The Progress of Steel

The ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive website is always a treasure trove of preserved animation, cartooning, and illustration. Check out their recent find - a book of illustrations to accompany a John Sutherland's industrial film, Rhapsody of Steel (1959). The book is illustrated by legendary stylists Eyvind Earle (Sleeping Beauty, Pigs is Pigs) and Maurice Noble (Duck Dodgers, How The Grinch Stole Christmas) and is incredible in its textures and colors. Enjoy!

1937 Cartooning Book

Some guy named Gerald uploaded a scanned 1937 cartooning book to flickr. Points On Cartooning is a fun look at drawing "funny pictures" in the golden age. Enjoy!

Oh! And when you're done with that, check this one out too!

Toon Style

Some linky goodness to inspire you:

Dan Krall is an animation designer with a tasty retro look. He's worked on Chowder, Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends, Powerpuff Girls, Samurai Jack and more.

Lou Romano is a brilliant colorist and has worked on a lot of the same stuff as Dan until he got a little job at some place called Pixar. He's also done some voice work there, including Linguini in Ratatouille. Check out the amazing color he whipped out in a series of doodles he did in a day.

And on another note, but deliciously retro, Japanese artist Koji Tomoto (Cozy Tomato).

Charging For Your Artwork

An illustrator (or graphic artist, writer, fine artist, etc.) is an under-appreciated worker. An illustrator is a skilled worker, but often clients do not understand what "skilled" means. Here's a little story that might help:

Legend has it that Pablo Picasso was sketching in the park when a bold woman approached him.

"It's you — Picasso, the great artist! Oh, you must sketch my portrait! I insist."

So Picasso agreed to sketch her. After studying her for a moment, he used a single pencil stroke to create her portrait. He handed the women his work of art.

"It's perfect!" she gushed. "You managed to capture my essence with one stroke, in one moment. Thank you! How much do I owe you?"

"Five thousand dollars," the artist replied.

"B-b-but, what?" the woman sputtered. "How could you want so much money for this picture? It only took you a second to draw it!"

To which Picasso responded, "Madame, it took me my entire life."

If she wanted an itemized bill, it could look something like this:

Drawing and materials: $1
Experience and knowledge: $4,999

The lesson here is one must not undersell their talent. Not only is it unfair to the artist, it's unfair to the whole industry you represent.

Links:

• the lifetime behind every second
• a rates discussion on drawn
• copyright discussion on illustration friday
• artist employment advise
• Us Dept. of Labor statistics: graphic artist, artists and related