This is a two color linoleum block print done in Margret Stein's class before I graduated in 1946. She always had us working on a variety of projects.
Here is a sketch that I did for a Christmas Seal stamp design contest.
Sometime after graduation from high school in June 1946, Herb Schiebold and I decided to take a trip to New York City and try to visit some of the artists that we admired. I found this old note paper in a file recently with names and telephone numbers of several artists in New York. We did manage to meet and speak with illustrators Philip Dormont, Ben Prins and Bernard Baily who at the time had his own company that produced comic books. He was famous for drawing the Spectre strip in More Fun Comics, it was scripted by Jerry Siegel, one of the creators of Superman. We decided to visit Joe Simon and Jack Kirby and went up to the Timely Comics offices but they didn't actually have an office there, working out of their homes in Mineola, Long Island. They gave us their addresses and we hopped on a train to Mineola. Herb and I finally found the street that Simon and Kirby lived on and we spotted a man carrying what appeared to be comic strips. We raced to catch up with him and asked "Are you Joe Simon ?", to which he replied "No, but I could be Jack Kirby". He was headed for Simon's house , Herb and I finally met our favorite comic book artist heroes. They were very gracious and we chatted for quite some time looking at a lot of their artwork.
Little did I know that twenty years later I would be doing work for Joe Simon on Sick Magazine. I will post some of that art at a later date. We had a great time in New York and headed back to Detroit brimming with enthusiasm.
I began working at Allied Artists as a graphic designer, but did some illustration as well as many cartoons for various projects. Often during slow periods I would work on sample illustrations. One day I did a painting of a western scene, I added a small little old red Ford car in the scene. Jim Donahue, the owner and a salesman for Allied was very exited about the illustration. This was a turning point in my career as you will see on my next post.
4 comments:
Hi Harry,
I am writing a biographical article about Bernard Baily and I happened upon your mention of him in your blog. Can you provide any further details about your trip to his studio? Do you remember anything about Baily himself, the physical look of his studio or anyone you may have met there? I'll gladly credit you in the text of my article. Thanks in advance!
--Ken Quattro
Hi Ken,
It was just a short meeting. I'm not sure if he actually had a studio there or just a single office. We didn't meet any other artists there. My impression was that he had his office and was working with freelance artists. He seemed like a pleasant person. I'm sorry that I can't be of more help.
Harry
That is a help, Harry. Baily's shop went out of business sometime in '46, so you probably met him while just before the end. I'm intrigued that you later worked for Joe Simon on SICK. I hope you post some of your art from that period soon. By the way, Simon is still alive and active today at the age of 95. It's great reading your recollections. Take care.
--Ken
Thanks Ken,
I will be posting some of the work that I did for Joe Simon fairly soon.
I was teaching at the time and the students were very interested in what I was doing. Bob Taylor of Timberland Tales and The Appletons was one of my students at the time and he actually had something to do with me starting to do work for Sick Magazine, I'll get into that in my post on that period.
Harry
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