PAINTING AND COLOR

I had a gallery owner tell me to stick to "my heritage" in my paintings. My "heritage" is American. There are definite expectations as to the work a black artist is to do to be accepted. Needless to say, I hate the bastards.

POST SCRIPTS: A Facebook friend shared this post, and someone remarked that to say one's heritage is "American" is "too bland and pussy". To which I said: " My interests and loves are international. As America is. I feel no closer to "Black" culture than any other. I grew up with blacks unwilling to look outside their own neighborhoods. And hostile to those who did. That is a way of staying "safe". I call that "pussy"."

"Many black people think that because a popular entertainment has a black "face" that it is black "culture". News: They're all by the same producers. SHAFT is no more a "black" film than MAJOR DAD."

"I'd be more interested in doing a graphic novel about Van Gogh than about Frederick Douglass. But there are folks (black and white) who'd have a hard time with that aspiration." 

A GEEZER'S ADVICE

You kids are lucky. You don't have to buy old prints or postcards now. Or fill your rooms with books. It's all right here. Be smart with the money you save.

OLD FRIENDS

COPYRIGHT 2015 BY MILTON KNIGHT

IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!

DEBASING THE "WRISTS"

Makes me boil when someone says such-and-such an actor was ON "Futurama" or IN "Frozen". They were VOICES, Godamnit!!

More Later, MK.

GASTON LACHAISE

My previous complaint: "Another artist paints, and it's a "celebration of womanhood". I paint and am just a lech."

Bursting forth, the work of an artist I love, and, to an extent, choose as a model, Gaston Lachaise. Celebrated as "greatest American sculptor of his time." (Images from pinterest.com.)

FINE ART?

Another artist paints, and it's a "celebration of womanhood". I paint and am just a lech. I'm getting angry, people.

P.S.: A Facebook friend commented on this post, and I'll restate my thought here...

It is thoroughly true that race is a major part of the issue. It dictates what an artist can and cannot do to expect support in the fine art "world"-MK.

COPYRIGHT 2015 BY MILTON KNIGHT

FELIX SIGHTING!

IT'S NEW TO ME, FELLAS: Some worthy soul has uploaded a FELIX cartoon I directed back in 1996 and have NEVER SEEN myself 'til 2:30 this morning!! I mean never. The last show of the season ended in a rush; my assistant was called back to THE SIMPSONS, so I did the screenplay & storyboard alone in a month. The season ended, I was out on the street and deliberately avoided seeing the cartoon, thinking I'd only cringe. But aside from some dialogue that didn't come off, even I'm rather...pleased. (The cartoon, GROSS GHOST, begins at 7:50.)

Four cartoons done in about six months, and no film back from Korea 'til after the season was finished. No chance to learn from my mistakes. It was a silly situation. I dearly wish I could have gotten into a "groove" and steadily improved as I directed more, but that was not to be.

The cartoon being of ghostly nature, I incorporated images from the HALLOWEEN STOMP cd cover...

MUSIC, MUSIC, MUSIC...and RUSSIAN CARTOONS

Compiled on my YT channel: a playlist of my favorite SOUNDIES & MUSICAL CLIPS, 129 and still counting. Tune in today!

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And: a playlist of RUSSIAN CARTOONS thru the 1930s-40s. Over three hours! Enter if you dare, Comrade.

PENCIL TO INK TO PAINT

In answer to a few requests, three more examples of penciled, then finished pages. This comic adaptation was completed in 2011 for the AFRICAN AMERICAN CLASSICS volume of GRAPHIC CLASSICS.

Stay Sweet,
MK.

COPYRIGHT 2015 BY MILTON KNIGHT

IT"S BACK TO JAPAN...

...for a 1930s "making of..." promo covering one of the country's first color cartoons, made by Noburo Ofuji (1900-1961), pioneer of the country's art.

It's likely that what we hear is not the original soundtrack, as the lengthy cycles were probably carried by the authentic music score. Ofuji alternated between cel and cut out techniques, both with his unique decorative stylings. (Thanks to "bumbumdbear".)

If the date attributed is correct, Ofuji's cel work changed little over 10 years, as seen here in the complete 1948 cartoon, THE BEAR DODGER.

PENCIL, INK

From a 2003 HUGO comic.

2015 BY MILTON KNIGHT

SLAPSTICK OF OLD JAPAN

Ancient Asian art dealt in humorous scenes in styles that are so bold and fresh, I find it striking that these examples were done an average of two and a half centuries ago. it  These are not normally classified as cartoons, but it's just the kind of draftsmanship I admire & try to emulate.

Street-tradesmen Brawling. Koyusai, 1781.

The Travelers and The Monkeys. Kawanabe Gyosai, 1875. This is said to be spun off AESOP'S FABLES illustrations by Sir John Tenniel (the ALICE IN WONDERLAND artist), but Gyosai has clearly made it his own!

From a print set called COMIC FAMOUS PLACES OF OSAKA by Yoshitoyo. The populace at fish market is attacked by octopi and eels, while others conduct business as usual.

Best,
Milt

OBSERVATION POINT

I'm at the awkward age when some people call me "young man" and others ask if I'm a senior citizen.

***

My coffin will say "THE END" on it.

MORE POE FOR YO' MONEY

Two more pages from a Poe NEVER BET THE DEVIL YOUR HEAD (TOBY DAMMIT) adaptation to be reprinted and newly colored for GRAPHIC CLASSICS.

COPYRIGHT 2015 BY MILTON KNIGHT

NOLAN & NATWICK

I've been enjoying the loose, flashy animation of Grim Natwick & Bill Nolan. Two of the most advanced silent era animators, their splashy employment of graphic design were unsurpassed. This decorative approach to animation fell out of favor during the sound era, when Disney focused more on virtuoso movement than the stylings of the printed page. Terrytoons remained the main practitioners of the style until UPA rose to power in the late 1940s.

Be warned: the KRAZY KATs are not canon Herriman; they feature a generic Felix ripoff. (Nolan worked on FELIX, too.) If you are easily offended, I advise you stop right here.

Best Wishes, MK.

JUMBO PACK O'COMICS!

For Giant Size fun, behold my Jumbo Pack O'Comics!

For $22.50 (postage included!), you get the first two issues of MIDNITE THE REBEL SKUNK from 1987; Both issues of the 2002 HUGO books from 2002, plus the two new issues published since 2013, AND a sketch! (All the HUGO books are for Adults Only.)

I've only got five copies of MIDNITE #2 left, so act now for laughs!

I take both PayPal and money order, so contact me at miltonknight@earthlink.net for more information.

Best Wishes!
MK

COPYRIGHT 2015 BY MILTON KNIGHT

ZOE

Character from a short series I did for HIGH TIMES in the late 1980s.

COPYRIGHT 2014 BY MILTON KNIGHT

POE BOY

First page of a newly colored reprint of my Poe adaptation for a future volume of GRAPHIC CLASSICS. Proof I'm thoroughly discouraged, but not utterly useless.

Header at my art site, http://www.miltonknight.net

Yrs, MK

COPYRIGHT 2015 BY MILTON KNIGHT

A CARTOON TO DIE FOR

I freaked out. A 1938 Russian cartoon that begins with a li'l hunter shooting & bagging critters ends in a full-scale battle with Mickey Mouse glove-wearing, American propaganda-looking Japanese.