Tenth Letter of the Alphabet

Street Scene: Paint Paste Paper and Push

2012-02-27T08:00:00.001-05:00

• N E W Y O R K C I T Y •

109–113 West Broadway, Manhattan

(Next post on Monday)

Creator: Reed Crandall

2012-02-20T08:00:00.004-05:00

The story of how Reed Crandall was able to go attend the Cleveland School of Art is told in the following article from The Santa Fe Magazine, Volumes 28–29, 1933.

Exceptional Newton, Kan., Art Student Wins High Honors

in National Art Department Contest

By Vincent C. Root

Master Mechanic's Office, Newton, Kan.

Newton, and all Kansas, in fact, should be mighty proud of one of its studious and artistic sons, Reed Crandall, senior in the Newton high school, who recently won six separate awards in a contest sponsored by the Scholastic, a weekly high school magazine. Crandall being the only student this year out of a group of 10,000 to win honors from all the states west of the Mississippi. So far as is known, Crandall is the only student from Kansas to have ever won distinction in this yearly contest in art.

Newton, enrolling only in one department of the contest—the art department—entered six different groups of the work of Crandall, 18 years old, and emerged from the contest very much a winner.

Crandall entered three pieces of sculpture in plastic wood. One of these, which won for him second place, was a model of a newsboy selling his papers. His second entry was a plastic wood model of a runner, and the third was a model of a pirate, depicting Long John Silver of Treasure Island. In addition to winning the high honors in plastic wood modeling, this young artist won a cash prize in oil painting and three places of honorable mention in pictorial arts division, black inks division and the oils division. Not only did his individual pieces win distinction but his group as a whole was outstanding in the pictorial arts division, also winning honors in this department.

This honor won by Reed Crandall is even more impressive when one considers that half a million high school students during the past year have turned their efforts toward winning these honors, and of this vast number only 10,000 survived the preliminary eliminations, which were conducted in their individual cities by judges selected from the teaching staff.

The jury, consisting of Audrey Avinoff, director of Carnegie Museum; Royal B. Farnum, director of the Rhode Island School of Design; C. Valentine Kirby, director of art in Pennsylvania schools; Alfred Pelikan, director of Milwaukee Art Institute; W.A. Readio, chairman, department of painting and design, Carnegie Institute of Techology [sic], and Dudley Crafts Watson, Chicago Art Institute. This group distributed eighteen scholarships and 215 prizes to excelling students scattered widely over the entire United States.

The work of Crandall now is at the International High School Art Exhibit in the Fine Arts Galleries of Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, Pa., the American division of which is made up entirely of work submitted for the scholastic awards. Seven nations are represented in this show, which will be released for a tour of the entire country upon completion of its engagement at Carnegie.

The main award won by Crandall for his exhibit is a scholarship in the Cleveland School of Art, beginning next September, which he is planning to enter next fall.

Reed is an exceptional student in school, and in addition to excelling in art is a prize pupil in typewriting, having recently won distinction by typing for ten minutes without making a single mistake. Miss Marie Orr, art instructor in our Newton schools, has been Reed's only instructor, and she is past president and past secretary of the State Art Teachers' Association, which organization she was very active in bringing into existence.

Miss Orr has been active in Newton schools for the past fifteen years, having been art instructor during this long period, and due to her outstanding ability she has turned out of our Newton schools many very brilliant students of art as well as winning for herself high acclaim in this field and taking part in the various organizations for the advancement of art in this state.

Crandall is a cousin of Harrison Crandall of Boise and Jackson Hole, Idaho, who is nationally known as painter of Tetone mountain country scenes. His parents are Mr. and Mrs. Rayburn Crandall of Newton. Newton is mighty proud of Reed and we trust all Kansas is equally proud of him for bringing high honors in art to our city and state, and we wish him the greatest measure of success in his profession in the years to come.

(Crandall's birthday is February 22. Below are links to additional information about Crandall and images of his work. Next post on Monday)

Comic Book Resources
Dodge City Daily Globe
ERBzine
The Pittsburgh Press photo of ice skater
Potrzebie
Wikipedia

Anatomy of a Logo: Spirits of Vengeance: Ghost Rider/Blaze

2012-02-13T08:00:00.009-05:00

The movie Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance opens February 17. The title is based on the comic bookSpirits of Vengeance: Ghost Rider / Blaze, published by Marvel Comics. Bobbie Chase was the editor of the comic and related titles. Spirits of Vengeance #1 was part two of "Rise of the Midnight Sons" a six-part crossover with these titles: Ghost Rider #28, Part 1; Morbius #1, Part 3; Darkhold #1, Part 4; Nightstalkers#1, Part 5; and Ghost Rider #31, Part 6. I was designed with the crossover title, Rise of the Midnight Sons, and the logos except for Ghost Rider.

On August 19, 1991, I met with Bobbie and she offered the logos to me. On September 6, my initial Spirits of Vengeance designs were rejected. Bobbie suggested a more fluid approach, like brushstrokes.

On September 15, I used a crayon pencil to rough out "Ghost Rider/Blaze" and "Spirits of Vengeance".

Then I used a felt-tip marker to draw the letters.

An outline version was made.

I combined the two groups into the logo. On September 16, I faxed the revised logo to Bobbie and she approved it.

About a week later, I enlarged the photocopy then added some guide lines. The photocopy was taped to a light box and a sheet of LetraMax 2000 was placed on top of it.

I used a variety of Rapidograph pens to ink the letters. Also used were a french curve and ellipse guides. The flames and outline were inked freehand. The finished art was delivered September 23.

The logo measures 7.875 by 14.5 inches (20 by 36.8 centimeters)

The comic book was released in Spring 1992. What I saw wasn't the logo I had drawn. A decision was made to redo my logo so it resembled the the Ghost Rider logo. The basic design of my logo was used, but the "S" was widen and its top stroke enlarged and extended so "Ghost Rider & Blaze" could fit inside. Then "of" was reduced and the vertical stroke of the "F" was separated from the vertical stroke of the "N". Despite the changes, the logo worked very well.

(Next post Monday: Reed Crandall)

Street Scene: Frank Frazetta's High School

2012-02-09T08:00:00.019-05:00

• N E W Y O R K C I T Y •

Abraham Lincoln High School

2800 Ocean Parkway, Brooklyn

Main Entrance

Plaque in entrance stairway

Brooklyn Daily Eagle, December 11, 1944;

see sub-head, "Something Modern"

Frank Frazetta was born on February 9, 1928. Part one of Armand Eisen's interview with Frazetta was published in Ariel magazine, Autumn 1976. When asked the question, Was there any single art teacher whom you particularly admired or became close to or who influenced you?, Frazetta answered:

There was one outstanding man who really, really gave me incentive. He seemed to know how to get to me. Others had just the opposite approach. They felt, keep him down so he will fight and strive for better things. Right? His attitude was, tell him he's great—in other words, make him happy and he will perform. And that really worked with me, in art. And you get those who try to push you down, and you come up just to show them—and they say "He's great!" You are trying to show both sides that you are great. Whether it is in sports or in art, you've got to convince the non-believers and confirm the believers. That sort of thing. It is a marvelous feeling. That is what life is all about.

...By the way, what was the name of that art teacher?

Grubman.

Where did he teach?

He taught in Abraham Lincoln High School.

And how old were you when he was your teacher?

I was in my teens, oh, 15 or 16. He was very encouraging. You know, he just made me feel important.

Do you think that had any influence at all on your work?

Well, no influence on my work, none whatsoever. It was simply that I was going my way no matter who came along and he simply made my life more pleasant and just reaffirmed what was in my own heart, that I was good. I had it.

••••••••

A copy of Frazetta's high school transcript is here.

••••••••

Paul Grubman was born in Brooklyn, New York on August 11, 1898, according to the Social Security Death Index. In the 1900 U.S. Federal Census, he was the youngest of eight children born to Joseph and Flora, both Russian emigrants. They lived in Brooklyn at 24 Osborn. His father was a machinist.

In the 1910 census, Grubman, his parents and three siblings lived in Brooklyn at 1623 Eastern Parkway. His father was an optician. He graduated from Manual Training High School on June 28, 1917, as reported in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle on June 29. He signed his World War I draft card on September 10, 1918. He lived at 1672 Union Street in Brooklyn and worked as a machine helper.

Grubman has not been found in the 1920 census. The Eagle reported, on September 26, 1922, that he was licensed to teach textile design at the evening high schools. He lived in Belle Harbor, Long Island at 238 North 132 Street.

Brooklyn Daily Eagle, September 26, 1922;

see last two lines.

He has not been found in the 1930 census. In July 1933 he was licensed to teach freehand drawing in high school, according to the Eagle, July 1, 1933. On November 27, 1934, the Eagle reported his appointment to Abraham Lincoln High School; he had been a substitute teacher.

Brooklyn Daily Eagle, July 1, 1933

Brooklyn Daily Eagle, November 27, 1934

Grubman passed away in May 1984 in Brooklyn, according to the Social Security Death Index. He was buried on June 4 in Green-Wood Cemetery.

(Street Scene post on Monday)

Street Scene: The Charles Dickens House Museum

2012-02-07T08:00:00.003-05:00

• L O N D O N •

48 Doughty Street (link)

February 7, 2012 is the 200th birthday of Charles Dickens.

(Next post on Thursday: Frank Frazetta's High School)

Creator: Hal Foster

2012-02-06T08:00:00.005-05:00

Hal Foster's Influence on Frank Frazetta

Hal Foster's Tarzan daily comic strips, from January and February 1929, were reprinted as a book, The Illustrated Tarzan Book #1, published by Grosset & Dunlap in 1929. The book can be viewed at Golden Age Comic Book Stories. Frank Frazetta's art was in the first issue of Thun'da, King of the Congo, which was published in 1952.

Select panels from Tarzan and Prince Valiant are followed by panels from either Thun'da or Frazetta book covers. The panels show either similar compositions or concepts.

HANGING ON A BRANCH

Tarzan, daily 30

Tarzan and the Lost Empire

Thun'da, Gods of the Jungle, page 6

Tarzan, daily 21

Tarzan, daily 26

Tarzan, daily 43

Thun'da, Monsters from the Mists, page 1

Tarzan, daily 37

Thun'da, King of the Lost Lands, page 6

WALKING ON A BRANCH

Tarzan, daily 37

Thun'da, Monsters from the Mists, page 6

POINTING

Tarzan, daily 25

Tarzan, daily 47

Thun'da, Monsters from the Mists, page 7

LASSOED

Tarzan, daily 26

Thun'da, King of the Lost Lands, page 8

FIGHTING AN ANIMAL

Tarzan, daily 44

Thun'da, Monsters from the Mists, page 5

Tarzan, daily 25

Tarzan at the Earth's Core

MONSTER

Prince Valiant, December 25, 1937

Thun'da, Gods of the Jungle, page 5

(Next post on Tuesday: Charles Dickens)

Street Scene: 85 Court Street

2012-02-04T08:00:00.012-05:00

• N E W Y O R K C I T Y •

85 Court Street, Brooklyn

The location of Michele Falanga's

Brooklyn Academy of Fine Arts.

Building on the left is number 85. (January 2012)

Advertisements of previous tenants at 85 Court Street.

Brooklyn Daily Eagle, April 28, 1901

Brooklyn Daily Eagle, April 18, 1921

Brooklyn Daily Eagle, October 29, 1922.

Broad side of the building faces Livingston Street,

while the narrow side, the entrance, faces Court

Street. The building is number 81. (January 2012)

Brooklyn Daily Eagle, November 30, 1923

Brooklyn Daily Eagle, August 15, 1924

Il Carroccio, February 1935

(Next Monday: Hal Foster's influence on Frank Frazetta)

Creator: Brooklyn Academy of Fine Arts Students

2012-02-03T08:00:00.002-05:00

Frank Frazetta was one of many Brooklyn Academy of Fine Arts students who studied with Michele Falanga and made a name for themselves; among the illustrious alumni were Italo Botti (1923-2003), William Ehrig (1892-1969), Albert Pucci (1920-2005; Frazetta's classmate), Lily Shuff (1906-2002) and Louis Wolchonok (1898-1973); Norman Garbo (1919-) resides in Long Island, New York.

Portsmouth Herald, April 7, 1969

Aberdeen American News, October 12, 1967

Who's Who in American Art: 1989-90

Design for Artists and Crafsman, 1953

Pull Up an Easel, 1955

Compilation of syndicated newspaper columns

(Tomorrow's post: Street Scene: 85 Court Street)

School Days: The Brooklyn Academy of Fine Arts

2012-02-02T08:00:00.002-05:00

News clippings about Michele Falanga, the Da Vinci Art Club,

and the Falanga Art Club at the Brooklyn Academy of Fine Arts.

Il Carroccio, February 1935

Brooklyn Daily Eagle, April 2, 1935

Brooklyn Daily Eagle, April 9, 1935

New York Post, July 13, 1935

New York Post, October 19, 1935

New York Post, February 22, 1936

New York Post, March 7, 1936

New York Post, April 4, 1936

New York Post, May 23, 1936

New York Post, December 5, 1936

Brooklyn Daily Eagle, February 28, 1937

Brooklyn Daily Eagle, November 4, 1937

New York Post, November 6, 1937

Brooklyn Daily Eagle, December 10, 1937

Brooklyn Daily Eagle, March 9, 1938

Brooklyn Daily Eagle, December 8, 1938

Brooklyn Daily Eagle, March 16, 1941

(Tomorrow's post: Students of the Brooklyn Academy of Fine Arts)

Creator: Michele Falanga

2012-02-01T08:00:00.013-05:00

MICHELE FALANGA, LEONARDO MAGAZINE 1925

Frank Frazetta's Art Teacher

Michele Falanga was born in Torre del Greco, Naples, Italy on July 5, 1867. [1] He studied first with artist Michele Tedesco, then at the Istituto di Belle Arti in Naples with Stanislao Lista, Domenico Morelli and Filippo Palizzi. [2] Tedesco (1834-1917) was a student of Morelli. [3] Lista (1824-1908) was a sculptor.[4] Two of the leading Neapolitan painters of the 19th century were Morelli (1823–1901) [5] and Palizzi (1818-1899). [6] Falanga continued his studies in Rome. [7] He married Virginia Ciavolino [8] in 1898. [9]

In 1901 Falanga was a passenger aboard the S.S. Trojan Prince, bound for the United States; he arrived in New York on August 25. [10] His wife followed in 1902. [11] Between the years 1904 and 1907 the couple had three children, two daughters and a son. [12] In 1915 Falanga was a self-employed artist who had a room at 335 Broadway in Lower Manhattan. [13] He lived at 143 Summit Street [14] in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn. In 1917 his office was located at 45 John Street. [15] From the mid- to late teens Falanga's paintings could be purchased at the Abraham and Strauss department store in Brooklyn. [16]

Brooklyn Daily Eagle, October 24, 1916

According to the 1920 Census the Falanga family lived at 150 Summit Street in Brooklyn. [17] In 1923 the Leonardo da Vinci Art School opened at 288 East 10th Street in Manhattan. General Director Onorio Ruotolo, a sculptor, said "the purpose of the school was to teach young craftsmen to become artists." [18] Falanga was in charge of drawing and painting; the courses included sculpture, interior decoration, architecture, geometry, woodcutting, cabinet-making, wrought-iron, fashion designing, fashion-plate drawing, electricity, embroidery design, history of art, and anatomy. [19] The New York Times described Falanga's contribution to the school's opening:

The chief object of interest was a floral carpet made in the manner of a Renaissance mosaic from the crushed petals of flowers. The whole symbolized "The Nativity." The carpet was created on the floor and a puff of wind will blow it to pieces. It covers 500 square feet and took eight months to complete. Michele Falanga, called the "flower wizard," was the designer. [20]

Iowa City Press Citizen, December 28, 1923

Springfield Republican, January 6, 1924

That same year he opened a branch of the school in Brooklyn. [21] The art school had its own magazine, Leonardo, Annual Magazine of the Leonardo da Vinci Art School. The 1924–1925 issue included reproductions of Falanga's paintings and sketches.

Leonardo, page 91

Leonardo, page 92

Leonardo, Plate 4

Leonardo, Plate 23

Leonardo, Plate 13

In 1927 Falanga became a United States citizen. [22] The following year he exhibited in a group show of Italian sculpture and paintings at the Bowery Savings Bank, in Manhattan's Little Italy neighborhood. The New York Sun praised his paintings.

If you go to this art show on the Bowery you will take special notice of Michele Falanga's Mulberry street life. Young Falanga painted these on summer mornings, when the light was just right—hot and golden upon the markets an pushcarts, and the close-pressed, colorful, chattering throng. He had to hide himself within a closed automobile to be able to paint at all (otherwise he would have been mobbed by the curious), and there he sat, scrooged up with palette and paints, while he put down in line and color his impressions of this little bit of old Italy in the heart of New York. There's a touch of Sorolla in these pictures—the sunlight is so golden and clear and the sense of movement in the figures is so actual. [23]

In 1930 the Falangas resided at 238 Carroll Street in Brooklyn. [24] From 1932 to 1934 he was chairman of the Leonardo da Vinci Art School in Manhattan. [25] Atlantica, a periodical about Italian life and culture, reported on a 1933 event at the school.

Mayor and Mrs. F.H. La Guardia were the guests of honor last month at the opening of the semi-annual exhibition of the Da Vinci Art Club at the Leonardo Da Vinci Art School, 149 East 34th St., New York City. The Mayor was one of the original donors for the founding of the school. He was greeted by the school's director, Attilio Piccirilli, noted sculptor, and by Michele Falanga, head of the painting department, and Giuseppe Caggiano, head of the architecture department. [26]

In 1935 Falanga renamed the Leonardo da Vinci Art School, in Brooklyn, as the Brooklyn Academy of Fine Arts, located at 85-87 Court Street. The opening of his new school was inaugurated with an exhibition of 51 works by its founder and director. [27] (Knowingly or unknowingly he had revived the name of the Brooklyn Academy of Fine Arts, that had been formed during the mid-1800s.) [28]

Il Carroccio, January 1935

The book, Art Education in the City of New York: A Guidance Study, had this description of the academy.

Michele Falanga, instructor. Founded 1935. Occupies a floor in a small business building. Individual instruction; open all year daily 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.; in summer there are outdoor classes on Sunday. Subjects include Painting and Drawing from life and still life; Charcoal drawing from cast; Fashion Illustration; Pictorial Composition. Tuition, monthly day $8; evening $6. [29]

Falanga was profiled in the 1936 edition of Italian-American Who's Who, Volume 2. [30] That same year Frank Frazetta began formal art instruction at the academy; his recollection of that occasion:

Upon the insistence of one of my teachers, my parents enrolled me in the Brooklyn Academy of Fine Arts when I was eight years old. The Academy was little more than a one floor–three room affair with a total of thirty students ranging in age from (you guessed it) eight to eighty. I still remember the Professor's look of skepticism as I signed in. You could easily imagine him thinking, 'Oh no! Not another child prodigy!!' Nevertheless, he sat me down with a pencil and paper and asked me to copy a very small picture postcard which contained a realistically rendered reproduction of a group of ducks. When he returned later on to see how far I had progressed, he took one look at my drawing, snatched it up exclaiming, 'Mama Mia,' and ran off waving the drawing in the air and calling everyone to come and look at it. [31]

According to the 1930 Census the "Alfred Farzzetta" family of three lived at 1203 Avenue Y in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn. [32] The distance from their home to the academy was about eight-and-a-half miles. Falanga was impressed by Frazetta's talent and, years later, made preparations for him to study in Italy. [33] Unfortunately Falanga's death ended that plan; he died February 1, 1942, at his home, 383 Clinton Street, Brooklyn. Falanga was survived by his wife and three children. [34]

Brooklyn Daily Eagle, February 2, 1942

Frazetta recalled what happened after Falanga's death.

My professor was Michael [sic] Falanga, and he was really a marvelous artist. When I was twelve, he died. Just as he was about to send me off to Italy to study fine art. I haven’t the vaguest idea of whether or not it would have really affected my style…. I don’t know, I doubt it. But when he died, I never went to Italy, and the students tried to keep the old school rolling…it became more like a club. I did life drawings and still lifes...we would go out in the field and paint some old church or whatever. Something totally different from what I do now, yet it taught me a lot about style. That’s where my early style developed...my brush technique. But when I went into comics I had to develop a line technique...which I learned absolutely nothing about in art school! It was very difficult and very slow for me to understand how to work with a pen and a brush. It was a shock to me when I found out that comics were done with a brush...I just assumed it was done with a pen. It took me a while before I really got into it and really began to master it. [35]

Frazetta was born on February 9, 1928, so he was just eight days short of his fourteenth birthday when Falanga died. Frazetta said he and other students continued at the academy until he was sixteen, so the end of the Brooklyn Academy of Fine Arts was in 1944. [36] Frazetta explained how he learned drawing, then anatomy from a book, and his influences and approach to painting.

He was quite happy to sit under the tutorship of a classical Italian artist, Michael [sic] Falanga, who ran this exclusive school with a free hand. (We used to sit around and draw anything we wanted to as students. It was very informal," Frank says.) But the object was to render, which Frank did in his own bouncy way. [37]

…my drawing was very stylized, a combination of every cartoonist I’d ever seen. It had a lot of character, a lot of action, a lot of emotion, but the drawings were kinda distorted…the anatomy was all pure guesswork. But, they were fun. So, when Ralph Mayo took over he said, “Frank, your stuff is great, but if you could learn some anatomy...” I didn’t even understand what anatomy was, I hadn’t the vaguest idea of why it was important. So, he handed me a book on anatomy. I went home that night and decided to learn anatomy. I just started with page one and copied the entire book..., everything, in one night, from the skeleton up. I came back the next day like a dumb kid and said, “Thank you very much, I just learned my anatomy.” Of course, he fell over and roared: “Frankie, you silly bastard! I’ve been studying for ten years and I still don’t know anatomy, and you went home and learned it last night?!” But the odd part is that I had learned and awful lot. I had the ability to absorb, and he saw the improvement instantly in my work. I was drawing anatomy! It was a thousand percent better than it had been the day before. He was amazed. That meant a lot to me, and from that point on my development was really very rapid. I started to do things with figures that made sense. [38]

My main influences are the countless European illustrators. There's a fine line between illustration and fine art. I give more of a fine-art approach with a beginning, a middle and an end. You don't really tire of my stuff. Years go by and they don't fade a bit in interest. To me, people are more terrifying than grass and rocks, which don't move me. I can't do what Andrew Wyeth does. I want feelings. My fine-arts background, eight years of it, it had nothing to do with the fantastic stuff I do now. My illustrations pop out of my head. Sometimes I only lure you into the text and the painting—I literally leave the text unillustrated....The test is time. The impact of my best work never lessens; it only looks better. And better! I'm my own worst critic and I know what the competition has done. But mine holds up, design, color, movement, no gimmicks, plenty of solidity, and form. You don't tire of it. I'm talking about my best work. [39]

I love the Old Masters for their unquestionable abilities in composition and draftsmanship but they were reserved, restrained by their time. I love the Impressionists for their color and daring. They were obviously less restrained. Today there's no restraint, and I'd be a fool to restrict myself in any way to please fans, critics, or peers. I'm an artist of my time; that's the only thing I can be. I find barns boring, so why paint barns? Barns already exist. They don't need me to create them. What I do create doesn't exist, and to me that's a helluva lot more exciting! [40]

1. Giovanni Schiavo, Italian-American Who's Who, Volume 2 (New York: Vigo Press, 1936), 160.

2. Onorio Ruotolo, "Il Pittore Michele Falanga," Leonardo, Annual Magazine of the Leonardo da Vinci Art School (1925) : 90.

3. Live Auctioneers, www.liveauctioneers.com/item/6435379 (accessed August 15, 2010).

4. Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanislao_Lista (accessed August 15, 2010).

5. Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domenico_Morelli (accessed August 15, 2010).

6. Il Voto, www.ilvoto.com/biografie/palizzi-f.html (accessed August 15, 2010).

7-8. Schiavo.

9. Ancestry.com, Fourteenth United States Federal Census, 1920 (accessed August 15, 2010).

10. Ancestry.com, New York Passenger List, S.S. Trojan Prince, 25 August 1901 (accessed August 15, 2010).

11-12. Census, 1920.

13-14. Trow's New York City Directory (New York: R.L. Polk & Co.'s 1915), 660.

15. Trow's New York City Classified Business Directory (New York: R.L. Polk & Co.'s, 1917), 2109.

16. Abraham and Strauss advertisement, Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 24 Oct 1916 and 12 May 1918.

17. Census, 1920.

18. "Da Vinci School Opens," New York Times, 23 December 1923.

19. Courses and Instructors, Leonardo, Annual Magazine of the Leonardo da Vinci Art School (1925) : 121.

20. "Da Vinci School Opens."

21. "Michele Falanga," New York Times, 2 February 1942.

22. Schiavo.

23. "Bowery Bank Has an Art Display," The New York Sun, 28 May 1928.

24. Ancestry.com, Fifteenth United States Federal Census, 1930 (accessed August 15, 2010).

25. Schiavo.

26. Atlantica, vol. 15-16, (New York: 1933) : 120.

27. Il Carroccio (The Italian Review), January 1935, 69.

28. "Lemuel Everett Wilmarth," The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Volume XII (New York: James T. White & Co., 1904), 424.

29. Florence Nightingale Levy, Art Education in the City of New York: A Guidance Study (New York: School Art League of New York, 1938), 83.

30. Schiavo.

31. Frank Frazetta, "The Imaginative Years," Burroughs Bulletin, No. 29 (Spring 1973) : 16.

32. Census, 1930.

33. Frazetta.

34. "Michele Falanga, Borough Artist," Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 2 February 1942.

35. Russ Cochran, "Frank Frazetta," The Edgar Rice Burroughs Library of Illustration, Volume 3 (Missouri: Russ Cochran, 1984), 189.

36. Bob Barrett, "Frank Frazetta–The History of a Burroughs Artist," Burroughs Bulletin, No. 29 (Spring 1973) : 4.

37. Donald Newlove, "The Incredible Paintings of Frank Frazetta", Esquire 87, no. 6 (June 1977) : 94.

38. Cochran, 190.

39. Newlove, 152, 154.

40. Nick Meglin, "Frank Frazetta at Bat," American Artist 40, no. 406 (May 1976) : 77.

(Tomorrow's post: The Brooklyn Academy of Fine Arts)

Creator: Martin K. Speckter

2012-01-30T08:00:00.010-05:00

The fiftieth anniversary of the interrobang, a punctuation mark created by Martin K. Speckter, is this year. Speckter was born June 14, 1915, according to the Social Security Death Index. The 1930 U.S Federal Census recorded the Speckter family in Omaha, Nebraska at 2533 North 16 Street. They had emigrated, from Russia, in 1921. He was the oldest of two children born to Morris and Ida; his father owned a grocery store.

In the mid-1930s, Speckter was a staff reporter for the Omaha World-Herald (Nebraska). On July 28, 1943, the World-Herald reported his army discharge.

Sgt. Martin Speckter, son of Mr. and Mrs. Morris Speckter, 2533 1/2 North Sixteenth street, received an honorable discharge from the army last week following several weeks of hospitalization resulting from an ailment which seriously affected his sight.

He was assigned to the army's recruiting office at Richmond, Va., for more than a year following his preliminary training. Before entering the army, Speckter was employed as a newspaper reporter for The World-Herald and the McCook Gazette….

His upcoming wedding was noted in the December 3, 1944, World Herald.

Announcement is made by Henry Bank of the approaching marriage of his daughter, Miss Virginia Bank, to Martin K. Speckter, son of Mr. and Mrs. M.J. Speckter, on December 14. Miss Bank is associated with the Douglas County Chapter of the American Red Cross.

The World-Herald noted his move to Miami on November 1, 1946.

Bozell & Jacobs, Omaha Advertising agency, has opened a branch office in Miami, Fla., it was announced Thursday.

Martin K. Speckter, former World-Herald staff member, will be manager of the office. He will be assisted by Edward N. Green, another Omahan. Both men were in Army public relations during the war.

Mr. Speckter will go to his new assignment from the agency's Los Angeles office.

Eventually, Speckter moved to New York City, where he created the interrobang. Its creation, acceptance and use was reported in the World-Herald.

World-Herald, May 27, 1962

World-Herald, June 23, 1967

World-Herald, May 28, 1971

On October 13, 1968, the Bridgeport Post (Connecticut) reported on the Remington typewriter version of the interrobang and its designer, Kenneth Wright.

The Hamburg Sun (New York) published an article, on January 6, 1972, that identified Richard Isbell as the designer of the interrobang for American Type Founders' Americana fonts. Wright's version was used in the article.

Allan Haley wrote about the interrobang in Typeworld, June 1980, and X-Height, volume 3, number 1 (the article can be read online at Font Haus.)

Typeworld

X-Height

Speckter passed away February 14, 1988, according to the Social Security Death index; below is his February 16 obituary in the New York Times (the online version of the obituary does not have the interrobang).

Shady Characters has a two-part article on the interrobang; part 1and part 2. Images of Isbell's original art are at flickr; 1 and 2.

(Next post on Wednesday: Michele Falanga, Frank Frazetta's childhood art teacher)

Lettering: Dragon Tales

2012-01-23T08:00:00.014-05:00

In 1974, I was a graphic design major at Arizona State University. One of the courses was Typography II which was taught by Tom Hall, now at California State University, Long Beach. One of the assignments was a book cover design with tree-dimensional letterforms.

I chose Robert E. Howard's Conan novel, The Hour of the Dragon. The story was adapted by Roy Thomas, Gil Kane and John Buscema in Marvel Comic's Giant-Size Conan, issues one through four.

I do not have the sketches but I used the typeface Bradley.

I stacked the words to suggest the shape of a dragon, but it needed a finishing touch. I extended the lowercase "g" to create a "tail". There were several versions before I settled on the one below.

The original lettering was penciled then inked on one-ply bristol board; the art measures 9 by 15.125 inches (22.86 by 38.4175 centimeters). I transferred the outline of the lettering onto a sheet of watercolor paper, which has a rough surface. Next, I glued the paper onto a sheet of one-inch styrofoam, then cut out the letters. The area around the title was watercolor paper (spray-painted red) which was glued onto quarter-inch styrofoam. Blue acetate was attached to the back of the quarter-inch sheet, then the styrofoam letters were adhered to the acetate.

There was a light bulb behind the title to illuminate the blue background. Two bulbs, one red and one white, were used on the front. Jesse Castellano, a photographer, took the pictures.

In 1987 the late Byron Preiss produced a science fiction series, Millennium, for the publisher Walker & Company. One of the titles was Chess with a Dragon by David Gerrold; it was illustrated by Daniel Torres. Byron said he wanted the Torres art to be small on the cover. Here was an opportunity to create a vertical title on the dust jacket. I ordered the type from Photo-Lettering. I cut apart the diazo print and adjusted the letter spacing and line spacing. Then I added the tail, from "The Hour of the Dragon". I used adhesive rubylith to modify some of the letters.

Then I made a photostat of the type. A smaller version was used on the mechanical for the dust jacket.

Below is a detail of the dust jacket and the title page.

Back in 1974, shortly after The Hour of the Dragon, I made The Year of the Dragon but didn't do anything with it until December 2011, when I used it on my holiday greeting card.

Today is the first day of the Lunar New Year.

(Next post on Monday: Martin K. Speckter, creator of the interrobang)

Creator: Phil Seuling

2012-01-20T08:00:00.006-05:00

Business Card

1971 interview

2008 New York Comic Con panel

Born: January 20, 1934

Died: August 1984

(Next post on Monday: How to recycle a dragon)

Anatomy of a Logo: Green Lantern

2012-01-16T08:00:00.009-05:00

On December 22, 1993, DC Comics designer Curtis King called and asked if I had time to work on a Green Lantern logo. How could I say no? He faxed the cover art which had the new costume design and lantern emblem. He added that flames were part of the logo. The next day I began roughing out some designs.

In these thumbnail drawings I tried to integrate the lantern and the letters.

I dropped the lantern altogether in this logo.

Top design used an optical illusion. In the bottom design;

coloring (dots outline the lamp) and two rules define the lantern.

Most of the letter designs from the optical illusion drawing

were used in this perspective version.

I used the crossbar of the "T" for the bottom of the lantern.

In early January 1994, I faxed the design to Curtis. A few days later he said my designs were rejected. Ken Lopez's design was used on the series. Check out Todd Klein's five-part Green Lantern Logo Study for the logo's history: 1 2 3 4 5.

(Next post on Friday: Phil Seuling)

Anatomy of a Logo: The Green Lantern Corps

2012-01-09T08:00:00.002-05:00

In late October 1985, DC Comics art director Richard Bruning called and asked to see my portfolio. The following day he looked at my work and offered the Green Lantern Corps logo to me. Richard showed some concepts with the words stacked in several arrangements and the lantern incorporated in various ways. He wanted to incorporate the lantern in the logo and left it up to me to come up with something.

Back at my studio, I reviewed the designs and sketched out a design with “Green Lantern” on one line. I saw the possibility of anchoring the “L” in the center of the lantern’s lamp. Most of the letters in the sketch had thick and thin strokes. The “R” had some problems that needed to be worked out. The letters’ rounded corners was a way to update the logo and set it apart from earlier versions. The lantern was drawn separately and used as a guide when the letters were added.

The first tight pencil rendering was close to the finished logo. Only the “G” and “L” had the thick and thin strokes; a crossbar was added to the “G”. The stroke width of the other letters was essentially the same.

After studying the logo, I decided to make it bolder. Several days later I met with Richard, who requested a few changes. The bottom stroke of the “L” was shortened so it aligned with the inside of the vertical stroke of the “A”. Being able to see that small segment of the circle between the “L” and “A” improved that part of the logo. Richard didn’t like how the top of the circle and “L” came together. So the “L” was extended a little above the circle. The leg of the “R” in Corps was adjusted in the finished logo.

At my studio, I positioned the tracing paper drawing on the light box. Then I peeled off the the top layer from a piece of LetraMax 2000 Mechanical Board and placed it over the tracing paper drawing and began work on the finished art. In the middle of November, I delivered my first DC-commissioned logo to Richard.

The Green Lantern Corps number 201 appeared in the Spring 1986.

The Green Lantern movie was released in June 2011. Right away I noticed the designer of the movie poster had positioned the Bank Gothic "L" in the lantern's lamp.

(Next post on Monday: rejected Green Lantern logo designs)

Street Scene: Happy New Year

2012-01-01T08:00:00.003-05:00

• N E W Y O R K C I T Y •

166 Avenue A, Manhattan

(New post on Monday)

Typography: Merry Christmas and Season's Greetings

2011-12-25T08:00:00.005-05:00

My Christmas card from 1977 was printed by letterpress.

The typography was made with Letraset transfer type,

and is from the Kabel family. I glued a candy cane to the

card. Some cards were hand-delivered To mail the cards,

I constructed, out of foam board, a protective case, then

inserted it in an envelope. Most cards arrived intact. The

image is an enhancement of a slightly faded photograph.

The card measured 4.125 by 6 inches / 10.5 by 15.2

centimeters. Below is the letterpress type block.

Many years later I revised the card design and wording.

I used wood type fonts from Dan X. Solo's Dover books.

The words were pasted, with wax, on a board; on the

left margin I wrote the percentages next to each word.

Then I photostatted each word and pasted them down

on a board. Then the rules and ornaments were added.

Most of the cards were mailed as is, but some cards had

a cellophane-wrapped candy cane stapled to the card. The

card measured 3.5 by 9 inches / 8.9 by 22.9 centimeters.

(Next post on Sunday)

Calligraphy: Jeanyee Wong

2011-12-19T08:00:00.001-05:00

Calligraphy by Jeanyee Wong.

(Next post on Sunday)

Anatomy of a Logo: Peter Pan

2011-12-12T08:00:00.011-05:00

Paging through yesterday's Sunday New York Times, I saw an ad for a theatrical production of Peter Pan, coming to the Theater at Madison Square Garden on December 14. It brought back memories of June 1979 when Neal Adams was asked to do the artwork for the Peter Pan Broadway musical starring Sandy Duncan. At the time, I had a room at Neal's Continuity Associates.

I don't know the name of the client who provided the photocopies to Neal. The first photocopy showed the current poster/ad design. The second photocopy had an overlay with instructions for the new design and illustration. I remember the assignment was a rush job and Neal was very busy at the time. I believe Carl Potts volunteered to do the illustration of a flying Sandy Duncan with laser bursts and beams around her. I was asked to work on the logo.

On June 22 I started sketching.

Drawing was enlarged from 9 to 14.5 inches / 22.86 to 36.83 centimeters.

The next day I refined the lettering, enlarged it then inked it on a sheet of acetate. Next, I turned the acetate over and used white gouache to fill in the letters. The logo was used as an overlay on the illustration.

I don't have the original art but it was the same size as this tracing

paper rendering, which was 14.625 inches / 37.15 centimeters wide.

The job was delivered to the client. On the following day at Continuity, the client called and rejected the illustration but chose to use the logo. The client asked for the name of the typeface. Lynn Varley, who answered the phone, asked me for the name. I said the logo was hand-lettered and based loosely on Aachen and Clarendon. She explained it to the client, who asked for the logo artwork. So, I lettered the logo again.

I believe the first ad for the musical appeared in the July 10 New York Times, for previews beginning on August 10.

Opening night for Peter Pan was September 6 at the Lunt-Fontaine Theatre. The Broadway run ended January 4, 1981 then toured the country. Below are the Playbill and souvenir program covers.

(New post on Monday)

Anatomy of a Logo: The Valiant Attempt

2011-12-05T08:00:00.003-05:00

The Valiant Attempt was an eighth grade publication produced by Miss Utley's class. Within its fourteen pages were an editorial on the Vietnam War, short stories, an essay on culture and cathedrals, a profile of the Monkees, girl sports tournament summary, and cartoons. The cover featured my clumsy animation of letters in the logo, and attempt at humor with Charlie Brown as Prince Valiant. The publication was printed on a mimeograph machine. (video)

I grew up reading the comics page of the Arizona Republic; Pogo, Peanuts and Prince Valiant were among my favorite strips. That explains how I came up with the image on the cover. I have a hazy memory of reading the first issue of the Fantastic Four. In the fifth grade I caught the comic book collecting bug, especially Marvel comics. When I did the Valiant Attempt logo, I wasn't thinking of the Fantastic Four logo. If I tried to emulate the FF letterforms, it happened subconsciously. 'Nuff Said!

(New post on Monday)

Lettering: Muppet Movie Poster Parodies

2011-11-28T08:00:00.002-05:00

Muppet-Vision 3D is located at Disney's Hollywood Studios in Orlando, Florida. The attraction opened on May 16, 1991. Movie poster parodies, featuring the Muppets, line the wall of the entrance waiting area. I did the title lettering for two posters.

TUESDAY, MAY 14, 1991

In the late afternoon, David Vogler, of David Kaestle Inc., calls and offers a rush lettering job for two Muppet movie posters, parodies of The Bride of Frankenstein and Follow the Fleet. The job is due in two days. I accept. He faxes layouts of the lettering and posters. (The faxes are missing from my file.) I begin work right away on the parody, Follow the Feet. About an hour later, I fax a tight comp of the lettering to David and he approves it. I leave the studio to see a performance by the Pan Asian Repertory Theatre.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 15, 1991

In the morning I begin lettering Follow the Feet. Most of the letters are straight lines, so the inking goes quickly. I use a compass to make the "O".

Above, the original art (9.75 by 4.8125 inches / 24.77 by 12.22 centimeters).

Below, an Amberlith overlay on top of the art.

The Bride of Froggen-Schwein lettering is made using a watercolor brush, India ink and newsprint. Unfortunately, I do not have the original art to show. With the brush filled with ink, I write the words on newsprint, which is porous and creates rough-edged letters. I write alternate versions for some words and individual letters. For example, when I wrote Bride, the "R" and "D" may have been poorly made. In that case, I replace the letters with another version. Sometimes the space between letters needs to be adjusted, so I cut the letters apart.

When all the words have been finished and positioned properly, I make a positive photostat of the lettering; a positive photostat will produce a black image on a white background. I examine the photostat and remove any blemishes, then I enhance the brushstroke streaks where needed.

Next, I make a negative photostat of the corrected photostat. Now the letters are white on a black background. I use white gouache and begin painting around the words to create the outline and shadow. When that step is finished, I make a positive photostat of the lettering. The photostat is affixed to illustration board and then a flap is added.

Above, the reproduction art (13 by 5.5 inches / 33 by 14 centimeters).

Below, art with an Amberlith overlay.

THURSDAY, MAY 16, 1991

I deliver the artwork in the early afternoon. David sends the artwork to a graphics facility to make color transfers of the lettering. The color transfer will be applied directly on a photograph; then the photograph will be photographed and printed in a large format.

Photos of my posters were taken in 2007. Some of the other Muppet movie posters can be viewed at Muppet Wiki.

(Next Monday: Anatomy of a Logo)

Street Scene: Klaus Nordling Slept Here

2011-11-21T08:00:00.002-05:00

• N E W Y O R K C I T Y •

Klaus Nordling was born in Pori, Finland on May 29, 1910, and his family arrived in New York City on September 3, 1912. He grew up in Brooklyn. Nordling's father was a self-employed photographer according to his World War I draft card. They lived at 4213 8th Avenue in Brooklyn; the 1920 census had the same address.

This neighborhood was once part of Bay Ridge, known for its large Scandinavian population. Today, this location is part of Sunset Park which is also known as the Brooklyn Chinatown. In the early 1980s, Cantonese-speaking Chinese moved here, along 8th Avenue, where it was not as expensive and crowded as the Manhattan Chinatown, and the N line subway service was convenient and quick. From the Brooklyn 8 Avenue station to the Manhattan Canal Street (Chinatown) station is less than 25 minutes. The recent influx of Chinese immigrants are from the Fujian Province. The businesses along 8th Avenue, from 39th to 65th Streets, are predominately Chinese, but there are a few Hispanic and Polish establishments, and one pizzeria on this avenue.

In the 1930 census, the Nordlings had moved, a short distance, to 4015 7th Avenue.

I profiled Nordling at the comic strip blog the Stripper's Guide, where you can see samples of his comic strip Baron Munchausen. After looking at the strips, scroll down to the comments to read my two-part mini-profile.

(Next Monday: The Muppets)

Anatomy of a Logo: Epic Illustrated, Part 5

2011-11-18T08:00:00.006-05:00

For this logo I managed to integrate both words plus the issue date and price. I combined an uppercase "E" with lowercase letters; they're the same x-height. I chose not to dot the "i". Two mock-ups used a large logo while the third mock-up had an understated logo because of the art. Colored paper was used for the logos, with the other information painted in gouache. I was satisfied how the logo turned out.

Art by Frank Frazetta

Art by Mike Hinge

Art by John Berkey

I think it was in mid-September when I delivered the logo designs to Jim Salicrup at Marvel. He disappeared with the material while I waited in the reception room. About ten minutes he reappeared and said, "Sorry."

Sometime later I heard or read that Archie Goodwin designed the logo. He was the editor of Epic Illustrated, so that's plausible. Maybe someone out there knows who did the logo. Years later I designed logos for Epic Comics.

(Next post on Monday: Klaus Nordling)

Anatomy of a Logo: Epic Illustrated, Part 4

2011-11-17T08:00:00.001-05:00

This symmetrical logo is more fantasy oriented; maybe gothic is the right word. The letterforms were influenced by the font Serif Gothic Black. I think the logo works very well with Frazetta art.

Art by Frank Frazetta

(Tomorrow: Part 5 of 5)

Anatomy of a Logo: Epic Illustrated, Part 3

2011-11-16T08:00:00.001-05:00

Lightning bolts were used to balance the logo. The first sketch showed how "Illustrated" would have been positioned. Maybe this design suggests science fiction more than fantasy.

Art by Howard Chaykin; from The Stars My Destination

Art by Richard Corben

(Tomorrow: Part 4 of 5)

Anatomy of a Logo: Epic Illustrated, Part 2

2011-11-15T08:00:00.001-05:00

Two of the logos I developed were symmetrical. This one used two-point perspective. The sans serif letters were bold, plain and easy to read. The word "Illustrated" could have been positioned in the rule or just below it. Maybe the logo is a bit neutral, meaning that it doesn't evoke science fiction or fantasy.

In early September I made cover mock-ups by using pages from Heavy Metal magazines. Colored paper was used for the logos. On the back of the third tracing paper sheet, you can see that I used the side of a pencil tip to rub graphite over the perspective lines. Then I turned the sheet over and transferred the lines to the mock-up and inked it.

Art by Philippe Druillet

Art by Alex Nino

(Tomorrow: Part 3 of 5)

Anatomy of a Logo: Epic Illustrated, Part 1

2011-11-14T08:00:00.002-05:00

Epic Illustrated was a magazine published by Marvel in 1980. I don't have any calendar records on this assignment so I will try to reconstruct how my logo came to be in 1979.

It was in late August 1979 when Jim Salicrup called me (this was when I had a room at Continuity Associates). He asked me to develop some logo designs for Epic Illustrated. I don't recall if he described what the magazine was about. Prior to this, I did the Caleb Hammer logo which was published in Marvel Premiere, number 54; Salicrup was the editor. That particular job was a referral from Tom Orzechowski, but that's a story for a later time.

On August 25 I began making thumbnail sketches on the back of old Continuity Associates flyers (8.5 by 11 inches / 21.6 by 28 centimeters), and sheets of tracing paper.

Two sketches on the far right would be developed.

No sketches were developed.

Three sketches at the top would be developed.

These sketches would be developed.

The bottom two sketches would be developed.

The bottom left sketch would be developed.

No sketches were developed.

From these sketches I refined four designs which will be examined, one at a time, over the next four days.

(Tomorrow: Part 2 of 5)

Street Scene: Super Heros Librairie

2011-11-07T08:00:00.003-05:00

• PARIS •

175 Rue St. Martin, near the Centre Georges Pompidou

(Next post on Monday: "Anatomy of a Logo: Epic Illustrated")

Anatomy of a Logo: Neal Adams Monsters

2011-10-31T08:00:00.016-04:00

Neal Adams Monsters was published by Vanguard Productions in 2003. The book featured his interpretations of the monsters Frankenstein, Werewolf and Count Dracula. The logos for the monsters were created in 1980. Around that time Neal was looking to expand into publishing. A black-and-white photocopy of the color cover mock-up (see below) had close-ups of the three monsters under their logos.

In mid-January 1980 I designed the Werewolf logo first. When the project became a rush job, I used typefaces for the Frankenstein and Count Dracula logos.

The first story in the book was Frankenstein. Back in 1980, I showed a typeface to Neal. He sketched some ideas on layout paper. He added beveled edges to the letters, and explored another design in perspective. We decided to use the typeface I had chosen plus modify the "F".

I do not have the original art. The photocopy of it shows the size, which was drawn on bristol board. With a T-square, adjustable triangle and an assortment of ellipse guides, I drew the letters in outline. Neal drew the beveled edges and stippling effect. Someone added the frame. A photostat was made of the framed logo and pasted onto the spread.

Werewolf was the second story. I made a couple of sketches then enlarged them.

I tried alternate designs of the "E", "F" and "R".

Once I settled on the letter designs, I made a tight ink rendering. Another design of the "R" was not used.

Next, I made a tight pencil drawing of the logo.

With the pencil drawing over the inked one, you can see how I adjusted the spacing of the middle letters, and made minor changes to some of the letters. The vertical strokes of the "R" and "L" are aligned.

Then I made another tight pencil drawing of the logo.

And that was followed by a tight ink drawing.

I secured the ink drawing to the back of a sheet of one-ply, vellum bristol board. The logo was drawn in pencil. I used white gouache to make corrections.

That version was never used. Some time after I finished the logo, Neal decided to use a spread to introduce each character in the book. I put Were Wolf on one line and drew it in outline, then Neal added the special effects.

The Count Dracula logo followed the same steps as the Frankenstein logo. Neal added the ankh which helped to balance the logo on the spread.

Two typefaces were considered for the logo. The first one was Cortez; the second one, Hoffman, was from Art Nouveau Display Alphabets by Dan X. Solo.

In the back of the book Neal talks about some other projects. One of them was a Tobe Hooper project called Funhouse. That's my logo sketch. The book is available at Vanguard Productions. Have a happy Halloween!

(Photo post next Monday)

Street Scene: Titan Missile Museum

2011-10-24T08:00:00.010-04:00

• A R I Z O N A •

Entry door to the underground facility.

Below: The warhead and part of the missile;

no stencil lettering on the missile which was

in the movie Star Trek: First Contact.

Amusing video.

(Next Monday's post will be "Anatomy of a Logo:

Neal Adams Monsters", a graphic novel about

Frankenstein, Werewolf and Count Dracula.)

Lettering: Leary of the 90's, Part 2

2011-10-23T08:00:00.004-04:00

WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 1990

Back at the studio I began work on the finished art. The last refinement was enlarged slightly on a photocopier, and then secured to the light box. I placed a sheet of two-ply bristol board over the photocopy and penciled the letters, swirls and ornaments. Using a variety of french curves and ellipse guides, I inked it with a Rapidograph technical pen. Corrections were done with white gouache.

The art was scanned in two parts and stitched together; the

alignment is slightly off in the middle near the top and bottom.

THURSDAY, MAY 17, 1990

I delivered the artwork in the afternoon.

FRIDAY, MAY 18, 1990

David called and said he wanted a few additional ornaments: three boxes, two running heads and three folios. The quotes from Leary would be inside the boxes. The swirling running head and folios would replace the standard ones used in the magazine. I delivered the art later that day.

MAY 1990

Later that month, I picked up copies of the Laughtrack from David. (I saw Leary at the 1976 San Diego Comic-Con. My recollection is foggy, but fortunately, memories of his attendance were recalled quite clearly here and here.)

(Photo post on Monday)

Lettering: Leary of the 90's, Part 1

2011-10-22T08:00:00.003-04:00

TUESDAY, MAY 15, 1990

David Vogler, of David Kaestle Inc., offered an assignment that I've always wanted to do: lettering in the style of the 1960s psychedelic poster era. The Kaestle studio handled the art direction and design of Laughtrack, a program distributed at comedy clubs. The topic of the May issue was the 1960s, and in particular, Timothy Leary. The title of the article was "Leary of the 90's"; David wanted title to reflect the psychedelic poster era. He provided a photocopy of the Leary photograph.

Later that evening at home, I looked through my small collection of Bill Graham psychedelic concert postcards (reduced versions of the posters) and selected a Wes Wilson design.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 1990

The next morning at my studio I began sketching out the design. David supplied a rough layout, which I do not have in my file. The title and text was on the left page of the spread, and, on the right, was the photo of Leary and a caption. In addition to the title, I had to include the writer and photographer's names.

I chose one of the thumbnail sketches and developed it further.

I enlarged the sketch and began refining it. There were two graphic elements that David wanted in the layout: the peace sign and a flower.

Peace sign in the corner.

Flower above Leary's head.

On the third refinement, I positioned the peace sign over Leary's head, like a halo; the flower was moved to the left page. Tracing paper was placed on top of the sketch, then the lettering and swirls were refined.

Separately, I worked on the writer and photographer credits.

In the afternoon, I showed the layout to David, who got a laugh out of the halo, and he approved it.

(Today, October 22, is Leary's birthday; Tomorrow: Part 2)

Anatomy of a Logo: Cougar Growl

2011-10-17T08:00:00.007-04:00

My 40-year high school reunion happened this past weekend, but, I wasn't able to attend. The year 1971 was my senior year. From the time I was a freshman, I contributed illustrations and cartoons to the Cougar Growl, the school paper. Being an avid comic book fan and collector, I subscribed to a number of fanzines and prozines, and shared them with my friends, who included Mike Adams, a senior, and Tony Salmons, a freshman. When Jim Steranko launched his company Supergraphics, I ordered copies of the History of Comics and the Mike Hinge Experience, and subscribed to Comixscene. I really liked his Supergraphics logo.

During the summer I used the logo as a model to redo the Cougar Growl logo. I sketched out the logo and discovered a problem with one of the letters. The shadow, cast on the left, did not work with the letter "L"; the strokes were not visible. So, I changed the shadow to fall on the right. My uncle, Allen Chin, an advertising art director in New York, had given some of his old tools to me: compass and ruling pen set, french curves, 24-inch T-square, triangles, pica ruler and ellipse guides. Working on the kitchen table, I finished the lettering in a couple of days.

When school started I convinced the editor, Ken Williams, to use the new logo; below, detail of the logo, and its debut in the paper.

(Next post on Saturday: Timothy Leary)

Lettering: Modern and Foreign, Part 6

2011-10-15T08:00:00.024-04:00

Lettering: Modern and Foreign was the second book by Samuel Welo. His first book was The Studio Handbook (1927), and the third was Trade Mark and Monogram Suggestions (1937). I did not find any biographical information on him in a Google search. So I turned to the genealogy web sites Ancestry.com and GenealogyBank.com.

Starting with Ancestry.com I searched for "Samuel Welo" and found a "Sammie Welo" but he was a carpenter, according to his World War I draft card. The United States Federal censuses did not record a "Samuel Welo". I tried alternate spellings of Welo, such as Weelo. Wela, Wello, Wilo, Wila, etc. but I did not find him. (Sometimes the census enumerators misspelled names, and the data entry people at Ancestry.com have to transcribe, sometimes, hard-to-read handwriting.) Then I began to suspect that "Samuel" was not Welo's first name, so, I changed the first name search to the letter "S" and looked for "S Welo" in the censuses. I got 108,195 hits.

Well, you have to start somewhere. The first name on the list was "Anna S. Welo", so I skipped to the second name "George S. Welo" and clicked on the link to the 1930 census image (see detail, below). His name was on line 52; in the "Profession" column it read, "Commercial Artist", and in the "Industry" column it read, "Studio". I sensed I had found Samuel Welo.

I went back to the list and clicked on the link for "George S. Welo" in the 1920 census (see detail, below). His name was on line 21; in the "Profession" column it read, "Commercial Artist", and in the "Industry" column it read, "Sign Painting". Now I was certain I had found Samuel Welo.

I searched "George S. Welo" and found him in the 1900 and 1910 censuses and his World War I draft card. He was a Michigan native who lived in Kalamazoo.

At GenealogyBank.com I searched "George S. Welo" and got unusable results. I searched "Samuel Welo" and got hits for two of his books. Then I narrowed the search to Kalamazoo, Michigan newspapers and searched "Welo". Of the 29 hits, three were about him and one was related. With this information I was able to write the following profile.

George Sherburne "Samuel" Welo was born on July 9, 1895 in Covert, Michigan, according to his World War I draft card. In the 1900 U.S. Federal Census, he was the only child of Andrew and Vena. They lived on Third Street in Winthrop Village in Alfsborg, Minnesota. His father, a salesman, was born in Norway, and his mother was a Wisconsin native. In the 1910 census, the family of three lived in Kalamazoo, Michigan at 924 Denner Street. The Kalamazoo Gazette reported, on December 28, 1913, the upcoming New Year's event at the Majestic Theater, and included a sentence about Welo (see top of the second column).

As one of the added features New Year's eve,

Sam Welo, the well known local artist, will give

away specimens of his art studies to the audience.

Sometime during his early life he gained the nicknames "Sam" and "Samuel". In the June 27, 1914 Gazette "Society" column was this item.

Mrs. Emiline D. Fair, of 940 Denner street, went to Covert, Mich.,

yesterday where she will be united in marriage to Mr. George A.

Sherburn [sic] at their future home. Mrs. Fair is aged 62 and Mr.

Sherburn is 72 years old. Accompanying the bride were her son,

Frank and daughter [sic], Mrs. Vena Welo.

The last sentence should have read, "Accompanying the bride were her son, Frank and the groom's daughter, Mrs. Vena Welo." Vena was the second child of George and Jennie Sherburne, according to the 1870 U.S. Federal Census.

The Kalamazoo County Genealogical Records includes "Selected Kalamazoo Directories". A 1915 listing was found for Welo and his father (see detail, below). He may have been a student at a nearby college or at the Detroit School of Lettering.

Welo was named after his maternal grandfather. On June 5, 1917, he signed his World War I draft card as "George Sherburne Welo". The card showed his address as "1325 Alamo Avenue", and his occupation as "Enamel Sign Brusher" at the "Michigan Enameling Works, Kalamazoo, Michigan". (A bit of information about the company is here.) He was married and had one child.

On the back of the card was a description of him, "tall, slender, with dark brown eyes and light brown hair". The Gazette still referred to him as Sam and Samuel in the February 5, 1918 article, "Sam Welo Wins Auto Contest".

Artistic Booklet Captures First Prize—

Nearly Half Hundred Entries

To Samuel Welo, 1325 Alamo avenue,

fell first honors in The Gazette's automobile

contest, which closed at noon today.

Welo was one of 47 contestants.

Welo's contribution consisted of a booklet

containing pen drawings of all the

automobile dealers in Kalamazoo,

their trade marks and the names

and features of the cars offered for sale

by them. Welo's effort was thorough,

neat and contained many clever ideas….

…The two winning first and second place

will be given a season pass each

while the remaining 20 will be given

two tickets each.

Almost three weeks later his family suffered a tragic loss. On February 25, the Gazette published this item.

Baby Welo

Victor Platt Welo, aged one month,

son of Mr. and Mrs. George S. Welo,

1325 Alamo avenue, died at 8 o'clock

Sunday morning. A short prayer service

will be conducted at the home at 4 o'clock

this afternoon by Rev. Foster Fuller.

The body will be taken Tuesday morning

to Covert for burial.

[Covert is about 30 miles/48 kilometers

west of Kalamazoo.]

The 1920 census recorded Welo and his family in Benton Harbor, Michigan at 81 Ninth Street. His wife was named Lola and their daughter was named after his mother. He was a commercial artist in the sign painting business. In 1927 his book The Studio Handbook was published, and he used his nickname Samuel. The date of his move to Detroit, Michigan is not known.

In the 1930 census, the Welos lived in Detroit at 8525 Wisconsin. He worked in a commercial art studio, which was his studio. The same address appeared on page 59 of Lettering; he had an advertising art partnership, McMullen-Welo. And on page 69, he featured his own studio, "Samuel Welo Studios, 8525 Wisconsin Avenue, Detroit". According to the census he married when he was 19 years old. His second book Lettering: Modern and Foreign was published in 1930. His parents passed away in Kalamazoo in 1935. (Their names can be viewed at the Kalamazoo County Government website. Enter "welo" in the bottom search box, "All Names or Type".) Trade Mark and Monogram Suggestions was published in 1937.

A World War II draft card for him has not been found; he may have passed away before the draft or he did not register or his card was lost. In 1946 Lettering: Modern and Foreign was reissued as Practical Lettering: Modern and Foreign. The Studio Handbook was revised and published as Studio Handbook Lettering in 1948; another edition appeared in 1960. It's not known if he was involved with the revised editions. His wife passed away in Michigan in January 1966, according to the Social Security Death Index. What became of Welo is a mystery, but I believe there was an obituary in a Michigan newspaper.

(Next post on Monday, "Anatomy of a Logo: Cougar Growl")

Lettering: Modern and Foreign, Part 5

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(Tomorrow: Part 6 of 6)

Lettering: Modern and Foreign, Part 4

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(Tomorrow: Part 5 of 6)

Lettering: Modern and Foreign, Part 3

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(Tomorrow: Part 4 of 6)

Lettering: Modern and Foreign, Part 2

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(Tomorrow: Part 3 of 6)

Lettering: Modern and Foreign, Part 1

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Lettering: Modern and Foreign was designed and hand-lettered by Samuel Welo. The book was published in 1930 by Frederick J. Drake and Company. Welo produced two other books, The Studio Handbook (1927) and Trade Mark and Monogram Suggestions (1937). Select pages from The Studio Handbook can be viewed here. The dust jacket for Trade Mark and Monogram Suggestions is here; Dover Publications compiled some of those suggestions into 800 Art Deco Motifs and Monograms (a 2007 CD-ROM and book).

Around 1979 I found a copy of Lettering at Dauber & Pine, which was located at 66 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan; the bookstore's closing was reported in the New York Times. The space was absorbed by Parsons, The New School for Design. My copy of the book (9.125 by 11.75 inches / 23.18 by 29.85 centimeters) was used to the extent of falling apart; the spine was broken and black electrical tape was used to keep the covers and signatures together. The book was from the Mount St. Agnes Library (see title page) and made its way from Mount Washington, Maryland to the basement of Dauber & Pine.

From today to Friday, sixteen pages from Lettering will be posted each day. The question, "Who was Samuel Welo?", will be answered in my profile of him on Saturday.

(Tomorrow: Part 2 of 6)

Anatomy of a Logo: Marvel, Part 4

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My Marvel logo was used for several years on many publications and products. A few samples are shown below. I don't know who lettered the words "Super Heroes".

I'm reminded of an anecdote told by Arnold Roth at a past MoCCA Festival. He was talking to a friend who said he saw Arnold's illustrations in several periodicals that week. Arnold replied, "You know, my work is like horseshit. It's everywhere."

At some point my logo was scanned and digitally manipulated; the width of the logo was condensed to make the letters taller. This version, I believe, is the corporate logo of Marvel.

A few years ago I walked into Pageant Print Shop to look through its bins of prints, posters, maps and ephemera. I walked out with this fruit crate label (detail below).

(Next Monday: Samuel Welo's Lettering: Modern and Foreign)

Anatomy of a Logo: Marvel, Part 3

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SEPTEMBER 13, 1991

David Vogler calls and says he wants me to work on the 1993 Marvel calendar cover. He faxes a layout with John Romita's sketch. On the fax it says

Alex—This should be in the same perspective as the characters!

The fax has a rough sketch of the Marvel logo, in perspective, behind the characters. Very quickly, I figure out the vanishing point and begin re-drawing the logo. I use the photocopier to adjust the height of the logo while keeping the width constant.

I cut a window out of the fax and position it over each logo, then I photocopy the composite. Next, I fax the three treatments to David. After reviewing the faxes, David decides not to alter the Marvel logo.

The 1993 calendar (see detail, below) is in stores around August 1992. The logo is used again on the 1994 calendar (see detail, bottom).

(Tomorrow, Part 4 of 4)

Anatomy of a Logo: Marvel, Part 2

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FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1991

In the morning, I make a new drawing with a bolder outline on the letters. That drawing is followed by a version with the "R" and "V" apart; on that sheet is the design for the "R" (7).

Next, I make three marker comps of each version (one comp is missing); the little sun drawing indicates the light source for the shading on the beveled edges.

In the afternoon, I meet with David Vogler at the Kaestle office. He reviews the comps, picks number five, and keeps it for internal use. I return to my studio and finish a few odd jobs to free-up the weekend.

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 1991

In the morning, I photocopy the tracing paper logo, with the kissing "R" and "V", at 200 percent. With a red ball-point pen, I draw guide lines over the letters and edges. I use a slip of paper with two tic marks, as a guide, to maintain the consistent width of the beveled edges. I adjust the space between the "E" and "L" by cutting them apart then taping them together.

I secure the photocopy to a light box, then I place a sheet of Letramax over it. Using a T-square, adjustable triangle and drawing compass, I pencil the logo, then ink it. I correct mistakes by either scratching away the ink, painting over it with white gouache, or erasing it with an imbibed eraser. The finished art is mounted on illustration board and covered with a flap. Unfortunately, I do not have the original art to show.

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 1991

I deliver the Marvel logo art, in the morning, to David Vogler. The logo was needed on short notice so it could be used to prepare promotional material for the upcoming book fairs, both domestic and international. The book is released in September. My one quibble with the printed logo is the crescent in the counter of the "R". In the photocopy, above, you can see the both sides of the bevel in the counter. In the printed version, the left-side bevel of the counter was filled in black; it should have been white, just like the right-side (see detail, below).

(Tomorrow, Part 3 of 4)