Sunday Funnies

Yay for the Sunday funnies. Not as fun as they used to be, but yay anyway.

John Gannam — Comic Pages — watercolor — 1950s

While we're on the subject, take a look at a post over at Unca Jeffy's good ol' blog here.

Imp & Nymph

Louis Moe — A Forest Imp — 1904

Louis Moe — Nymph and Young Bear — 1904

Inky-Dinks

Apparently my previous lost post is not coming back, and apparently we're good to go for new posts. So, not to repeat myself (but I am):

Here is a clutch of Wally Wood's strange little characters that he at least once referred to as Inky-Dinks, the spontaneously hatched little dudes that sometimes populated the sub-layers of Wally's worlds.

For those of you viewing this post out of context, Blogger had a maintenance issue that wiped out a lot of people's recent posts at the same time. Some of those posts were returned by this point, but a lot weren't, including mine. These things happen, and I'm just grateful for this forum.

Carry on!

Shhhh

Blog darn it. Friday the 13 came on Thursday AND Friday this time.

That last stuff I put up got lost, so I don't think I'll post much til I see that new stuff stays up and running fer awhiles.

Old, but Odd

This is one of those old, but odd, images that is too good to toss, but too . . . strange . . . to know what to do with. Some odd little critters in the water.

Archie MacGregor — Katawampus — 1900ish

Space and Time

Life is a quantum flux.

Angel on Ascension

From an angel that had fallen, to an angel on ascension . . .

This was a personal Christmas poster designed and illustrated by Fred G. Cooper in 1925, a veritable pixie of a guy according to his friends.

Cooper was self taught in his skills, and at one time he was art director at the old Life Magazine (the humor mag), where his editor claimed that Cooper had two brains in one: the right frontal brain lobe—mathematical, scientific and precise— and the left lobe completely cuckoo.

Fallen Angel

Some of the old pulps could be somewhat lyrical with their illustrations, as here with a 'fallen angel'. It's too bad the printing quality had to suffer from the inferior paper. Still . . .

Lawrence Stevens — She Lay There, As She Had Fallen

Gate of the Moon

Bertha Lum — Looking Out On the Gate of the Moon

Special Inspection, by Order of the Emperor

I'm working on a project right now that requires me to draw dozens of people doing all manner of things, spread over a number of pages. I used to think (somewhat naïvely) that illustrators could usually do such drawings without referencing anything. But in order to draw or paint realistically, the artist needs to observe reality in order to translate it.

My budget can't afford models, so the quality of my 'realism' is going to suffer a bit for it, and I'll make things up the best I can. Norman Rockwell got to the point where he could afford a photographer to gather shots of his friends and family and neighbors. Other illustrators of the past had photographs taken of their models (and sometimes themselves) in the most precarious poses, simulating the action required for their commercial assignments. Many modern illustrators utilize digital cameras to pose themselves, friends and volunteers. Most times we can't afford to actually pay someone to pose, or in many cases afford the time to take photos.

I was really taken by surprise when I found out that a number of 'realistic' cartoonists used live models to pose for the multitude of poses required for a good storyline. Milton Caniff had a great swipe file, but he also used models for key poses for Terry and the Pirates.

And then I found out that Alex Raymond used live models for Flash Gordon—but what really surprised me was that his models were nude, for poses that were fully clothed. I understand that the artist needs to understand the architecture of the body under the clothes, but that seems a bit extreme for a comic strip. Remember when Raymond's style morphed from a stylistic brushy expressionism to hard-lined realism? I do believe that's when he could afford to have models at his beck and call. The strip at that point was nice to look at, but I believe suffered artistically as he left his brushwork-feathering behind him.

Take a look at this 'run-of-the-mill' strip:

Alex Raymond — Flash Gordon — March 2, 1941

Above, Alex Raymond drawing that particular strip.

Above, the line art for one of the panels.

And above and below, the model that he required for his realism.

Above, even for this seemingly insignificant pose of Dale behind bars, he used the model, below, to act it out.

I'm going to check my schedule and budget one more time—maybe I could afford some nude models for the dozens of poses I've got ahead of me, after all.

Oh, crap, most of those poses are supposed to be of old men.

Light and Substance

Robert Huskisson's faerie paintings are remarkable for their staging of light and substance, as in this case framed by the beautiful trompe l'oeil arch, creating a theatrical portal to another world. The faeries are voluptuous figures, yet innocent in their portrayal from Ariel's song in Act I of The Tempest. The floating upside down figure is remarkably evocative of weightlessness, especially for the time period that this was painted.

Robert Huskissson — Come Unto These Yellow Sands —1847

Lady & Tiger

Have I told you what a fan I am of William Stout?

© 1994 William Stout

Mom is Spelled with two M's

Y'know, Marilyn Monroe and I have a connection of sorts.

59 years ago today, we were both in the hospital on the same day.

She was busy having an appendectomy. I was busy being born.

Of course I have this fantasy that her appendectomy was just a cover story for her having delivered a love child. And, y'know . . . somebody had to raise that child in a loving home.

Alright, our hospitals were 2,000 miles away from each other. I SAID it was just a fantasy!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY WEEKEND!

Larger Than Life

I drew this larger than life-size pastel for a film festival lobby last century, obviously referencing a famous movie, but trying to not duplicate a specific photo. I tried to bring a little heat to it.

Drawing ©Thom Buchanan — Billowing Dress — 1995

Any resemblance to a famous movie star is intentional, but the drawing was not made for commercial gain. I did not make one penny from it. And you shouldn't either. Anybody trying to do so is going to feel more than my wrath, but the wrath of a multi-million dollar estate. You've been warned.

Elven Ships

A simple yet evocative ink drawing of elven ships. I can hear this music echoing in the morning mists.

Paul Woodroffe —early 20th century

Illumination

Oh, to be a reveler of the upper crust in the 18th century . . .

. . .

Yeah, alright, to be a reveler of the upper crust anywhere in time.

Claude-Louis Châtelet

Illumination of the Belvedere Pavilion for Emperor Joseph II

Early Days

In his early days, this guy lasted but 6 months as a Cincinnati local editorial cartoonist, and among various jobs here and there, he created some illustrations for the Mark Twain Journal (looking a great deal like Pat Oliphant's world-renowned cartooning style).

And then he became pretty world-renowned himself:

© Bill Watterson

Heady Days

Those must have heady days back in the early twentieth century for top-flight printers, what with exciting and rapidly advancing technology, combined with an explosion of creative art coming in from hundreds of illustrators.

This king of the fairies cracks me up.

Gordon Ertz — The Inland Printer — June 1916

The man who gave us so many scenes from the worlds of our solar system and beyond, Chesley Bonestell, also gave us otherworldly scenes of planet Earth.

Chesley Bonestell — Oriental Scene — 1973

The Go-To Man

Scott Gustafson is the go-to man to bring fairy tales to life. These images are from a telling of Tom Thumb, but the Gandalfesque one directly below makes you wonder how amazing his rendition of Middle Earth might be.

Scott Gustafson — Tom Thumb

Scott Gustafson — Tom Thumb

Scott Gustafson — Tom Thumb