Tuesday, December 31, 2013

CARTOONS FOR A HAPPY NEW YEAR!



I posted this image on my website the year of GW Bush's second term. Didn't happen. (Bad likeness, I know. But my heart was there.)





And at 12 AM, Jan. 1st, 2014, Jerry Beck's CARTOON RESEARCH blog will be ringing in the New Year with my article "THE SHOCK OF THE NEW"; Art Deco/Moderne in 1930s animation! http://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/the-shock-of-the-new/


Yours for a Glorious 2014, MK

COPYRIGHT 2013 BY MILTON KNIGHT

Saturday, December 28, 2013

KRAZY'S WATERLOO

New Upload on my YT channel: KRAZY'S WATERLOO. Krazy plays Napoleon in this savvy spoof of the war of 1812. Enlivened by two original songs. Click pic.


http://youtu.be/zel0ttRxoVg
GIFTS FOR CHRISTMAS

Some Christmas gifts I gave to myself. (No one picks better gifts for I than me!)





One of several jackets. Resist me, ladies, if you can.

Presently Yours, MK


Friday, December 27, 2013

KRAZY KARTOON TIME!

Two new cartoons on my YouTube channel:

http://youtu.be/-XFQ4Qa4RVA














THE HOT-CHA MELODY (1935): Krazy as Faust on Tin Pan Alley. Clever cartoon on plagiarism. Krazy stands on his own, then falls into the abyss. Click pic.

http://youtu.be/faOzbgDuKWA
 
THE PEACE CONFERENCE (1935): As the world prayed for peace, the Mintz studio parodied it as an effeminate alternative to head bashing. Pre WWII satire of world politics. A curious mix of potent political imagery and typical cartoonery. Hitler is conspicuous by his absence, and Tony the fruit peddler stands in for Mussolini. Click pic.


Krazily Yours, MK

Thursday, December 26, 2013


Wednesday, December 25, 2013

TOYLAND


















I ID'd most of the animators in the Terrytoon TOYLAND for Jerry Beck's CARTOON RESEARCH blog. Here's the link with the cartoon: http://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/merry-christmas/

Yearly Beloved, MK

Monday, December 23, 2013

CHRISTMAS CAPERS







 
 
Yours by the Fireside, MK

COPYRIGHT 2013 BY MILTON KNIGHT



Sunday, December 22, 2013

ALMOST ANIMATION

Without my having asked for it, Google + has strung my series of 5 H.G. Wells illustrations into a moving GIF, providing a unique effect. Watch it.















Hypnotically Yours, MK

COPYRIGHT 2013 BY MILTON KNIGHT

Saturday, December 21, 2013

YOU PUT WHAT WHERE???

A number of sketches from a class on interesting, communicative compositions.







 

 

http://youtu.be/AlYBhVcSjJc

Here's one of my favorite SUPERMAN cartoons, DESTRUCTION INC. Every single shot is an interesting...and appropriate...composition! Click on pic.

Horizontally Yours, MK

COPYRIGHT 2013 BY MILTON KNIGHT


Friday, December 20, 2013





































THE TEMPTATION OF HARRINGAY

A painting tries to seduce its creator into Satanism.


My first GRAPHIC CLASSICS assignment, illustrations for an H. G. Wells story. Mid 2000s.

 












Temptingly Yours, MK

COPYRIGHT 2013 BY MILTON KNIGHT

Thursday, December 19, 2013

RIP AL GOLDSTEIN

Always good for a few hundred, a beloved benefactor who bought cartoons he didn't need.




















Eternally Yours, MK

COPYRIGHT 2013 BY MILTON KNIGHT
The CANDID FENG ZIKAI























 
Artist, writer, musician, lecturer, teacher and translator, Feng Zikai (1898-1975) was basically a shy person; he knew candidness and honesty were not necessarily appreciated in the circles of politics and public speaking he reluctantly traveled in. In his art, he took pleasure in an 'informal' approach, expressing his feelings and opinions directly, without fear of being thought of as 'uncool' or overly earnest. (I feel a kinship with him in this direction.) His cartoons, appearing in periodicals and book collections, were highly popular in their day.
























Zikai was a humanist, and as an educator, was deeply critical of the regimental aspects of the scholastic system, especially where children were concerned.


The fists represent 'Parents' and 'Teachers'.





Zikai welcomed China's takeover by the Communists, reasoning, as many did, that it would be an improvement over what had gone on before. But with 'liberation' came new restraints on artistic expression. Zikai was stifled; he tried to show his support even by revising his old cartoons according to the new ideology, but was nevertheless condemned as a 'bourgeois intellectual'.


Compare this cartoon with the 'new version' below.



The neighbors swap 'Liberation Daily' & 'People's Daily'.









In his 70th year, Zikai was exiled to be 'rehabilitated' through manual labor. It was essentially a slow death sentence; his health broke, and he died in disgrace.


His work refuses to die. Its 'honesty' has made it immortal.
 


(Thanks to author Christoph Harbsmeier and his book, THE CARTOONIST FENG ZIKAI, from which these images are taken.)

Earnestly Yours, MK

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

SKETCHES






 




 

Sketchily Yours, MK

COPYRIGHT 2013 BY MILTON KNIGHT

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

SPATTER WORK


I used the 'spatter' technique today. Uber old skool, mon.


Here are a few pages from a GRAPHIC CLASSICS job on which I used this technique.
 





Inkily Yours, MK

COPYRIGHT 2013 BY MILTON KNIGHT

Monday, December 16, 2013

DAN GORDON, FRIEND TO ALIENATED YOUTH


I discovered Dan Gordon's work at age 13, when I started buying mysterious old comics. He was one of a rare kind: a "kiddie" cartoonist who readily addressed the fact that this is NOT an ideal world.

Compare this to the lies and the patness of the Harvey, Gold Key and Archie comics I grew up with, and you may realize the exhilarating contrast Gordon's work provided. Even his inking seemed tough and cynical. The way some artists feel about Crumb "liberating" their vision, I feel about Gordon.

Giving an indication are some panels from his SUPERKATT and COOKIE comics. When I bought these in the late 1970s, the general consensus was that anyone who went for any "funny" comics besides Barks, Kelly & George L. Carlson was plain stupid. Now books like GIGGLE and HA HA are being revaluated by a small group of fans, and the prices continue to go up. I fully believe it's because of the absence of all-out, no-bars humor in the present day...unless they are ancient reprints.

Scans of full stories are readily available online. Happy hunting!


















And in Conclusion: a link to a Popeye cartoon, HAPPY BIRTHDAZE, a classic Dan Gordon character study: http://youtu.be/aMJrM80r50A

Nostalgically Yours, MK