Carl Barks and the Seven Dwarfs

Since Carl Barks was born on this day in 1901 here's an odd piece from his days at the Disney studio. Four storyboard drawings for what seems to be the abandoned bed sequence in Snow White. (I'd guess these were drawn in late 1936 or early 1937.)

The Phantom Survey

Are you a fan of the Phantom?
If so you should check out Kevin Patrick's Phantom site and take the survey:

http://phantomcomicsurvey.wordpress.com/

"The History of The Phantom Comic Book in Australia, India and Sweden’ is a three-year research project (2011-2013) being undertaken by Kevin Patrick, a PhD candidate at Monash University (Melbourne, Australia). It will combine archival investigation, along with field research interviews and an international online audience survey, to provide a holistic account of the creation of an American comic-strip/comic-book franchise (The Phantom), and the various political, cultural and economic factors that have influenced its popualrity in its most important international markets – Australia, India and Sweden."

High C! Imagine that!

How about a Carl Barks painting from 1967?
Titled "High C! Imagine that!" and numbered #25-67.

Maybe not one of his best... But still.
Nice to see something "new" by an artist you admire.
You might want to compare it to the painting
that followed:  #26-67 "Spring in Samarkand",
and #23-67 "What a Nerve!".

More on these portraits can be found here: http://www.cbarks.dk/thefirstportraits.htm

Artist identification. Help needed.

Update: The artist is Cecil Surry. Se the comments for more info. Thanks, Alberto!

A quick question.
We're about to reprint this Tom & Jerry story from T&J #69 soon.
And we'd like to give the artist credit for his work.
Anyone (Alberto?) who knows who did the artwork for this "Adventures of Tom" story?

/Joakim.

Meow!

A sketch by Hedvig, that she left behind in my apartment today.
Asked if I could post it and she said OK. 

For more of her stuff; just click HERE.

Rare Michanek

Taking a break from work for some digging through my files, I found some promotional items drawn by Bo Michanek. I know there are fans of his artwork out there, so I hope you'll like these. Most of them are pretty rare. Seen 'em before?

Stat of a pencil sketch.

The Westerner #194, 1966 part VI

Here are pages 24 to 28 from The Westerner #194:
"Hitch Your Wagon To A Star – Famous Names Help to Sparkle Whitman Products"

The rest of #194 will follow...

Mirror, mirror, tell me true

Seen this watercolor by Barks before?
Sold at auction in oct 2007.
Titled "Mirror, mirror, tell me true".
Anyone with more info on this?
Which year was it made?
Was it made for any specific occasion/person?

The Carl Barks Paintings

I was recently asked to do a review of the new book on Barks oil paintings.
Well, you know what they say about images vs words.
Here's a set of thumbs that will give you an idea about the book.
Even if you got the Another Rainbow book this is a must have for every Barks fan.
Editor Geoffrey Blum did a fantastic job assembling paintings and rare material!
And it's thick as a brick: 416 pages!
ISBN: 9789174056969

Rowland B. Wilson's Trade Secrets

Bill Peckmann just alerted me on this book:
Rowland B. Wilson's Trade Secrets: Notes for Cartooning and Animation

Looks like a "must have" and I can't wait to grab a copy!
Click HERE to go to the Amazon listing. (Publishing date: June 20, 2012)

And while you are waiting there are lots of Rowland artwork over at Michael Sporn's Splog and on Leif Peng's Today's Inspiration to check out!

The Art of Joe Kubert

Just did a "review" of the book The Art of Joe Kubert on Amazon.com and thought I'd share it here too.

[I gave it two stars while the five other reviewers all gave it five stars.]

Only 2 stars?
Let me start with saying that this is a nice collection of scans of comic book pages and covers, plus a few complete stories from the 40's and 50's by Joe Kubert. Hard to find stuff by a great, great artist. All put in context by Bill Schelly.
It feels like reading a special Joe Kubert issue of "Alter Ego", in color with hard covers.
Nothing wrong with that.
In fact this is a perfect companion to "Man of Rock" by Schelly.
And I have to say the choice of paper used in this book is excellent!

Then why only two stars?
Well, as an "Art of" book it fails miserably.
What we get here are mostly scans from comic books.
Almost no personal works, no sketches or preliminaries etc. (A childhood drawing is the only piece reproduced in this book not related to his comic book work. And it has been previously published.) Did Kubert only draw finished comic book art and nothing else?
That's the impression you get when looking in this book.

Either Schelly didn't get access to the Kubert archives or he didn't care for unpublished artwork.
However there are 25 pieces of comic book art reproduced from original art. Of those are all but five taken from Heritage Auctions.
(Ca 200 pages of original Joe Kubert art can be viewed on their site. Check under "Reference".)
Unfortunately those pages shows traces of compression in the images, jagged lines etc. The Heritage Auctions scans are great to watch on a computer screen, but reproduction of those pages in this book leaves a lot to desire.
(Check out Mark Evanier's "Kirby: King of Comics" for how nice original art can be reproduced.)
Why not go for original Kubert comic book artwork not easily available on the net when producing a book like this?

If you, like me, expect a fantastic book like "B. Krigstein" by Greg Sadowski, the above mentioned Kirby book or a stunning art book like Dean Mullaney's "Caniff" you will be disappointed. The title "The Art of" is simply mis-leading in this case.
But if you are looking for a nice companion book to "Man of Rock" you can add two stars to mine.

Links to the other books mentioned above:
Man of Rock: A Biography of Joe Kubert
B. Krigstein, Volume 1
Kirby: King of Comics
Caniff HC

Loomis week...

... is almost over but here are a few odd items, that I guess only the hardcore Loomis collectors are aware of. Enjoy!

May 17, 1931

September 13, 1931

The Dionne Quintuplets "Out For Fun", 1951

For more Andrew Loomis make sure to grab Illustration Magazine #20!
And if you don't have the old Looms books Titan Books are now reprinting them as facsimile editions. Check them out by clicking HERE.

This Week ...

... continues.

April 16, 1939

Tomorrow: No more "This Week", but a few other goodies.

This Week ...

... is soon coming to an end.
But not yet.

This Week ...

You know what?

August 4, 1940

It's still This Week week!
(And, yes, it's still Andrew Loomis artwork gracing the covers.)