Pretty Girls by Rasmusson

Hal Rasmusson is a cartoonist who I only know of from the Walter T. Foster cartoon books.
He draws pretty girls like a sonuvabitch.
It's nice of him to explain some of how he does it too.
He's got some real common sense advice. No hippie teacher mumbo-jumbo.

I used 2 different editions of the same book, because some of the pages overlap. The older edition (the skinny pages) has slightly better printing, but the newer one shows more of the images.
Each edition has some art that the other doesn't so I included everything for you.

That's a funny caricature he does of his own butt.
I think this (below) is actually Walter Foster imitating Rasmusson's style. He does a pretty good job of it and added a nice wash ink rendering style .
Foster couldn't resist including his interpretation of his favorite Disney movies. The guy was pretty good at a lot of different things.
I like his Jiminy Man sketches.

Ok, back to Rasmusson:

Note how using hierarchy gives him control over his poses and clear staging. Line of action, negative shapes and good construction.
His comics are well above average in skill and technique, way beyond Archie and most teen comics - even for the time. I'm amazed I have never seen any in the funny papers. I wonder if Chris or Ger can dig some up.
Look at this stuff. Cartoon gold.
The inside cover shows some of the other cartoon books Foster published. Imagine if there were actual courses like this in school? I wish I could find that "How To Draw Funnies" book. Remember when cartoons were supposed to be funny?

I guess I'll have to settle for learning to be cool.

Here is a nice double page spread from the later edition of " Modern Cartoon".

Thanks to everyone who donated in December!

Oh, here is the George Scarbo art from the same book:

Swell, huh?

George Scarbo Funny Animals

Here's a real find: The Comic Zoo by George Scarbo
I don't know anything about him except that he has a really unique and appealing style.
It's cute but bold and aggressively confident.

I love the way he draws eyes.
This pussy reminds me of the little cute one in Kitty Kornered. I bet Clampett was a fan of Scarbo. I wish he was around to ask.


I only knew about Scarbo at all because of couple of his strips are printed in Walter T. Foster's classic "The Modern Cartoon" book:
There is also a lot of great cartoon intsruction in Foster's "How To Draw Comics" book. I used to stare at the strips and wonder about them when I was a kid. They are printed in black and white in the book so I could really marvel at the great linework and striking designs.

I never thought I'd see the original color strips but thanks to the magical Chris Lopez here they are. I don't know how he, Ger, Mykal and others do it but we cartoonists owe the guys for making all this great stuff available.

http://comicrazys.com/2010/12/01/the-comic-zoo-sundays-1943-george-scarbo/