions as easily as he drew middle class living rooms. What a talent!

I did a little Googling and discovered that Norris worked as Art Director for Macleans magazines for a few years after WWII, then began a 27 year run as editorial cartoonist for the Vancouver Sun. Norris would lampoon stories from the paper, which he would refer to in a tiny box at the top or on the headline of a paper in a character’s hand. Today, without an understanding of the topical context, some of the gags are pretty puzzling. But it doesn’t matter- Norris’ drawings are spectacular.

It’s clear that Norris was inspired by the work of Ronald Searle, as are many current day animators. But Norris takes Searle’s ornamental line and wraps it around completely solid forms. This is exactly the sort of translation that a character designer would need to do if he wanted to adapt Searle’s style to an animatable model. But Norris isn’t just a Searle imitator. His characters are keenly observed and capture the spirit of Canadian culture in the 1950s. Look at these fantastic editorial cartoons and see if you don’t agree with Walt Kelly who was quoted as saying that Len Norris was “the best in the business”.

Stephen Worth
Director
Animation Resource

This posting is part of the online Encyclopedia of Cartooning under the subject heading, Editorial Cartoons.
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Labeled: cartooning, cartoonist, editorial cartoons, len norris, newspaper |

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Posted by admin @ 10:48 am

August 2nd, 2022

Aviation Illustrators: The Unsung Heros of Commercial Art

Harper Goff

Last week, I posted an article about Harper Goff, the designer of Captain Nemo’s Nautilus in Walt Disney’s “20,000 Leagues Under The Sea”. A couple of days later, I was going through a stack of aviation prints to see if I could find an idea for a post, and I and stumbled across these amazing WWII era pantings by Goff. It made me think about the changing role of the commercial artist in society.

Back in the postwar era, the major aircraft builders employed illustrators to conceptualize how complex engineering would transform blueprints and raw materials into real-life massive flying machines. These talented illustrators would create fine art prints for the aerospace companies to give away as gifts to their clients and suppliers. Southern California swap meets are well stocked with these prints, and I’ve picked up a nice sized pile of them myself over the years.

Today, Photoshop and computer modeling has replaced these great technical artists, and a lot of the magic of flight has been replaced by dull literalism. On first glance, these images might seem super-realistic, but a closer look reveals the amazing technique and creative virtuosity involved in making watercolors evoke speed and power. Here’s a facet of illustration history that I would like to know more about. If you have any information on these artists, please post to the comments at the end of this article.

Two more by Harper Goff…

CHARLES H. HUBBELL

Charles Hubbell had a lifelong love of aviation and art. As a child, his hobby was model airplane building, and by the time he was in High School, he had built himself a full scale glider. He attended the Cleveland School of Art in the early 1920s, and sold his paintings to pay for flying lessons. He became a licensed pilot and successful commercial artist. In the late 1930s, Hubbell was approached to combine his interests to illustrate a calendar depicting the winners of an annual air race. For the next three decades, Hubbell painted airplane calendars with terrific authenticity and attention to detail. In the course of his career he painted over 1000 images, which together comprise a fairly complete history of aviation.

JACK LEYNNWOOD

If the art of Jack Leynnwood looks familiar, you are probably a baby boomer who had an interest in model kits growing up. Leynnwood’s distinctive paintings on the Revell model kit box covers featured antique biplanes, WWII fighters, helicopters, modern jets and even space rockets. Leynnwood’s images jumped off the shelf with their dramatic colors and lighting and dynamic momentum and motion blur. The wings of his airplanes would overlap the corners of the box, making it look like they were ready to fly away. He taught at Art Center College of Design, and passed away in 1999.

MORE AVIATION ARTISTS

George Akimoto

C.F. Coppock

Crundall?

MR?

Alexander Leydenfrost

Let me know in the comments if you have any information on these great artists, or if you’d like to see more aviation illustration.

Stephen Worth
Director
Animation Resources

This posting is part of a series of articles comprising an online exhibit spotlighting Illustration.
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Labeled: harper goff, illustration, war |

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Posted by admin @ 1:53 pm

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