Month: May 2004

Ohio State University’s Cartoon Research Library is just a wonderful place!

I first discovered it attending the Festival of Cartoon Art a few years ago.

They describe their mission as developing “a comprehensive research collection of materials documenting American printed cartoon art (editorial cartoons, comic strips, comic books, graphic novels, sports cartoons, and magazine cartoons) and to provide access to these collections.”

Do yourself a favor and visit, if not in person, at least online!

Maybe I’ll see you at the next Festival!

Here’s all their info:

The Ohio State University
Cartoon Research Library
27 West 17th Ave. Mall
Columbus, OH 43210-1393
Telephone: 614-292-0538
Fax: 614-292-9101
E-mail: cartoons@osu.edu

Henry Martin is one of my favorite cartoonists. He drew cartoons for the New Yorker and other magazines for over 40 years. He’s not one of those names that immediately pop to mind when thinking about New Yorker cartoonists like Addams, Arno and Barsotti, but his gag writing and art influenced me a lot and continue to do so today.

Here’s a great article on Martin and his cartoons from his alma mater, Princeton.

And a wonderful heartfelt letter from his daughter, Ann M. Martin, author and creator of the Baby-sitters Club books among others.

I have two Martin books: “Good News, Bad News”, a collection of his business and office cartoons, and “Yak! Yak! Yak! Blah! Blah! Blah!” , a collection of marriage and family cartoons.” Both books are great examples of great gag writing!

There’s another book, “‘It’s a Sure Thing’: A Wry Look at Investing, Investors, and the World of Wall Street” by Robert Metz & George Stasen that includes Martin cartoons at the beginning of each chapter.

If you haven’t checked Martin’s cartoons out yet you’re missing some wonderful cartoons from an American master.

Wow! More cartoon and comic fonts than you can shake a stick at!

Nate Piekos‘ outstanding website is bursting with comic fonts! Cartoonists and comic artists will have a great time perusing and using Nate’s work! How this guy does it is beyond me, but I’m sure glad he does!

My personal favorites are Digital Strip and Letter-O-Matic.

Make sure you read his license agreement for using the free fonts. As long as you’re not profiting from any product using his font you should be fine.

His Comics 101 section is great too! Lots of valuable information!

Check out Blambot!