On this day, January 8, 1921, illustrator Lee J. Ames was born in Manhattan, New York. At 18 years old, Ames was working for Walt Disney Studios as an animator-illustrator. By the 1960s Ames was producing a series of drawing instruction books.

On this day, January 7, 1912, cartoonist Charles Addams was born in Westfield, New Jersey. Addams studied at Colgate University, the University of Pennsylvania and at the Grand Central School of Art in New York City. Early on Addams worked for True Detective magazine in the layout department and by 1938 his cartoons regularly ran in

On this day, January 6, 1958, science fiction and fantasy writer and illustrator Wayne Barlowe was born in Glen Cove, New York. He is the son of natural history artists. In addition to his sci fi and fantasy images, Barlowe has also worked on designs for movies and television.

On this day, January 5, 1957, illustrator John Cuneo was born in New Jersey. A long-time illustrator, Cuneo has worked for many of the major magazines. He has won numerous medals for his illustrations from the Society of illustrators.

On this day, January 4, 1899,  author and illustrator Nora Benjamin Kubie was born in the metropolitan New York area. She attended Bassar College and Barnard College. After college she began writing and eventually also illustrated many of her books meant for juvenile audiences.

On this day, January 3, 1976, illustrator and musician Menton J. Matthews III was born in Mississippi. He currently lives in Chicago and in addition to song writing and being a multi-instrumentalist, Matthews is a comic book artist and an illustrator.

On this day, January 2, 1919, illustrator Marshall Dawson Miller was born  in Eldorado, Oklahoma. He studied art at the Chouinard Art Institute in California. Miller did some costume design in Hollywood before working as an illustrator in many popular magazines like Collier’s and The Saturday Evening Post. His hobby of wine making turned into his

On this day, January 1, 1907, Norman Blaine Saunders was born in Minot, Minnesota. Saunders began sketching as a child recuperating from an eye accident.  After some correspondence courses, Saunders worked at Fawcett Publications. In 1934 he moved to New York City and studied at night at the Grand Central School of Art. His work for

On this day, December 31, 1978, cartoonist Basil Wolverton died in Vancouver, Washington. At age 16 Wolverton sold his first nationally published work. When he was 20 his comic strip Marco of Mars was accepted by the Independent Syndicate of New York. Eventually his work began to appear in Mad magazine.

On this day, December 30, 1967, Carl Burger died in Pleasantville, New York. After other extensive schooling, Burger studied art at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. He worked for the Boston Post drawing sports, political cartoon, and illustrations. Burger served in WWI. After the war, Burger worked as an art director