Bill Peckmann &Comic Art &Illustration &Rowland B. Wilson 20 Jan 2010 08:49 am
RBWilson Gag Cartoons – 1
- 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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on 20 Jan 2010 at 10:05 am 1.Ray Kosarin said …
These are stunning. Thanks Bill, Michael!
on 20 Jan 2010 at 10:24 am 2.Hachtman said …
Masterful composition! Funny! Beautiful! AND educational! Thanks Bill, Michael and Hef!
on 20 Jan 2010 at 11:16 am 3.Cesare said …
I’m working on a project for which these R.B.Wilson cartoons are a perfect inspiration. Thanks for taking the time to post these.
on 20 Jan 2010 at 11:57 am 4.Daniel Caylor said …
Wow, these are great. Are they water color?
What an appealing style. Most people would only notice that, but his compositions are perfect, and his use of color is great too.
on 20 Jan 2010 at 5:54 pm 5.Suzanne Wilson said …
It’s great to see these cartoons online. They brighten up a dark winter’s day–even in California.
In answer to the question above: Rowland Wilson’s main technique was Pencil and Watercolor (usually on Arches paper).
Thank you so much Bill and Michael.
on 21 Jan 2010 at 5:38 am 6.slowtiger said …
Yesss! I used to have a subscription of german Playboy magazine when I was 16 or so … they never bothered to ask for age verification, and it came in a plain brown wrapper so my parents didn’t know.
Gahan Wilson and Erich Sokol were my favourites, among others, but there must have been some Rowland B. Wilson in there, too. I always wondered how they did those vivid watercolours – I never was able to create anything even remotely as vivid as those. (There’s some nice examples of more artists over there at http://www.animationarchive.org)
I especially like the way Wilson treats white space here, for me that’s one of 70′s staples which I also find in some of the work of comic artists like Barbe, Druillet, Bode. And then there’s the teeth – those absolutely white teeth in the laughing mouths. Is that, as an american friend of mine explained, the result of flouride in your tap water?
on 25 Feb 2010 at 4:22 am 7.Denis Wheary said …
What a treat! Add my thanks to Bill Peckmann for sharing his RBW cartoons. As a Rowland B. Wilson collector myself, its always easier to find ads and cartoons if I know what I’m looking for!
A couple of nits; Rowland did at least one more TV Guide cover, to illustrate “Love American Style” with a cartoon of a dozen costumed TV characters in a brass bed.
Also Rowland’s cartoon insurance ads were not done for Equitable Life, but for “New England Life, of course!”, as is noted further down the page. By any standard Rowland Wilson’s New England Life ads must be considered among the best print advertisement campaigns of all time. Why? Because even though Peanut’s Snoopy got Metropolitan Life, and MetLife swallowed New England Life back in ’96 , to this day when I think of life insurance, I immediately remember “New England Life, of course!”. That same slogan was used for over 17 years (1968 – 1985) appearing under more than 50 different, distinct and humorous full page color paintings of impending doom and disaster, designed and signed by Rowland B. Wilson. While still in my teens, I sent away for the beer stein offered with RBW’s cartoon on it. That was some powerful advertising.
One last comment: Rowland’s Playboy cartoons usually exist in pairs: 2 with Romans and elephants, 2 of Robin Hood, 2 Di Vinci, 2 Frankenstein monsters, 2 Royal Canadian Mounted Police, 2 Wonder Women, 2 WWI bi-planes, 2 whales, etc. Those little paintings are so splendid and fun, it feels like he just had to do a second version with an all new gag line before moving on. I note there are at least 3 Tarzan and 3 Attila jokes, and once he got going with galley slaves, well, there was just no stopping him.
Last month I slipped an index card with a note to self “Who IS this woman?” into a plastic sheet protector housing a fourth cartoon featuring the same buxom white haired (with ribbons) goddess who answers her door to feminists protestors and little leaguers alike, and who seduces both a wild west bank teller and a Hugh Hefner-like playboy. Now she’s identified by Mr. Peckmann as Mae West. My question is answered! Again, my thanks.
on 25 Feb 2010 at 6:38 am 8.Michael said …
Bill Peckmann has in his collection many more RBW cartoons and I’ll post more of them soon.
on 14 Aug 2013 at 9:01 pm 9.Alan Gordet said …
There was a cartoon in playboy in the late 70′s or early 80′s of naked female Galley slave with two roman guards with a whip saying if you think this is a great view wait till it gets bad weather. I would love to see that comic cartoon again please if possible, thank you in advance.