Roy Crane "How to Draw Buz Sawyer"

"Mix good characters ... action, sex ... into a well-composed picture with blacks, whites and grays. Then with good drawing, good planning, and good luck you should have a pleasing strip."

Roy Crane talks about his work in "Roy Crane and Buz Sawyer" from issue no. 3 of Cartoonist PROfiles, Summer 1969. "The unique quarterly magazine for the professional, the cartoon buff, the student, and all who enjoy cartoons" it's noted under the masthead. This is so early in the history of Jud Hurd's great magazine that he felt obliged to have an explanation on the cover.



Roy Crane shares "How to Draw Buz Sawyer," which originally was part of a scrapbook he donated to the Syracuse University Manuscript Collection. Mr. Crane would continue his series during the early years of Cartoonist PROfiles magazine. (Click here for his "How to Draw Women.")


Roy and Ebba Crane in their home in Orlando, Florida.

He describes the work and pressure of coming up not only with the story, but maintaining the quality, cramming drawings "with endless detail of aircraft carriers, planes and flight gear, all of which had to be done accurately, or the new strip would would fail to gain a sense of reality and prestige."

And, yeah, he talks about "The Reason for Benday."

Below is the article, in its entirety, which begins with "Damn Sunday pages!"







A big hat tip to Don Orehek for this issue of Cartoonist PROfiles!

NEW YORK

Check out these flicks from the NY Tattoo Tour location and one of the pieces..

The Oscars: Why do you care?

How it all wound up on TV
First, a bit of history. Although the Oscars were first awarded in 1929, it was not until 1960 that they were telecast, and that was due to economic necessity. Because Hollywood studios didn't want to financially support their own awards.

In 1958, the winner for Best Picture was The Bridge on the River Kwai. It was not an American film; it was released by 20th Century-Fox, but it was done by a British production company. The studios realized that their support of AMPAS, the Oscar academy, was funding awards for their foreign competitors. The studios, which I believe were led by the struggling MGM, cut their financial support for AMPAS.

That was bad. AMPAS, as they occasionally mention on their own telecast, do more than hand out gold statuettes. The "Academy Leader" of countdown numbers is their best-known technical contribution to film, but they've done much more. Although film seems to be an extinct medium in this digital age, they are still working with it and learning new ways it can still be used. They also run an internship program to get talented students working on actual productions, so they can gather experience and reputation and eventually get jobs.

All of that, not just the gold-plated bald men, was at risk. So AMPAS took a daring step. They sold the broadcast rights for the ceremony to network television. It put the studios in a bad place. They didn't want anything to do with television, which they saw (properly) as stealing their audiences. The studios banned their actors from appearing on TV. But they wanted the prestige of the Oscars. So they were forced to put their stars on television, in the ceremony, and watch as AMPAS found a new income stream.

Novelty turns to boredom.
I think the first Oscar telecast I saw was in 1962. It was a big show for whatever network ran it (I forget; perhaps it was ABC). Bob Hope hosted it. Hope was "America's favorite comedian," and although he was later to be revealed as a grouch, a mechanical comic and a cold man, at that time he met the standard of "America's favorite comedian."

It was amazing to see the greatest stars of the movies (many of whose movies I couldn't and didn't see) appearing on that little black and white screen in my own home. It was glamor unknown to a middle-class family in a small Saint Louis suburb. They were also unscripted. One year, when a hydraulic podium accidentally sank into the stage, making the microphones unavailable, Hope broke out into a soft-shoe dance. He, at least, could ad-lib.

That unscripted nature of the awards were also precious, because they showed that these famous people were human. They could make mistakes. Sally Field could yell out "You love me! You really love me!" and look like your uncle or aunt in their dumber moments. They were human...and yet something more than human.

The cracks show...and start to widen.
Year after year, there were great moments, but they began to decrease. For some reason, every time the Academy tries to present real entertainment, they fail. The presentation of the "Best Song" nominees is always, always clunky. The staging, the settings, the backup dancers, the performers who seem like they've never been in front of a live audience...it's always awful.

More and more, the actors who read the nominations act awkward while reading their scripted jokes. I think they know they're dying in front of the live audience and before the entire nation, and they look like first graders reading before an audience of their parents.

The only great moment I have seen in the last decade or so, the only one that made me cheer, was when Michael Moore received the Best Documentary Oscar for Bowling for Columbine. He stumbled and mis-spoke, but he dared to say something real on stage. Not the pretentious, fake Indian girl who ranted while picking up Marlon Brando's unwanted Oscar, but something from a working-class man bringing a little reality into the phony black-tie world of the Oscars. And he really meant that "it was a great honor to be nominated" by bringing his fellow nominees up on stage with him. That was class, that was meaning that the show biz world would never do.

Who cares about these particular movies?
Each year, the pictures nominated for the major awards are films that I and my friends don't normally watch. Even after the Oscar awards, we don't go out to catch up on "this film that was so great it got an Oscar."

Most of the films treasured by film lovers and the mass audience, the films that encourage us to get out and go to the movies, the films we quote from and do fanfic and stupid parodies of, are not even nominated in anything but the Special Effects categories. Yes, an honest award should not be given on simple popularity but by intrinsic artistic merit. But that merit has always been judged by people who are not involved in the real world - not simply the real world of motion picture production or marketing, but the real world where we agonize over how much a gallon of milk costs.

Finally, who cares about Joan Rivers?
Open disclosure: I paid to see Joan Rivers in Las Vegas many years ago. About halfway through her performance, I realized what I had suspected for years was true; she was a cruel, backbiting woman without a touch of humor or humanity. Her own movies, like her script for The Girl Most Likely To... (an early slasher film marketed as a comedy) are little more than bile.

In the last decade, she has stood out on the red carpet to criticize the clothing and attitudes of every female walking into the Oscar ceremony. That this is cruel and pointless is besides the point; she is grandfathered (grandmothered?) into the position, and when she dies, no one else, not even a flaming gay male like Mr. Blackwell, will be able to do it again.

Okay, having read that, we should ask, why do we care what the women wear or what Joan Rivers says? Isn't the Oscars supposed to be about the movies?

Obviously not, because watching the couture is more interesting than watching the ceremonies or the movies the ceremonies are supposed to be celebrating. The sideshow is more interesting than the circus. The supported purpose for tuning in, losing sleep and watching this cheesy spectacle is no longer there.

If you wish to catalog this as a rant by a bitter old man who is yelling at clouds - in other words, a John McCain speech - so be it. But think about why you're bothering to watch the Oscars again this year. Is this what you call glamor? Intellect? Humor? Or is this what someone tells you you're supposed to like?

Disney Stealing From Itself

I post this video not to disparage Disney. Truly, anyone who's ever tried to animate realistic movements of a basic skeleton knows how hard it it is to get it right. So I don't blame Disney for developing one that's really excellent and then using it repeatedly. I also don't find it surprising that the skeletons reused are mostly for dancing. Early animated dancing was either poor, or it was rotoscoped from a live dancer. Hell, when animators didn't use rotoscoping, it was a big deal. Tex Avery's Red Hot Riding Hood's first dance sequence was so well done, everyone assumed that it was a real person being traced, even though it was all free-hand.

WATCH THIS: The Saga of Bjorn

This is a perfectly staged, timed, and animated short about a viking trying to get into Valhalla. Moral of the story: Christians suck.

SOUL SUNDAY

Here is another rare and hard to find Soul record from a rare group..

TRAILER OF THE THE WEEK

William "Bill" Crouch 1945-2011

I just received word that Bill Crouch died on February 21, 2011. He was 66 years old and had been in a coma for three weeks. The cause was respiratory arrest followed by cardiac arrest.

William M. Crouch, Jr., known as "Bill" to his friends, was one of these essential links to the world of cartooning.

Bill was born in January 25, 1945, in Bridgeport, CT, and attended Columbia University, graduating in 1967 with a BA in Art History. Bill raised some controversy with his senior thesis on comic art, a body of popular culture that had not received any critical scholarship to that point.

Bill volunteered for the US Air Force, serving for four years, from 1968 to 1972. He earned a Master of Arts degree from Pennsylvania State University a year later.

The death of his father caused Bill to return to Bridgeport to manage Equity Paper Company, the family business. He remained with the company, which was sold to Grossman Marketing Group in 1981, until 2008.

Paralleling those years, Bill became a well known comics writer and scholar, contributing to THE WORLD ENCYCLOPEDIA OF COMICS and 100 YEARS OF AMERICAN NEWSPAPER COMICS. With Walt Kelly's widow, Selby Kelly, Bill co-edited a series of five large trade paperbacks for Fireside/Simon & Schuster reprinting the strip during the 1980s. For eleven years beginning in 1978, Bill self published the POGO fan magazine THE OKEFENOKEE STAR.

He would go on to write more books, essays and profiles for many publications, including the late, great cartooning magazine Cartoonist PROfiles. He also wrote Hanna Barbera comic book scripts for Charlton. Poor health be damned, he continued to write his column "Comics and Kicks" every month for The Great South Bay Magazine. He became an Associate Member of the National Cartoonists Society. He was an active Rotarian and, thanks to his beloved wife, a world traveler.

From the Lesko & Polk Funeral Home obituary:

"In 1990, Bill married the love of his life, Minh-Chau Luong, a Vietnamese-born French citizen and senior translator at the United Nations. He liked to say that she 'completed' him. She expanded Bill's horizons, sparking a lively appreciation for Vietnamese and French culture and cuisine, and leading eventually to their establishing their vacation home in Cagnes, France.

"Bill's family and many cherished friends will miss his love of life, his verve and imagination, the breadth of his curiosity, his great courage and resilience in adversity.

"... Bill Crouch is survived by his beloved wife, Minh-Chau Luong-Crouch, her brothers Jim and Bob Luong-si, her sister Quynh-Chau Luong-Nguy�n and their families. He is also survived by his sister Dorothy Crouch, brother Miller Crouch, sister-in law Sarah, niece Christian Crouch, and her husband, Chris Bertholf.

"The family would prefer contributions directed to either: American Heart Association- Connecticut Chapter 5 Brookside Dr. (P.O.Box 5022) Wallingford, CT 06492 or the Girls Scouts of America- Housatonic Council, 87 Washington Avenue, Bridgeport, CT, 06604-3800."

A memorial service will be announced at a later date.



As fellow comic art collector George Hagenauer told the Comics Buyer's Guide:

"'Bill was one of those people I have known for over 35 (maybe 40) years, but never met . He was one of those ‘old’ guys (he was 66; I am 60!) who taught me a lot by phone or mail when I discovered there were other people out there who loved, clipped and collected comic strips.

"'He was far more than a collector. His close friendship with Terry and the Pirates artist George Wunder resulted in that art being offered to collectors. If you own a piece of Wunder art (which has become a lot scarcer due to the tragic death of Don Lineburger in a fire that destroyed hundreds of Wunder originals) it is because of the efforts of Bill Crouch.'"

I met Bill for the first and only time time at a 2009 party at Bunny Hoest's. That's where the above photo is from. He had come down from his Connecticut home with my friend and fellow cartoonist Elena Steier.

As soon as Elena introduced Bill to me, I knew who he was -- even though the face was not familiar. Bill Crouch was responsible for a lot of my bookshelf space.

When I was a kid, growing up in the Midwest (living in those "states the planes fly over"), I didn't know any cartoonists, but, thanks to Bill Crouch, I got to read some great cartooning books that he edited.

I had always imagined that Bill had never grown up. He was a big kid who'd retained his love for the cartoon genre. And, better than that, he was the kind of kid who liked to share his toys, you know? Bill introduced me to an A-list of comic strip and comic book cartoonists

Here are some of the cartoonists:

• Walt Kelly (Bill co-edited, with Selby Kelly, many issues of THE OKEFENOKEE STAR magazine and trade paperback collections like PLUPERFECT POGO to name but two of the many POGO projects),

• Chester Gould (DICK TRACY THE ART OF CHESTER GOULD published by the Museum of Cartoon Art in 1978 - portion of that catalog is here - and DICK TRACY AMERICA'S MOST FAMOUS DETECTIVE in conjunction with the TRACY movie),

• Hal Foster (THE PRINCE VALIANT SCRAPBOOK and more)

• and Wally Wood (WOODWORK, co-edited with Bill Pearson; "first of a reprint series of his work that was authorized by artist Wally Wood;" THE WALLACE WOOD SKETCHBOOK II co-edited with Selby Kelly).

And those are just a few. Thanks to his work and love of the medium, he got a new generation appreciating these grand masters of the comic form.

He was a kid who never got over the funnies, and he made sure none of us forgot. He will be missed.

Related: CBGExtra obituary

Related: Elena Steier: So Long to Bill Crouch

Related: Connecticut Post obituary

Related: Extensive Lesko & Polk Funeral Home obituary

TEQA NYC

Here is a canvas we just did on day 1 out here in the NYC for our good friends opening of their new spot.

check it out here teqanyc.com

The Guitar has always been incompatible with the Faith

In the Winter issue of Drawing Magazine, there's an article on the Spanish Masters, of which Francisco de Goya is counted. The drawing above is titled "A Nun Frightened by a Ghost", c. 1812–20 The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Now, way back when this was produced, roughly 140 years before Vatican II, de Goya had no way of knowing what was down the road for the Church...or did he?

Either way, it's plainly obvious that the nun is more frightened by the guitar than she is by the musical directo- um, I mean ghost.

1968 Visit with Frank King and Roy Crane

Jud Hurd, writing for the June 1968 Cartoonist Magazine, visits the home of Frank King in Florida.



We also get to see the many cartoonist neighbors: Roy Crane (above), Bill Perry, Mel Graff, Dick Moores, Les Turner, Kate Osann and more. Jud relates dines with them and visits their studios in what seems like a lovely time.



My thanks to Don Orehek for this issue of The Cartoonist.

THROWBACK THURSDAY

Here is a record off of The Wu Tang Clans 36 chambers "Tearz" recorded 1994 and the Sample from Wendy Rene and her record "After Laughter" recorded in 1963

Brian Crane: "Popular PICKLES Captures the Humanity of Humans"

Above photo of Brian Crane by Kristin Murphy for the Deseret News.

From The Mormon Times article "Popular PICKLES Captures the Humanity of Humans"by Carma Widely:

"'It's a tough field to break into, a tougher field to succeed at,' Crane said. 'Many strips don't last more than a few years.'

"...Twenty years later, Earl and Opal Pickles are still going strong. The strip currently appears in more that 700 newspapers and is heading toward 800. Though most readers are in the United States and Canada, 'Pickles' has appeared or does appear in South Korea, Australia, India, Aruba, England, Singapore and the Middle East."

MANEKI NEKO

Here is the latest back piece on a client who came through from Tokyo Japan...

Caricatures for gift

What?

I'm watching some cgi film called, inventively, Race. It's in the same category of "films no one cares about" that Kaena, Battle for Terra, and Delgo. I have no idea how this got money to be made. The dialog is bad, the acting is sub-standard, and the animation is just appalling. It's worse than The Clone Wars, and better than Re-Boot only in a technical sense.

The character designs border on insulting. The faces look like most of them have some sort of developmental issue, the women all have gigantic boobs and waists measured in millimeters. Plot? Not really. The story is like a crappy video game (This impression is only amplified by the hooters), and the staging is like the pod racing scene from Star Wars Episode 1 crossed with Wipeout.

This is a truly awful film.

The Madam Alexander ADDAMS FAMILY Dolls

Or should I call them action figures?

Madam Alexander presents a line of four collectible dolls based on the new Addams Family Broadway musical; Gomez, Morticia, Wednesday (with crossbow) and Puggsly.

Above: Morticia, which retails for $139.95.

Cartoonists Making Decisions

From the Mountain Xpress newspaper:

“Dennis the Menace” visits Xpress (Don’t tell Mr. Wilson!) by Jake Frankel

The Southeast Chapter of the National Cartoonists Society recently gathered around the Mountain Xpress ping pong/conference table to jury its book illustration contest. They were joined by the mischievous characters from “Dennis the Menace,” according to this illustration from cartoonist Marcus Hamilton, who works on the internationally syndicated comic strip.

The rest is here.

Stacking Wood

Hey there! That's a self-portrait of me under many wooly layers. And below, the reason why:



It's been a cold winter and we've gone through more wood than I thought. So, we had to order a cord of stovewood to keep the home fires burning. The only problem stacking wood in the winter is, of course, the cold and snow.



It was 30 degrees, but the 20-30mph wind gusts knocked the temperature down to bonechilling temperatures. I was only able to stack about a quarter of the woodpile before that Popsicle feeling overwhelmed me and I had to come in to warm up. Which is when I drew this cartoon of me in many layers (t-shirt, flannel shirt, wool sweater and jacket).

Here's hoping spring is around the corner!

HARD KNOCK LIFE

Here it is! For everyone that has been asking...

2010 Reuben Award Nominees

The National Cartoonist Society has chosen its three nominees for the Reuben Award for Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year.


And the Reuben Award nominees are:

Glen Keane



Stephan Pastis



Richard Thompson


Congratulations to all of the nominees!

The winner, chosen by NCS artist members, will be announced at the 65th Annual Reuben Awards Dinner on May 28, 2011

Angel vs. Avatar

Angel vs. Avatar

Free Holi 2011 Wallpapers, Colorful Holi 2011 Pictures, Holi 2011 Festival Photos

The Spring Festival of India, Holi 2011 - is a festival of colors. The colorful festival of Holi is celebrated on Phalgun Purnima which comes in February end or early March. On this day, People spend the day smearing colored powder all over each other's faces, throwing colored water at each other, having parties, and dancing under water sprinklers. Celebrating Holi in India involves covering everyone in colored powder and water. This festival is lots of fun! India is blessed with a huge number of festivals and Holi is one of the most joyous occasions for the Hindu community. You can find here Free Holi 2011 Wallpapers, Colorful Holi 2011 Pictures, Holi 2011 Festival Photos & Holi 2011 Desktop Images.