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
On this day, September 25, 1900, pulp illustrator D. H. (David Hixon) Moneypenny was born in Brooklyn, New York. He studied at the Art Students League of New York and worked for local newspapers drawing line art for advertisements. In the 1930s he began to create illustrations for pulp magazines. During WWII Moneypenny was one of
On this day, September 24, 1930, sci fi illustrator Jack Gaughan was born in Springfield, Ohio. Gaughan primarily worked with Donald A. Wollheim at Ace Books and later DAW Books, he also did illustrations for Galaxy Magazine and If magazine. Gaughan won Hugo awards several times for his illustrations.
On this day, September 23, 1987, illustrator Walter M. Baumhofer died on Long Island, New York. He studied at Pratt Institute under Dean Cornwell and H. Winfield Scott. Known as the 'king of the pulps,' Baumhofer's illustrations included covers for a variety of western novels and all 41 Doc Savage magazine covers.
On this day, September 22, 1918, illustrator, author, curator, and teacher, Richard H. “Dirk” Gringhuis was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He studied at the American Academy of Art in Chicago and after a year in New York City he returned to Michigan. Gringhuis wrote and illustrated 28 books, half on Michigan history.
On this day, September 21, 1945, children’s book author and illustrator Hans Wilhelm was born in Bremen, Germany. After living in South Africa and other places, Wilhelm settled in the United States. He has produced 200 children’s books including the Bunny Trouble series, Waldo, and Wake Up, Sun.