Merry Kat-Mas

 

 

Sheilah Beckett, 1913 – 2013

Just got the news that a great illustrator passed away yesterday.
This was posted by Sean Smith on the Facebook group "The Art of Sheilah Beckett":

To all our friends, I have some sad news. Ian's and my mother Sheilah Beckett passed away yesterday. it was quick and I feel peaceful. she was about to go and work on a piece on the computer, my brother went to turn it on and came to get her and she was gone. So she was working right up to the end! So if you do something creative keep doing it and think of her,or look at some of her work and think good thoughts and know how much it meant to her that people loved her work.

If you'r not already familiar with her work please check out Leif Peng's post on her by clicking HERE. And make sure to pick up Illustration Magazine 38 for a great selection of her work in print.

A link to follow

If you enjoy the art of Paul Fung (and the history behind newspaper comic strip artists) you'll sure enjoy this link: http://chimericaneyes.blogspot.se
Eight posts covering the history of Fung, illustrated with really rare artwork and historical pieces. I've been collecting Fung for years and most of this was new to me. Top researcher Alex Jay has done it again! :)

Billy the Mouse

Oh, just a random page of original art I picked up recently. ;)

#floydgottfredson #dickmoores #billwalsh #WCD64 #soincrediblyrare #thisshouldntevenexist

Sleeping Beauties

UPDATE: Just learned that this story and several other WDToCT stories are reprinted in the second Mickey Mouse sundays volume. Check it out HERE.

 While shuffling paper in my archive I found a small set of sunday pages called "Walt Disney's Treasury of Classic Tales". And a treasure they are!
Scripted by Floyd Gottfredson and drawn by Julius Svendsen, the story of Sleeping Beauty ran from August to December 1958.
I checked and it turned out they have never been reprinted in english! So here are a few pages from the end of the story. Enjoy!

BTW: The Treasury of Classic Tales are an overlooked part of the Disney newspaper comics legacy. Spanning from the Robin Hood story drawn by Jesse Marsh (!) in 1952* to early 1987! Art for the first ten years was made by a bunch of really talented guys: Manuel Gonzales, Bill Wright, Ken Hultgren, Floyd Gottfredson, Dick Moores and the above mentioned Marsh & Svendsen! What a line up!

(*There were actually two sunday stories in 1950 and 1951 that usually are sorted as Silly Symphonies, even though the SS sundays had ended years before. I'd say those are "prequels" to the ToCT title. )

From cover to cover

A good idea can always be used again.

Collier's April 18, 1953

Donald Duck 77, 1961.

Collier's January 1, 1938

WDC #590, 1994. (Image first used in the Netherlands 1992.)

Little Lulu #69, 1954

Tothday

Is it Friday? No, it's Tothday.
Two pieces of concept art by Alexander Toth.
(Images caught on eBay.)

The Unghunden award

It feels like I've been away from this blog too long now.
Been busy as a bee working on various projects and stuff.
And... two weeks ago I and my colleague Johanna Kristiansson got the Unghunden award for our work with comics for children!
(Mainly Katten Nils /Nils the Cat) Happy, happy! Joy, joy!
Here are a few snapshots from the award ceremony at the Gothenburg bookfair!

Photo by Charlotta Borelius

Photo by Rolf Lindby

Photo by Hedvig Häggman-Sund

Photo by Karl-Erik Lindkvist

The last Li'l Abner

I don't know if this sunday ever has seen print. But here it is. What I believe to be the last finished sunday, scheduled for November 27, 1977.

Fake $crooge

Fake Barks art can be found in the oddest of places. This piece was found on the Carl Barks Fanclub website! 

Compare it to the drawing on the cover to Uncle Scrooge in Color and you can easily see that the above piece is a rather clumsy tracing with a fake signature.

BTW: Where is this Scrooge image taken from?

Speaking of drawings that are not by Barks: The seller hailtotheseahawks recently *sold* two of the forgeries that "redwoodangels13" tried to sell some time ago on eBay. Be aware of this seller!

The Wright Mouse

Bill Peckmann was kind enough to to mail me a few more scans of Bill Wright's artwork (And a Harvey Eisenberg page.) that I thought you might enjoy.

Bill says:

"As a 7 year old kid, this MM was comic book reading at it's best! Looking at it now, there seems to be a very heavy Flash Gordon influence of the day.
 Quite an issue, Bill and Harvey Mickey Mice!"

Cover by Eisenberg. (?)

Art by Harvey Eisenberg.

DD - Specially for Sweden

Check this out! Fellow cartoonist David Liljemark just mailed me this pic of an old orange box. "Donald Duck  Specially for Sweden". Never seen any of these before. I bet very few of them have survived.

If any Donald Duck (or orange) collector wants this, David told me it's for sale! Just drop him a mail: davidliljemark /at/ comhem.se

Artist identification day

Here are two samples from an "Adventures of Tom" story that we plan to reprint later this year. (T&J #74) Now it looks like the work of Cecil Surry. But we are not sure.
Anyone who knows? Alberto? :)

Allan Kämpe is born!

Now, check this out!

Back in the 40's a rival to Alex Raymond's "Flash Gordon" was created in Sweden. The name of the comic was "Allan Kämpe" and the creator Eugen Semitjov. In this silent "documentary" short we get to see Eugen working in his studio and visiting the syndicate.

I never heard about this piece until today. What an amazing find.
Thanks to J. Smith and "Eugen Semitjovs Minnesfond" for restoring and uploading this historical piece!

Barks at Berkeley Con '73

Here's a gem that I just got from Alex Jay!
Don Ault's "On Carl Barks" from the Berkeley Con '73 program book. Enjoy!

For more of Don Ault on Carl Barks check out his interview book! Just click HERE to get it.