On this day, December 24, 1983, pulp illustrator Rudolph Belarski died in Westport, Connecticut. Belarski studied art through the International Correspondence School, Inc., and then at Pratt in Brooklyn. In the 30s he produced pulp covers. After the war he created paperback covers and then worked for men’s adventure magazines. He also became an instructor at
On this day, December 23, 1919, Robert T. McCall was born in Columbus, Ohio. Always fascinated with planes, McCall studied art in Columbus and served in the Army Air Force during WWII. After he created illustrations and began producing science fiction images for the pulps. In 1957 he went to Cape Canaveral to paint at the
On this day, December 22, 1939, illustrator Jerry Pinkney was born in the Germantown section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Pinkney trained at the Philadelphia Museum College of Art in the field of graphic arts. Eventually Pinkney found his focus in creating beautiful illustrations for African American and African stories and fables.
On this day, December 21, 1956, Steve Rude was born in Madison, Wisconsin. He studied art at the Milwaukee School of Art and Design, the University of Wisconsin, and the Madison Area Technical College. Working with Mike Baron, they created Nexus in 1981. Rude has also worked on Space Ghost, Johnny Quest, Spiderman: Lifeline, and Captain
On this day, December 20, 1966, illustrator, writer, and editor Oskar Lebeck died in LaJolla, California. After emigrating to the U. S. in 1930, Lebeck worked as a stage designer, industrial designer, and a writer and illustrator of children’s books. In 1938 he was hired as an art director and managing editor for Dell comic books.
On this day, December 19, 1939, illustrator Gertrude Alice Kay died Alliance, Ohio. Born in Ohio, Kay studied illustration at the Philadelphia Museum School of Design and then with Howard Pyle at Drexel Institute. In addition to being a popular illustrator, Kay also wrote some of the articles and stories she illustrated.
On this day, December 18, 1889, artist and illustrator Arthur Roy Mitchell was born in Trinidad City, Colorado. As a young man, Mitchell drew political cartoons for his newspaper. After service in WWI, Mitchell studied in New York at the Grand Central School of Art and worked producing western images for pulp magazines.
On this day, December 17, 1917, illustrator Earl Sherwan was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Sherwan studied at the Layton School of Art in Milwaukee. In the 1940s he began to produce illustrations for pulp books and magazines. Sherwan later produced many popular animal illustrations. He wrote and illustrated various books including, Mask, the Door County Coon.
On this day, December 16, 1956, illustrator E. B. (Earl Bradley) Lewis was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. While still in grade school Lewis began attending the Saturday morning Temple University School of Art League and later he went to college at Temple and then worked as an art teacher. By the early 1990s Lewis was producing
On this day, December 15, 1966, Walt Disney died in Burbank, California. While in high school, Disney began his art study at the Schoolof the Art Institute of Chicago. After serving for the Red Cross in WWI, Disney began his career as an advertising cartoonist. His first animated cartoon were created in 1920. Mickey Mouse was