By: Jerry Beck,
on 3/22/2016
Feature animation story artist Matt Jones shares some advice he picked up from one of the greatest illustrators of all time.
The post 6 Drawing Lessons That ‘Inside Out’ Story Artist Matt Jones Learned From Ronald Searle appeared first on Cartoon Brew.
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By: Jerry Beck,
on 4/30/2014
For the past few days on Cartoon Brew's Instagram account, we've been running a series called 25 Cartoonists You Should Know. The entire series is below, and yes, the list could easily be twice as long and still incomplete.
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By: Jerry Beck,
on 7/3/2013
The work of British illustration icon Ronald Searle, who passed away two years ago at the age of 91, has influenced countless illustrators, designers, cartoonists, and animators for the past sixty years. One of the artists who can claim to being inspired is veteran story artist Matt Jones, who works at Pixar by day and curates the Ronald Searle Tribute blog by night.
What sets Matt apart from the average fan is that he became friends with Searle during the last years of his life, visiting him numerous times in the south of France and exchanging frequent letters. Now, Jones has hatched a plan to shine greater attention onto Searle’s work in the United States by staging the first-ever West Coast art show of Searle’s artwork. The show, “Searle in America,” will exhibit the drawings that Searle made in America while on reportage assignments for Holiday magazine, like this view of American sailors in Honolulu:
…or this view of a slot player in Las Vegas:
Jones is collaborating on the exhibit with San Francisco’s Cartoon Art Museum. However, the cost of shipping Searle’s artwork from Europe and printing a catalogue are prohibitively expensive for the non-profit museum. To help raise money for the show, they are organizing an auction of new illustrations and paintings inspired by Searle. The Cartoon Art Museum will begin the auction later this month on eBay and all the money raised will go directly toward the costs of presenting the show.
I’m rooting for them to pull this off because it’ll provide a benefit to the entire visual arts community on the West Coast who will have an opportunity to see Searle’s original artwork. Jones is inviting artists to mail their own Searle-inspired contributions for the auction by July 15th. For more details, you can contact him via this page.
Here’s a preview of some of the artwork that will be auctioned, a lot of it which is created by artists who work in the animation industry:
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By: Jerry Beck,
on 5/6/2013
Francesca Natale is a Vancouver-based character designer and illustrator who has created work for Rainmaker Entertainment, Laika, Reel FX and Nerd Corps, among other studios.
In a blog post, she discusses some aspects of the graphic style of Ronald Searle and tries out a few drawings of her own exploring his sensibilities. The result is some likable dragons.
See more of Francesca’s work on her blog that includes concept sketches and fully rendered character illustrations.
By: John Mark Boling,
on 4/25/2013
Welcome back to the Overlook Press Employee Spotlight Series! Looking for some insight into how the publishing process works? You've come to the right place. Over the last year and a half we've introduced designers, contract managers, editors, sales staff, and publicists, all in the hopes of better acquainting blog readers with our team, as well as educating fans about the methods behind our
By: Nicola,
on 12/21/2012
Who’s Who (and its sister publication, Who Was Who) has traditionally included entries for the cream of British society, and in this festive season, the Who’s Who team have come up with a theoretical dinner party where key people from all areas of life, alive and dead, could come together to solve the world’s problems.
Where else could you find a table where Roald Dahl, Winston Churchill, Steve Jobs, Clare Balding, Dame Judi Dench, Michael Palin, Caitlin Moran, and Richard Ayoade might rub shoulders, looked after with tender care by Rick Stein and renowned bon viveur Oliver Reed, and hosted at Blenheim Palace by the Duke of Marlborough?
In a classic game of six (or in this case seven) degrees of separation, can you spot the links between Martin Luther King, Barack Obama, Dominic Mohan, Mary Berry, Leon McCawley, Ronald Searle, Christine Lagarde, Ivor Novello, right back round to Martin Luther King?
Who’s Who is the essential directory of the noteworthy and influential in every area of public life, published worldwide, and written by the entrants themselves. Who’s Who 2013 includes autobiographical information on over 33,000 influential people from all walks of life. The 165th edition includes a foreword by Arianna Huffington on ways technology is rapidly transforming the media.
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Image credit: Christmas pudding photograph by esp_imaging via iStockphoto.
The post Who’s Who dinner party quiz appeared first on OUPblog.
By: Jerry Beck,
on 8/10/2012
Animation veteran Uli Meyer is on a mission: capturing the vivid graphic style of illustration legend Ronald Searle in animation. Recreating Searle’s style in movement is the animator’s equivalent of climbing Mount Everest. Many have tried, but few have reached the summit.
Meyer succeeded admirably a couple years back when he produced a brief animation test of Searle’s St. Trinian’s girls. The piece, posted above, earned him the personal blessing of Searle who allowed Meyer “‘carte blanche’ to develop a story based on his cartoons, as long as it would stay true to his original vision and. . .his vivid graphic style.”
Meyer announced today that he plans to produce a half-hour St. Trinian’s featurette. Further, it will be in his words, “a fully animated film in the classical sense, hand-drawn, with pen and ink, and not a single Wacom pen in sight.” In other words, he’s doing everything right already.
Follow the making of the film by reading Uli’s production diary.
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By: John,
on 8/14/2011
Ronald Searle New Yorker covers, anyone?
By: Jerry Beck,
on 4/8/2011
We’ve been meaning to post this for a long time: Energetically Yours (1957). An industrial film about the history of mankind’s use of energy, it was produced for the Standard Oil Company and directed by UPA co-founder Dave Hilberman – with animation production supervised at both Playhouse Pictures (by Bill Melendez) and Quartet Films (under Art Babbitt).
The film stands apart due to its design by British illustrator Ronald Searle, perfectly translating his unique style of drawing to animation. Sorry this copy of the film is so faded… to see some behind the scenes photos, artwork (with the correct color) and to read more information on the film, I highly recommend this post at Matt Jones’ Searle tribute blog, Perpetua.
And yes, that’s Marvin Miller doing the narration.
(Thanks, J.M. Urbina)
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By: Eric Orchard,
on 3/9/2011
By: Emily Smith Pearce,
on 2/1/2011
You know the Brothers Grimm, but maybe you haven’t heard of some other famous German brothers: Max and Moritz. They’re some of the most beloved characters in all of German literature.
Published in 1865, Max and Moritz is the story of two naughty brothers whose adventures range from mischievous to vicious. Their darkly comical story is told in a series of seven pranks, and in the end….well, let’s just say they don’t get away with their crimes. It’s not exactly a Disney fairy tale.
The subversive humor of the book and the boys’ flippancy toward adults represented a departure in the children’s literature of the time, which was strictly moralistic.
The book’s action-filled sequential line drawings are paired with relatively little text. It’s widely believed that Max and Moritz was the direct inspiration for the Katzenjammer Kids, the ”oldest American comic strip still in syndication and the longest-running ever.” (from Wikipedia)
The other day I made a date with myself to go to the Wilhelm Busch Museum here in Hannover. The creator of Max and Moritz, illustrator and poet Wilhelm Busch, lived in and around Hannover for several years of his life. The museum is located on the edge of the royal Herrenhauser Gartens. It’s my favorite kind of museum: small, intimate, a beautiful space with really strong exhibits. It houses some of the original Max and Moritz sketches—I love seeing the rough beginnings of things.
Here’s the museum below:
The museum also hosts temporary exhibits of illustration and caricature, and I was lucky enough to catch the show of Lisbeth Zwerger, famed Austrian illustrator. I’ve been a fan of her whimsical fairy tale illustrations for a long time, so it was really interesting to see them in person. Along with German and English editions of Max and Moritz, I couldn’t resist getting Zwerger’s Noah’s Ark, also in the original German—I guess it’ll be good for my language skills.
Also on display, and equally interesting, was a large retrospective show of influential British carticature artist Ronald Searle. I snapped a quick pic of this machine in the corner of the gallery:
What do you think it is? I’m guessing it’s a hygrometer to make sure the air doesn’t get too damp and damage the artwork, but I don’t know.
I can’t wait to get back to the museum for the next exhibits.
The Max and Moritz image above, which is in the public domain, was found at wikipedia. Information in this post com
By: Betsy Bird,
on 10/11/2010
With Noonoo and Nada and Nell…
No. Wait. Scratch that. But I have been to a couple of marvelous parties as of late. Under normal circumstances I don’t mention them all that often, but this week I’ll make an exception. [Note: If you don’t like party posts, avoid this one at all costs. Even if it does involve Lemony Snicket on a merry-go-round built for two . . .).
The two parties were very different, but of great interest to all parties involved. The first I will mention was the party held last week to which all Kidlit Drink Night attendees were invited. Mr. Robert Forbes (yes, THAT Mr. Forbes) was kind enough to invite us to attend a little soiree at The Forbes Gallery here in New York City. Why would he want grimy children’s literature people mucking up his space? Well, Mr. Forbes recently published a book of children’s poetry called Let’s Have a Bite, illustrated by the illustrious Ronald Searle.
Now, I had never been to the Forbes Galleries. Truth be told, I had no idea that they were (A) open to the public and (B) awesome. In point of fact, they are both. And if you happen to be interested in visiting (which I highly recommend) I would suggest that you do so before November 22nd. You see, until that moment in time the galleries have a magnificent selection of toy soldiers, toy boats, and old Monopoly games on display. And what a display! There is an art to their presentation. A skill to the little hidden rooms in which you will locate them. To top it all off, there was a retrospective of Searle’s from the last 40-50 odd years. Should you be nowhere near New York right now, much of that same work is visible in this recent interview he conducted:
And what of the book itself? Well, a special side room exists in the Galleries of the work Searle did for Mr. Forbes’s newest. The two collaborated back in 2007 on a similar book called Beastly Feasts. Both books contain poems with accompanying illustrations. In what I imagine must be very much the spirit in which Mr. Searle works, Mr. Forbes served us lots of tiny food made out of the very animals featured in the poems. Grilled octopus, turtle of some sort, as well as a little cheese fondue that was liable to tempt you into thinking that you’d never had anything quite so good ever before (a little mouse appears in each of the paintings in Mr. Forbes’s book).
As for Mr. Forbes himself I was rather expecting him to look like his portrait here:
By: Julie Fortenberry,
on 3/3/2010
Ronald Searle at 90
thanks to Drawn
By: John,
on 3/3/2010
One of the greats, Ronald Searle, turns 90 today. Searle’s unmistakable and influential pen line has decorated countless books and magazines. At 90 years old, the drawings still flow from his hand in his studio in the south of France. Here’s a new interview conducted to celebrate the milestone:
Your take-home quote from the interview: “The moment it is successfull, kill it.”
Oh how I wish I could visit the exhibit of Searle’s work that opens today at The Cartoon Museum in London. And even then, Searle’s complete archive of sketchbooks, drawings, and his personal library, will find a home in the Wilhelm-Busch Museum in Hanover, Germany.
For more, you can’t go wrong with the brilliant and image-rich blog, the Ronald Searle Tribute Blog, and our own posts tagged Ronald Searle here on Drawn!.
Richard Thompson, whose own work shows the undeniable influence of Searle’s, has some nice things to say on the occasion, and shares a link to another recent interview.
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By: Lynne Chapman,
on 2/14/2010
The biggest problem with illustrating greetings cards was having to come up with fresh ideas for occasions that have only a limited amount of icons to bounce off. At least Christmas has quite a few (trees, Santa, stars, angels, crackers, puddings, presents, reindeer etc etc...) but Valentine's Day was the pits - how many times can you rework hearts, flowers and cuddles?!
By: John Mark Boling,
on 1/15/2008
Robert Forbes, author of Beastly Feasts! A Mischievous Menagerie in Rhyme, recently paid a visit to the Palm Beach Day Academy in Palm Beach, Florida. A crowd of 150 second-through-seventh graders were delighted with the mischiveous rhymes, reports Jan Sjostrom in a feature article in The Palm Beach Daily News. Theater students from the Alexander W. Dreyfoos, Jr. Schoool of Arts were also on hand to give an interpretation of the poems. Now that's a thought, could Beastly Feasts! The Movie be coming soon to a theater near you?
By: John Mark Boling,
on 1/4/2008
Columnist Betty Woodward salutes Beastly Feasts! on Grandparents.com: "Subtitled A Mischievous Menagarie in Rhyme, Beastly Feasts! is a collection of delicious rhymes about animals, loving and not so-so-loving. There are plenty among the 40-odd poems that will appeal to grandchildren ages 7 and younger such as "The Rhinosaurus." The slightly older set will appreciate the more sophisticated poems, such as "Ode on a Fishbowl" that describes the perennial standoff between cat and goldfish. I could go on quoting these luscious little poems, but they are best read aloud to your grandchildren. They'll eat up the madcap creature illustrations by cartoonist Ronald Searle. Add the search fo the secret beast hidden within each drawing and you have the makings of a repeat read for years to come."
By: Venetia Butterfield,
on 11/26/2007
Searle was released at the end of the war, after three and a half years of captivity, returned to London and became an incredibly prolific and funny artist. He became famous first for the St Trinian’s series (I have happy memories of repeatedly reading my parents’ copy of his St Trinian’s collection Back to the Slaughterhouse) and then for the miraculous Molesworth books, with texts written by Geoffrey Willans: Down with Skool!: A Guide to School Life for Tiny Pupils and Their Parents, How to be Topp, Whizz for Atomms and Back in the Jug Agane. I’m sure that while running Penguin Modern Classics I have published several more intellectually coherent and searingly powerful works, but getting these books back into print (as a one-volume complete Molesworth) was by miles the most enjoyable thing I did.
The films based on the world Searle created in the St Trinian’s cartoons began in 1954 with The Belles of St Trinian’s with Alastair Sim in the drag role of the headmistress (now taken by Rupert Everett in the new film). The rest of the cast was a chaotic mass of British comic actors - Sid James, George Cole, Irene Handl, Joyce Grenfell and so on – and while it has dated in some ways it maintains a lunatic idiocy that makes it still very funny. There were three sequels which can be less whole-heartedly recommended.
Now to celebrate the new film we have put together all of Searle’s St Trinian’s drawings, some not seen for many years, into a single volume just called St Trinian’s.
Searle is a total hero. He has made life for very many people much more enjoyable for sixty years and the new film is a great opportunity to celebrate a strange, unique figure. He is still painting and drawing, living in France (where he moved in the early 1960s), now aged 87. This Christmas it would be actively dysfunctional not to give your friends copies of the new Penguin St Trinian’s.
Simon Winder - Publishing Director, Penguin Press
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By: John Mark Boling,
on 9/30/2007
By: John Mark Boling,
on 9/20/2007
By: John Mark Boling,
on 9/19/2007
Opening this week at The Forbes Gallery in New York is a magnificent new exhibition of the work of legendary caricaturist Ronald Searle. The exhibit features the orginal drawings that illustrate Overlook's new children's book by Robert L. Forbes, Beastly Feasts: A Mischievious Menagerie in Rhyme, and a retrospective of Searle's career, "Ronald Searle: A Lifetime of Drawing." The exhibition is on dispaly September 19, 2007 - March 15, 20008. One of the great illustrators of our generation, Searle's amazing cartoons of the St.Trinian's boarding school will be collected in a new book published by The Rookery Press in January 2008, coinciding with the major motion picture release of St. Trinians's, starring Rupert Everett, Mischa Barton, and Colin Firth.
By: Betsy Bird,
on 1/16/2007
Cool.
Mr. Mo recently saw a Saul Steinberg exhibit that contained some work by Ronald Searle as well. Apparently Mr. Searle inspired the above work shown here by Mr. Mo. I do love me my Searle. Saw a whole lunatic exhibit of his work in London roughly 8 years ago. It may have been at the Tate. I can't remember. In any case, I do love artistic cross-pollination like this.
The machine in the corner probably provides a record of humidity and temperature levels in the building.
GD Bob