Michael Sporn Animation – Splog

- Last week, I’d posted some dragon models that Rowland B. Wilson did for animation company Phil Kimmelman & Ass. for ‘Utica Club Beer’. Well, it turns out Rowland liked the model enough that he kept this painting on the wall in his studio at home. The color image was sent to Bill Peckmann, who shares it with us, by Suzanne Wilson, Rowland’s wife.

This is the model posted last week.

Here’s the image which hung in RBW’s studio.

All that I can follow that up with are more Rowland B. Wilson cartoons. Bill Peckmann had sent me a xerox copy of the book The Whites of Their Eyes, a collection of RBW cartoons printed in 1962 by Dutton. The copies are all B&W though it’s obvious some of them were printed in color. Many thanks to Bill for another great post featuring one of my favorite artists.

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- It’s nice to know that there’s some playing at the top.
In designing an Underoos commercial for Phil Kimmelman and Associates, Alex Toth sent funny cards to Bill Peckmann, he responded with paintings of his own. Thanks to Bill, I have some of that material, and will post it here.

First this short note from Bill about what follows:

“. . . about 30 years ago PK&A was lucky enough to do a TV “Under-Roos” spot with Alex Toth (since I was and am a HUGH Toth fan, I probably badgered Phil and the Ad agency into using Alex to do the super hero character designs and LO’s of the spot) and with that, I also became the lucky recipient Alex’s many missives. These came in the form of letters and postcards, which were wonderfully illustrated with doodles and sketches. One doodle that he used quite a bit was his cigarette smoking, signature alter ego “Grumpy Duck” (see attached).

And with that, I did some riffs on his Duck character showing the history of aviation (we were both airplane buffs) and photography (we both appreciated good photos). These were done with xerox and cel paint. Happy to say, Alex seemed to get a kick out of these.”

An example of one of Alex Toth’s mailings to Bill.

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Here’s the series of ducks that Bill painted for Alex.

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(Click any image you’d like to enlarge.)

“Here are some setups that Alex Toth did for the ‘Underoos’ spot for us. Since Superman and Spiderman came from rival companies, very seldom or never did they appear together. You might have a Toth fan or two in your audience, mebbe we’ll make you one. At end of s’heros is a doodle, one of his many.”

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A sample of one of Alex Toth’s many doodles.

Finally, a thank you note (the original was in color) that Alex did for Rowland Wilson, they were big mutual fans. The two were friends:

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Enlarge to read the panel bottom center.

- I’ve posted two pieces by illustrator, Vernon Grant, the designer of Snap, Crackle and Pop. Here’s a booklet out of the hands of the late Rowland B. Wilson. I start with a short note sent to Bill Peckmann (who graciously loaned the material for display. Many thanks.)

(Click any image to enlarge.)

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The other three Vernon Grant posts can be found here:
Snap Crackle Pop
Vernon Grant’s Nursery
Vernon Grant’s Santa Claus

- I’ve dedicated a number of posts to the artwork and cartoons of Rowland B. Wilson.
I have been a fan of his work for a very long time. Years before I had the opportunity of inbetweening on his Scholastic Rock designs at Phil Kimmelman & Associates which was back in the early ’70s.

Bill Peckmann and I seem to share a lot in appreciating a number of artists and their artwork. Rowland is high on the list. Bill has loaned many works for posting, and I’m certainly indebted to him for contributing all of these RBWilson pieces.

Here are more of the cartoons of Rowland B. Wilson, starting with a news article written about him for the Westport News.

(Click any image to enlarge.)

Let’s start with the New England Life advertisements. RBW did quite a few of them:

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We finish this post with some more Playboy cartoons:

It must have been a treat for Bill to see his name in this cartoon.

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Personalized, no less.

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- The esteemed illustrator/cartoonist, Jack Davis, did some brilliant art and design work for animation when working for Phil Kimmelman and Ass. Bill Peckman sent me the following article from Squa Tront magazine, and he added a couple of illustrations Davis did for PK&A.

Here’s the article:

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(click any image to enlarge.)

Pages 2 & 3 made a double page spread that looked like this.
I’ve split it apart so the images would be larger in thumbnails.

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Some characters Davis did for a “Mrs. Smith Pies” ad.
All of the characters should be holding the product in hand.

A PK&A ad by Davis.

And, of course, the notable caricature by Davis of
Phil Kimmelman and his Associates for their print ad.
(As taken from the Funnyworld issue #18 – PK&A
regularly supported Mike Barrier’s magazine with their ads

- Usually, I’m linking to articles I’ve found in the NYTimes. It’s strange to have the NY Times link to articles in my blog! That’s what happened yesterday when the Times Artsbeat column picked up my reprint of John Canemaker‘s Print magazine article about Finian’s Rainbow and wrote about it. Now that’s a kick for the day.

Speaking of something sorta grandish, I forgot to mention that my studio passed its 30th Anniversary on February 15th. No wonder some of the paint is peeling; we’re getting grander by the day. We’ve done a lot of films in that time, though I wish there were a lot more.

Tom Hachtman recently sent me a couple of brilliant drawings. You’ll remember that he and I were involved in trying to jump start an animated feature version of his comic strip Gertrude’s Follies. Either it was too daring for backers or I didn’t locate the right backers for an animated film about artists and their lesbian supporters.

At any rate, Tom had sent a drawing to the New Yorker (which has published some of his cartoons in the past) which ultimately rejected it. Their tough luck, my fortune.

Than there’s the image he sent a couple of weeks ago in the middle of the media’s scourge of Tiger Woods.

This was originally posted on NowWhatMedia.com where blog owner Martin Kozlowski colored the original B&W image after Tom made a couple of small alterations in cleaning up this drawing. It ended up looking like this:

I love the loose quality of the original picture, so I had to post it.

- As you may have read, Sylvan Chomet‘s The Illusionist has been racking up glorious film reviews since it’s recent premiere in Berlin at the Berlinale. The Hollywood Reporter, though, wasn’t so kind in its review yesterday.

“. . . theatrical exposure outside Europe might be scant. Chomet’s name alone assures some level of distribution on several platforms, but buyers might be wary this time.”

“Tati never committed this downhearted tale to film, choosing instead to end his career with light, satirical fun.”

It does say of the film, “The real beauty of ‘Illusionist’ lies in its drawings. Chomet is a traditionalist here, insisting on hand drawings where 3D computer animation is all the rage in the animation world. The story moves from Paris to London to Scotland, and its cityscapes and landscapes are gorgeous. A final swirling crane shot of Edinburgh, where the camera seems to fly up and over the city, is sheer magic.”

It sounds glorious and beautiful, and I can’t wait. The one animated film worth following.

- For quite a few years now, maybe 30 or so, I’ve been an enormous fan of the caricature paintings/illustrations of Philip Burke. I first came to know his work in the magazine section of the NY Daily News way back when I lived in my parents’ home. They religiously bought the paper, and Burke’s illustrations graced this magazine weekly. I don’t believe his style at the time was quite as violent as it is today – he found that just as he left the News and moved into the larger world.

He was also working weekly in the Village Voice with beautiful pen and ink sketches that alone were enough reason to buy that paper. There was a sharp influence from the work being done by Ralph Steadman without any hint of imitation.

In the 1980s he moved over to Vanity Fair and that’s when the oil painted caricatures just blossomed. The colors were outrageous and wholly his view of the world. Somehow it always seemed appropriate for the celebrities, politicians and rock stars to be colored so garishly.

He’s been lauded by just about everyone, so I’m not about to say anything that hasn’t been already recorded. I’ve meant to write my thoughts on his work for some time, so this is long overdue. It’s just that his artwork has been front and center for me for so long, that it’s one of those rarely discussed treasures that have been sitting in the corner of my eye for most of my adult life. I find his work brilliant.

Burke works out of Buffalo, New York. There are a couple of pieces he seems to have done as a quick draw artist painting in public. Particularly noted is one of Chuck Mangione he painted on a bench as part of a fund raising event for Nazareth College.

I’d spent a couple of hours this weekend just sorting through a lot of his work on-line. From the site set up at L.B. Madison Gallery to the caricatures at the NYObserver to the great post of vintage Burke posted by fellow artist, Stephen Kroninger at Drawger.

From these random posts I’ve pulled a bunch of images that I’d love to share with you. If you have any thoughts of purchasing lithographs of any of these, many are available at the L.B. Madison FIne Art Gallery, and I’d recommend you take a look there.

I’ll start with this image of Ralph Steadman from the Village Voice.
I pulled this from the Drawger site.

Here are a couple of news anchors, Anderson Cooper and George Stephanopolis –
the most current image from the latest edition of the National Observer.
Most of the rest of these images are at the L.B.Madison Gallery.

Two absolutely beautiful portraits include these of comedians
Tom Hanks and Bill Murray. There’s so much more in their faces than caricature.

He tackles Antonin Scalia and the other four
Conservatives who are sitting on the Supreme Court.

It’s always interesting to see how a caricaturist
keeps returning to the same subject.

Multiple pictures of Obama would be a necessity for a political cartoonist.

Woody Allen is also expected several times when working in NYC.
What isn’t expected is the variety with which Burke views his subject.

The remains of the Beatles appeared in ROLLING STONE . . .

as did Bob Dylan.

Sean Penn and John Travolta are also masterful in their simplicity.

While Ethan Hawke is turned inside out as a revelatory portrait.

The late Frank Sinatra

Let me end with this brilliant portrait of Alexander Haig from
the Village Voice in the 1970s. Haig died this past week.
Also from Drawger.
There’s also another post at Drawger – More Burke.
I suggest you check out this post, the line work is exhilerating.

- Nina Paley has been very successful in adapting the Ramayana in her feature film, Sita Sings the Blues. She not only gives a shortened version of the Indian folklore but uses the tale to comment on her personal story of betrayal and estrangement and divorce. Her film is highly styled, beautifully animated, and well received.

So soon after the success of her film comes this book by Sanjay Patel. He is a supervising animator and storyboard artist at Pixar. someone I didn’t know about until I’d received an unsolicited copy of his artbook from Chronicle Books. Ramayana, Divine Loophole.

The book is a beautifully produced work full of strongly designed graphics illustrating the Ramayana. The text gives an indication of the story, but it doesn’t fully go into the lengthy text of the original tale. We’re offered a synopsis; it’s really just an excuse to hang the illustrations, and it’s a good one.

(Click any image to enlarge.)

It’s tempting to compare some of the graphics between this book and Nina Paley’s film, but there’s a distinct difference between the two. They’re both a sort of “cartoon modern” adaptation of Indian art. Nina has a feminine turn in her drawings, lots of circles and arcs, whereas Sanjay takes an angular approach with a very masculine line that feels somewhat near the CalArts style which is obviously popular in LA and has permeated the animation syling these days.

Sanjay Patel also states on his site that he was initially inspired by Nina Paley’s film.

Both artists create attractive works that glisten in both film and book versions. Personally, my taste runs marginally more toward Nina’s work, but I’m impressed with the depth and detail in the book’s illustrations.

Every once in a while, you feel as though you’re
looking at something out of Samurai Jack.

The author has a keen eye for character design, but it doesn’t always feel unique. There are infrequent times when it looks like something out of Cartoon Network. Undoubtedly, this comes from his CalArts background and the strong influences he’s felt in the animation industry in California. However, more of the time it feels totally Sanja Patel, as in the exceptional illustration above.

Often there’s a beautiful sense of color and design that makes the images sparkle. His compositions are also sterling, so you give him lots of grace for any of his lesser influences.

Most of the book is composed of two-page spreads with the text
enveloped in the illustration. Not always easy to read, but pleasant
to view. (Also hard to scan with the breaks in the middle.)

Toward the rear of the book there are a number of
complex drawings which are amazingly alive.

I’d encourage anyone interested to get a copy of this book. The book is enormously attractive and the art is well worth the visit.

There’s an excellent demonstration of author, Sanjay Patel’s process in creating an illustration in a PDF from his publisher, Chronicle Books. As a matter of fact they have a complete Q&A with the author here in which he discusses his creative process.

Sanjay Patel‘s blog is located here.

Chronicle is the publisher of this attractive book. They seem to be doing consistently attractive art books. The first notice I had of them was with Amid Amidi’s Cartoon Modern, a book that still stands strong among those that were published in the past couple of years. They’ve also done a number of the “Art of . . . ” books for Pixar and Disney.

- Here, courtesy of Bill Peckmann, and his great collection of work, are more of Rowland B. Wilson‘s great cartoons for various sources.
for TV Guide:

A cover and a spot ad.

A rough sketch for this spot ad.

A couple of ads he illustrated:

(Click any image to enlarge.)

Rowland did many ads for Equitable Life.

And of course more playboy cartoons:

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This is a multipage piece he did.

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Bill Peckmann sent these additional comments
after seeing these images on the site:

Here are some personal notes/sidebars if you’re interested:

#17, Rowland & Suzanne gave us the original as a wedding gift 10 years ago, of course it’s one of our prized possessions and I have tell to you that the printed version just does not do the original justice, too bad it’s so hard to get out of the frame otherwise I’d let you post it.

- Back in the innocent years, the joke was that one read Playboy for the articles, not the pictures. In my case (and I’m sure it was true for many others), that wasn’t much of a joke. I did thumb through Playboy and it was for the pictures – the pictures by Rowland B. Wilson, Gahan Wilson and a couple of other of the great cartoonists of that magazine.

Bill Peckmann has saved a number of Rowland Wilson’s cartoons, and I’m eager to post them. It’s my pleasure that Bill has a small archive of Rowland’s material. He was an enormous source of inspiration for me, and it’s my joy to see a lot of these again. It’s amazing how many I still remember after all these years.

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