Howie Post Drawing Like Owen Fitzgerald!

HOWIE POST DOES STARLET OHARA STYLEBTW, something fun is happening tomorrow. I'll tell you about it after it happens. Maybe you'll find it on your own.

Cute Animals

Incidental Character Designs By Post

As has been pointed out and acknowledged, Warren Kremer created the Harvey comics house style that the other cartoonists followed. This makes it a bit hard to tell the different artists apart. All the main characters are basically the same design. Little Audrey is Casper with ears and clothes and hair. One way to tell the different artists apart is to look at the incidental characters in the

Gnarly Tree Shafts

Here is the dissected anatomy of a tree shaft - it's made of subordinate tubes that cling together to make the bigger form.Here are some good and rude trees to practice hierarchy on.2 CONTRASTING URGES MAKE THE TREE'S FORMHere the sub tubes are wrenched apart. The feeling I get from the form of trees is that they are constructed out of opposing forces. One major force is trying to hold all the

Howie Post Trees, Cottages and Outdoor Scenes

Howie's details - like the leaves and bark on the trees are swell, but they are subservient to the larger shapes in the composition. Post makes sure he arranges the biggest shapes in relationship to each other first: Tree, sky house, character, ground - all these balance really nicely against each other. Once he has that balance, he wraps the details around the larger shapes.In that big fat solid

Swipe File : House Interiors, Howie Post

Swipe File: Howie Post Exteriors

A lot of artists keep "swipe files" for reference. Kirby and Wood used to talk about it. No one knows what everything looks like and an organized swipe file of photos and other artists' interpretations of things is handy reference.I am not good at drawing backgrounds or coming up with interesting camera angles. Howie Post is a great reference for me. He has already done all the work of studying

3/4 left to right camera angle VS Over the Shoulder Shots

Cartoon scenes are most often staged with all the characters looking at each other, each drawn at a 3/4 angle.Does it make sense? When you talk to your friend, do you each look askance at each other, or do you look directly at each other?Good cartoonists like Howie Post can make it look natural - but when Saturday Morning cartoons developed fear and conservatism to the point where everyone was

Opposing Poses in 2 and 3 different dimensions

If you wanna make your characters seem alive and aware of each other's presence it's good to balance their poses against each other so that they are reacting to each other. Try to have their lines of action vary in strength and direction.USE NEGATIVE SPACE!If one character is doing the acting - have the other character reacting to it in a less dynamic but still active pose. It's a good trick to

Silhouettes Speak Volumes

Both Post and Fitzgerald are good at drawing clear silhouettes. The difference?Post's 2 characters are on one flat plane lined up right behind each other - which is not a criticism, just an observation.In Fitzgerald's sillo, each character is1) in a different pose,2) is positioned at a slightly different distance from our viewpoint and3) each inhabits all 3 dimensions.4) Parts of them come

3 dimensional VS 2 dimensional design

Howie's characters are made up almost entirely from 40s "cartoon shapes" - the stock Elmer Fudd head construction, pear shaped bodies and tube arms. Their poses are utilitarian: they tell the story but do not distinguish any differences between the characters.Howie Relies On Basic Principles, Style, Natural Appeal and CartooninessMost of his poses are simple profiles, 3/4 views or straight on

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Comparing and contrasting 2 appealing cartoon approaches.These are 2 of my favorite cartoonists. They are both working in someone else's "house style" but are each bringing their own touch to the comics.Howie Post's style is made up almost entirely of 40s animated cartoon shapes and supplemented with his own abstract design quirks.Owen Fitzgerald's style looks on the surface also to be a 40s

Little Audrey by Howie Post

Here's a swell Howie Post comic from 1959. I'll write my observations later.I love the cartoony way he draws props and furniture. It's like that dresser is infused with life force, just waiting to be turned on so it can start bouncing to the music.I miss the promises in ads aimed at kids. We always used to say: "It must be true, or they couldn't advertise it!"FUNDAY FUNNIES WITH MATTIE MATTEL AND

Howie Post Gone Too

If you have been reading my blog for awhile, you know that Howie Post is one of my favorite cartoonists. Well, I just heard that he recently passed away. I hope that he at least knew that he had recently been rediscovered on all the blogs.He's known mostly for his Harvey comics, especially Spooky and Little Audrey. I used to buy Harvey comics and go right to his stories without knowing his name.