Photo 365 - Day 239 (Meeting The Mustache)

Day 238 (February 27th, 2011)
Title: Meeting The Mustache

If you saw my earlier Daily Artist post, you will know that I was lucky enough to meet one of my favorite artist recently, Sergio Aragonés.  He's a great cartoonist (Mad Magazine and Groo), that I've been reading and laughing too for as long as I can remember.  He was one of the guest at this years WonderCon in San Francisco - and was one of the major factors that got me to go!  If you ever get the chance to meet the man (and the mustache), I would highly recommend it.  He is very friendly and nice, and can draw cartoons at the speed of light.

Tech-bits: Being that I'm in this picture, I was unable to control all of the settings - but prop's to Theresa for making sure Sergio was in focus!  I'm out of focus because I didn't step forward a bit to be on the same focal plane as Sergio - So remember kids, when using a wide apature (f/2.0 in this case), make sure all of your elements are on the same focal plane! 

Enjoy!

Artist of the Day - Day 21 - Hanna-Barbera

“Hanna-Barbera”; Master Cartoonists, Keepers of the Picnic Basket.

William Hanna and Joseph Barbera were without a doubt, two of the most influential cartoonists in the history of animation.  Basically, if you watched a cartoon from 1960s-1990s, it was most likely created by this duo.  It would take a mighty list to go over all the cartoons they have created, but my top five are: (in no particular order) Tom and Jerry, The Flintstones, Yogi Bear, Snorks and The Jetsons. 

With all of today’s CGI and computer-assisted cartoons, it’s difficult to remember that there was a time when these 30-min adventures were all hand-drawn by people who loved their craft.  It’s also hard to imagine two people who provided me so much entertainment after school while I was growing up (and so many great memories, 25 years later).

Wikipedia
Hanna-Barbera Cartoon Database

Artist of the Day - Day 20 - Stephan Pastis

Stephan Pastis; Artist, Lawyer, Rat Lover

For today’s artist, I’m picking a cartoonist, Mr. Stephan Pastis.   Some folks don’t believe that cartoonist are “real” artist and they are just doodling.  While that might be true, even DaVinci doodled (course, his doodles are worth a zillion bucks).  The reason that I’m featuring Mr. Pastis is because of two reasons, firstly sometimes art really is just a scribble or doodle.  If doodling and the like is the method you want to use to express yourself, go for it!  Don’t feel you need to paint a giant 40’ church to be an ‘artist’.  Secondly, I love comics (aka: “the funnies”).  I remember growing up and reading some of the greats: Bloom County, Calvin and Hobbes, Garfield, Far Side.   There was that great anticipation of reading the dailies and just getting to that one (or, if I was lucky, two) comics that just made me laugh-out-loud.  It was that perfect “bite” of humor that would help me get through a bad day or be the cherry on top of a perfect day. 

Mr. Pastis, creator of Pearls Before Swine, has created one of those types of comics.  Sometimes I’ll read one and it will just be so funny I can’t stop laughing and all day I’ll have a silly grin on my face.  I’ll cut such a gem and decorate my walls or door with it, so as to share that little rectangle of art to others. 

I recommend you read Pearls (and all the other comics on the ‘funny page’ as well), because let’s be honest, we could all use a little rectangle of art that makes us laugh in our lives. 

 

Wikipedia
Stephan Pastis Blog

Artist of the Day - Day 19 - Shel Silverstein

Shel Silverstein; Poet, Writer, and Exactlywatt.

Growing up, there were two key writers that had a great influence on motivating me to read, Dr. Seuss and She Silverstein.  As a “youngin’”, I (with some parental help) read Seuss over and over again, building the drive and desire to read more.  Once I got a bit older and was able to tackle books by myself, I migrated to Silverstein.  Silverstein’s stories and poems were great fun to read.  He was a master of using language in such a way that his writings didn’t feel “dumbed down” for kids but were still fun to read, for the imagery and worlds they created.  At the same time the stories had elements that might be missed by younger readers that really engaged the adults (he had stories about children disobeying parents, death, etc.)  I would have a hard time finding someone who has read “The Giving Tree” not get emotional while reading it.  I also find it particular amusing, during the late 1950’s he was Playboy magazine’s top cartoonist.  Who knows where the roads we take will lead us… perhaps to the end of the sidewalk. 

Wikipedia
Shel Silverstein Homepage