Thursday, November 19, 2009
A-HAA at CTN-X
This weekend, the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive will have a booth at...
CTN-X
Burbank Marriott Convention Center
November 20-22, 2009
http://www.ctnanimationexpo.com/
CTN-X=Talent Driven. For professional animators, studio executives and art students, it takes place at the Burbank Marriott Convention Center with ample discounted parking, conveniently located near the Burbank Airport and Amtrak Station.
At the booth we will have the entire Archive Database available to browse. Stop by and say hello.
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Labels: event
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
FREE EBOOK: Zim's Cartoons and Caricatures Part 11 of 20

Before we get to today's post, a couple of announcements... We will begin deleting the earlier posts in this series next week, so if you haven't downloaded them yet, do it now. Also, we have only 15 sets of the Zim Cartooning Course left. We may not be able to get more copies before Christmas, so if you hope to have them under your tree, order now. Thanks!
This is the eleventh of twenty posts where we plan to post a complete set of high resolution scans of Zim's Cartoons & Caricatures, or Making The World Laugh (1910). These 100 pages are packed with great cartoons, helpful drawing tips, technical information and business advice for the aspiring cartoonist. Most importantly, Zim passes along his unique philosophy of life, and offers a shining example of how an artistic career as a caricaturist can be incorporated into a person's lifestyle. At the time this book was written, Zim had thirty years of experience under his belt, and had attained the highest level in his field. For more information, see the Zim's Cartoons & Caricatures page.
Every week, we will post five more pages, but they will be deleted from our server after 30 days, so download them while you can. To save the images to your hard drive, right click on the image (or CONTROL click if you are using a Mac) and select "SAVE IMAGE AS". To see all of the currently available pages, see the ZIMEBOOK Tag.




If you haven't downloaded previous entries, please do so immediately. I am going to start expiring links to earlier posts soon. Check back next week for more pages from this rare book.


If you enjoy this ebook and would like to see more, consider purchasing Zim's Correspondence School of Cartooning, Comic Art & Caricature, a complete course in cartooning available in two volumes. The books are beautifully printed and include more than 700 pages with nearly 1,000 B&W illustrations and 22 hand-tipped color plates. Proceeds from the sale of this course goes to support the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive. For more information, see the Zim Online Exhibit page.
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Labels: zimebook
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Comics: Trog's Rufus and Flook




At age 21, Fawkes entered an art contest that was being judged by the Daily Mail cartoonist, Leslie Illingworth. Illingworth was impressed with Fawkes' work and got the young artist a job at the Daily Mail. Using his nickname, Trog, Fawkes created a comic strip about an imaginary furry creature named "Flook". It became an instant hit and Trog became the toast of the town. At a reception soon after its launch the Daily Mail's owner, Lady Rothermere asked him, "How is your lovely little furry thing?" Trog replied, "Fine thank you. How is yours?" The cartoonist had to beat a quick retreat after that quip, but admitted that he couldn't help himself when presented with such a perfect setup.

Trog worked with several writers on the strip over the years- Compton Mackenzie, George Melly and Humphrey Lyttleton among others- and the direction of the strip evolved from a light hearted fantasy for children to pointed political humor similar to Walt Kelly's Pogo. But the stories aren't the reason that Rufus and Flook are so interesting today- it's the unique drawings.

When I first ran across this strip, I admit that I really didn't know what to think about it. The drawings of the main character Flook were dumbfoundingly ignorant. But the incidental characters were wonderfully observed, sharp caricatures of British society at the time. And the backgrounds often included perfectly thought out compositions with impeccable architectural perspective and beautiful stylization of folliage. At first, this sharp contrast between ignorance and genius can be jarring. But after reading a while, the direct, simplistic looseness of the main characters and the planned and observed structure of the rest of the drawings don't clash because Trog's stylish sense of fun makes it all work.

Personally, I think it's a shame Fawkes isn't better known in the US. Perhaps the softspoken, rambling British tone of the stories and the topical nature of the satire doesn't come across at all any more, but those drawings- wow!

This story from early in the strip's run comes from an extremely rare paperback compilation, titled simply Flook...
ROMAN' IN THE GLOAMIN'


























Thanks
Stephen Worth
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive
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Labels: comics, newspaper, trog
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Illustration: Felix Lorioux's Le Buffon des Enfants
This post is just the tip of the iceberg... see reason number 3 on our The Top Ten Reasons To Support The A-HAA for links to more great posts about children's book illustrators.

Here's another post about an artist you've never heard of before, but you'll never forget once you look at his work! My pal Tony "Superslice" Mora gave me this book as a birthday gift. It's a real treasure.



LE BUFFON DES ENFANTS












I don't have room on the blog to reproduce this entire book, but check out the way Lorioux incorporates his watercolors into the text of the book...


If you found this to be useful, see also... Rojankovsky's Frog Went A-Courtin' / Tibor Gergely's A Day In The Jungle, Gustaf Tenggren's The Little Trapper, Uncle Remus Stories Part One and Part Two, Little Verses Part One, Part Two and The New Golden Song Book Part One, Part Two and Part Three, and Huckleberry Hound Builds A House.
Thanks
Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive
Labels: rerun































