On this day, October 4, 1980, Maurice L. Bower died in New Jersey. Bower studied first at PennsylvaniaStateUniversity and then in Philadelphia at the School of Industrial Art. Bower worked for the Hearst Syndicate and then for the McCall Corp. in Paris. After the crash in 1929 he created illustrations for many of the major
Unknown Artist The Curse of Capistrano, 1919 Cover illustration for “The Curse of Capistrano” by Johnston McCulley in All-Story Weekly (August 9, 1919) Nearly a hundred years ago the pulp story writer, Johnston McCulley (1883-1958), created the masked character of Zorro, the secret identity of the nobleman, Don Diego de la Vega,
On this day, October 3, 1924, cartoonist Harvey Kurtzman was born in Brooklyn, New York. Kurtzman was also the founding editor of Mad magazine and the creator of Little Annie Fanny cartoon stories for Playboy.
On this day, October 2, 1828, illustrator Alfred Waud born in London, England and studied at Somerset House and at the Royal Academy. Upon his arrival in the U. S., Waud went to work for Harper’s Weekly and was assigned to create illustrations covering the events of the Army of the Potomac. After the war, Waud
On this day, October 1, 1872, James Allen St. John was born in Chicago, Illinois. The son of an artist, St. John studied in New York at the Art Students League and later in Paris. Back in Chicago St. John taught and created illustrations for the novels of Edgar Rick Burroughs.
On this day, September 30, 1977, Les McClaine was born in Ventura, California. After studying at the Savannah College of Art and Design, McClaine has created comic books and graphic novels including Jonny Crossbones and has worked on The Middle Man comic book and is working on The Tick.
On this day, September 29, 1960, illustrator Bessie Pease Gutmann died Centerport, New York. Best known for her illustrations of babies and children, Gutmann studied in Philadelphia and New York. She worked for Gutmann & Gutmann who specialized in fine art prints and publishing illustrated books and she married one of the firm’s brothers.
On this day, September 28, 1909, cartoonist Al Capp was born in New Haven, Connecticut. Capp based his characters for Li'l Abner on the people he met while hitchhiking through West Virginia and the Cumberland Valley when he was a teen ager. The strip Li'l Abner was launched in 1934.
On this day, September 27, 1924, illustrator and author of children’s books Bernard Waber was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. After his studies at the Philadelphia College of Art, Waber worked as a commercial artist and began illustrating and writing children’s books, including Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile.
On this day, September 26, 1879, Robert A. Graef was born in New York City. He studied at Pratt Institute and in 1896 won the 1st prize in a student competition to design a poster for Century magazine. His illustration career flourished as Graef produced images for many of the popular magazines. In the 20s his