Gene Colan - and Realistic Artists Drawing Cartoons

I loved many kinds of comics when I was a kid. Not only cartoony comics, but superhero comics too. When I was real young I loved DC comics- Superman and Batman. These were the bland superheroes! I was a bland little boy until I discovered the joys of weirdness. I thought the "Marvel style" was too bizarre looking and harsh until I was about 10 and my friend Tommy King forced me to read a bunch of Kirby comics and then I was hooked. (He also made me tell his family I had accepted Jesus in my heart!) I soon discovered the extreme weirdness and the quirky styles of all the Marvel artists. My favorites were Kirby, Ditko and Gene Colan.

The Marvel style differed from the other "realistic" comics in that they were really dynamic. The artists drew difficult angles and wild powerful poses.Compare these Colan covers to my favorite DC comic, World's Finest.Pretty stiff and awkward! (like today's cartoons). They are funny as Hell though.
(Later, DC started imitating Marvel and introduced more dynamic artists like Neal Adams into their stable. The modernized more serious DC comics to me aren't as fun as the more naive corny ones.)
The Marvel comics were much more alive and full of crazy action.
Each Marvel artist had a really unique style-and Stan Lee promoted that in the comics! Most comics didn't even credit the artists in the 60s. Stan boldly bragged about them. Stan Lee did lots of other brilliant things too and I'll talk about them in a later post.
Colan has a really unique style and it'd take a better man than me to define it. But I could see it all the way across the drugstore.


I was completely jealous (and still am) of the best "realistic artists" because they could draw really difficult things that are outside the realm of most cartoonists. They had to be able to draw not only realistic (sort of) humans, they had to be able to draw them from crazy angles and had to be able to draw every imaginable type of background.

Animated cartoon artists tend to be specialized. Some draw characters, some draw backgrounds, someone else paints them. The odd guy like Jim Smith can do it all, but he's an exception. Bob Camp is another.

In the mid 60s at the height of "The Marvel Age" and popularity, Stan grew so confident in his success, that he started a comic title that made fun of not only the other superhero comics, but his own. (it was largely inspired by Harvey Kurtzman's Mad Comics of the 50s)

I loved "Not Brand Echh"

It was a strange invention. It was a comic that was drawn by the same Marvel "realistic artists" in a cartoony style. A lot of "realistic" artists can't really crossover, but some of them can. Gene Colan drew some great funny superheroes.
They aren't as cartoony as a cartoon specialist, but they are much more alive than most straight comics. The poses are much more natural - specific and defined.
Colan is not afraid of any camera angle. You see angles like this in some modern animated features and they look awkward as hell and unnatural. The animators aren't used to drawing this realistic way -even when they are forced to by the executives.
Look how solid the characters are from every angle. Impressive!
To be continued...



As you can see, I'm not opposed to more realistic cartoon art at all. If it could look that good and natural in animation I'd be all for it. It hardly ever has and there are numerous practical reasons for that. The producers of realistic style animation are anything but practical though so it never works.

Here's a preview of the great Jack Kirby's cartoony style. Coming Soon!

Dan Gordon Does Chicks

Sherm let me know that Dan Gordon did a teen comic calledI had never seen these before and I love the way he draws the girls!

Go to Sherm's site and see more pages and get a link to download some free comics!
http://cartoonsnap.blogspot.com/2007/08/dan-gordons-cookie-comics.html

Thanks Sherm!


DAN GORDON'S SUPERKAT

Ballantine- Principles, Design Sense, Assorted Influences

I found this book at a sale the other day and it is illustrated by someone named Ballantine. I don't know anything about the artist but I really like him (her?) and can deduce a few things from his cartoons.
Strong Principles: His cartoons show that he has had solid training. His compositions are organized and handsome. His poses are natural, yet exaggerated. He uses negative space to draw attention to the positive images. His drawings are organic, use line of action, clear silhouettes, perspective. His shapes are varied, imaginative, appealing and fun. He is impressively skilled.
Design Sense: He has a strong and personal sense of design, although it's obvious he has influences. He tries different styles in different illustrations.

Varied Influences: He is influenced by many artists and life itself.
There are certain artists who have developed powerfully recognizable styles that have followers who do their utmost to imitate their heroes' styles.

Jamie Hewlett
Al Hirschfeld
Mort Drucker
Ronald Searle
Frank Frazetta
Disney
etc.

Each of these artists has a huge assortment of their own inspirations and heroes, but many of their followers struggle to merely imitate the surface details of these complex creators-and it's always obvious when you see it.

"Oh, that's someone copying Mort Drucker", or "Let's See, how does Hirschfeld draw arms again?" or "We're doing this cartoon in the "Spumco style." etc.

Jack Kirby was probably influenced by Milton Caniff, but nobody would accuse him of being a Caniff imitator. Kirby invented tons of things and was in turn imitated by an army of followers- some who are just imitators, others who were inspired and developed their own styles. Barry Smith, for instance started by emulating many Kirby techniques but soon developed a really amazing and original style of his own.

There is a big difference between being inspired and influenced by a lot of artists, and just copying the superficial aspects of one or 2 heroes.

Superficial style imitation second-guesses how someone else would draw something and severely restricts the range of ideas and images you can create. It's self-censorship.
When I look at Ballantine, I see possible influences from Searle, Hirschfeld and others. But Ballantine still has his own style(s) and still takes in tons of information from the world around him and mixes it all together with his own opinion and personality-his "style".

Look at this very designy forced perspective. Beautiful!

In order to be able to truly express yourself and have a personality and style in your work, you need to:

1) Know how to draw- principles (principles aren't style!)
2) Have a wide variety of influences and interests- don't just imitate a "style" you like
3) Keep your eyes open-look at the world, people, animals, things - let the world be your style, don't filter what you see through how you think cartoons are supposed to look

I'm trying my best to help anyone who would like to have strong controls over their pencils. I hope it benefits someone out there. Maybe even I'll be able to take advantage of it someday and make cartoons with other like-minded artists who would want a director to encourage them to put their personalities into the scenes - as long as you have functional principles first!




****Blammo sent us this audio interview with Bill Ballantine:

http://wiredforbooks.org/billballantine/index.htm

Apology to Eddie's Brain

Eddie said the Aladdin/Pocahontas/Filmation pictures depressed him for hours last night so here are some new images to wash away the dirty pictures I put in his brain.

Dan Gordon Funny Animal Comics

DAN GORDON DRAWS FUN

Dan Gordon is a great example of a pure cartoonist. I don't know a heck of a lot about him. He was an animator, storyboard artist (writer) and director for the Fleischers and Famous studios in the 30s and early 40s. He disappears from animated cartoon credits for almost 15 years.

He drew lots of really fun comic books in the 1940s and I collect them.

He has an elusive appeal in his drawings. They aren't perfectly constructed or particularly careful, but the characters all seem really alive and motivated from within. They believe in their little adventures and play their parts with gusto.

A lot of animators in the 40s and 50s drew comic books on the side and it's really interesting to see how they drew when they didn't have to conform to the studio style or the director's style.http://kinky-boot-beast.blogspot.com/2006/12/comic-book-scans.html

Ken Hultgren drew well and perfectly professionally and in a similar style to Dan Gordon's but it lacks the pure fun element in Dan's comics. It's like an illustrator who has been taught to draw cartoons for a living. Chuck Jones' animators drew comics and they are somewhat bland by comparison.
A HANDSOME PAGE FROM A KEN HULTGREN COMIC

Anyway, here's Dan-as pure a cartoonist who ever held a pencil. This is a guy who is nice to kids.

Thanks to my pal, Tara, who gave me this comic!
http://kinky-boot-beast.blogspot.com/2006/12/giggle-december-1943.html









Here's more Dan Gordon from Kent Butterworth's collection!
http://potulentpalaver.blogspot.com/2007/01/john-k-wrote-about-dan-gordon-today-so.html

Dan later became one of the key creative founders of Hanna Barbera's TV cartoon studio. I have seen a few of his storyboard panels and his drawings of Ed Benedict's characters are great. Stylish and sooo cartoony and fun to look at.

If anyone has any, PLEASE post them and I will link to you!