On this day, August 21, 1929, comic book artist and colorist Marie Severin was born in East Rockaway, New York. She studied for a short time at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. Severin began working for EC Comics as a colorist in the late 40s. She also worked for Marvel Comics in production. Severin was Marvel’s head
On this day, August 20, 1880, illustrator Walter Hunt Everett was born in Haddonfield, New Jersey. Everett studied at the Howard Pyle School of Art in Wilmington, Delaware and as early as 1904 began providing illustrations for The Saturday Evening Post. Everett also established the illustration department at the Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Art.
On this day, August 19, 1877, illustrator Frank Earle Schoonover was born in Oxford, New Jersey. Instead of entering the ministry as his parents had wanted, Schoonover studied with Howard Pyle at Drexel Institute in Philadelphia. Like other Pyle students, Schoonover often travelled to the places he would illustrate, giving his illustration work a grounding in
On this day, August 18, 1943, illustrator Richard Bober was born in Elizabeth New Jersey. Bober studied at Pratt Institute and at the Art Students League in New York. He is known for his cover illustrations for thriller and fantasy-related paperbacks.
On this day, August 17, 1956, comic book artist John Romita Jr. was born in New York City. JRJR, as he is known, focused on being an artist like his father, Spider-Man artist John Romita Sr. JRJR made his first contribution to Marvel Comics at the age of 13. He has contributed to Iron Man, Spider-Man,
On this day, August 16, 1892, Otto Messmer was born in West Hoboken (now, Union City), New Jersey. Messmer studied at the Thomas School of Art in New York City. He began his career creation illustrations for fashion catalogs. Inspired by Winsor McCay, Messmer began making comics for local newspapers. He created the proto-type of Felix
On this day, August 15, 1994, pulp illustrator Richard Lillis died in New York City. After WWI, Lillis studied art at the Art Students League. His first pulp cover illustration appeared on West Magazine in 1929. Lillis was a friend of Ralph DeSoto and he worked as a studio assistant and posed as a model to
On this day, August 14, 2011, illustrator, animator, and graphic designer Saul Mandel died in New York. Over his career Mandel created many advertising illustrations for a wide variety of companies. Among his most iconic creations are the Jolly Green Giant and the Puppy Love stamps for the U. S. Post Office in 1986.
On this day, August 13, 1874, illustrator Frederick Stewart Manning was born in Port Huron, Michigan. Early on he worked as a cartoonist for the Colorado Springs Gazette in Colorado. After working in Denver and Chicago, Manning moved to New York City where he worked creating advertising illustrations and sheet music illustrations.
On this day, August 12, 2001, pulp illustrator Harry Barton died. He studied at the Art Students League in New York. In the 50s Barton began producing pulp covers and covers for digests and paperback books.