A roundup of recent non-animation books that have caught my attention:

I don’t know how Lane Smith does it, but every one of his illustrated books is a gem. His latest, JOHN, PAUL, GEORGE AND BEN, is a quirky take on America’s founding fathers portrayed as kids. Compared to the crass manufactured cartoons that children are regularly exposed to on television, the level of thought, care and craftsmanship that Lane puts into his books is a real breath of fresh air. It makes me wonder, Will kids even notice the original painted portraits of the founding fathers that lead off each section, or the inventive manner that Lane combines his illustrations with rich textures and collage elements? There’s no question that artists love this stuff (for example, see these comments by designer Cameron Moll), but I’d also like to think that kids will appreciate and subconsciously absorb all the good design in this book. One thing is for sure, children will be laughing (just as I was) because the book does a terrific job of humanizing historical figures like Paul Revere and Ben Franklin and making them appealing. Here’s an interview with Lane Smith where he discusses some of the visual ideas in the book.

HE DONE HER WRONG, Milt Gross’s 1930 graphic novel (no, graphic novels weren’t invented by Will Eisner), is finally back in print. I haven’t seen this new edition, but I’ve seen the book and it’s packed with typically great Gross art. I’m planning on picking up a copy soon. And when are we going to see a Milt Gross biography/coffeetable book? Talk about long overdue books.

One of my favorite artist blog discoveries has been the work of German animation artist Uwe Heidschoetter. He uses all sorts of unconventional shapes in his figurative drawings and has a distinctive style all his own. I was excited to see that he recently announced a forthcoming 40-page hardcover sketchbook. Sounds good to me.

THE WORLD ON SUNDAY: GRAPHIC ART IN JOSEPH PULITZER’S NEWSPAPER (1898-1911) by Nicholson Baker and Margaret Brentano is a collection of extremely rare turn-of-the-(last)-century artwork that appeared in New York’s SUNDAY WORLD paper. The book has work by well-known comic artists like Outcault, Herriman, and McManus, as well as plenty of lesser known illustrators. I don’t have the book, but I’m considering buying it after reading reviews like THIS and THIS.

Film composer Alex Rannie emailed over this great book jacket with a caricature of MUSIC MAN writer/composer Meredith Willson drawn by animation storyman and character designer Thornton (T.) Hee. Some more of T. Hee’s non-animation artwork can be found in this Cartoon Retro thread.

(click on pic for bigger version)

I’ve been meaning to write about cartoonist/animation artist Mark Newgarden’s new book WE ALL DIE ALONE (Fantagraphics), a beautifully designed, laugh-packed anthology of his career-to-date that collects his print cartoons from the 1980s and ’90s among many other things. Yesterday’s NEW YORK TIMES published a piece on Mark’s book that serves as a solid introduction to what makes his work so unique:

“Why isn’t humor funny?” was a working title for “We All Die Alone,” Mr. Newgarden said. “That’s what a lot of the work is exploring.” He recalled the desolate world of stand-up comedians he has known. “I have a friend who’s a very physical comedian, and his life has been about literally hurting himself onstage in order to get laughs,” he said. “He embodies that desperation, that willingness to do anything because, somehow, he has convinced himself that this is his purpose in life: to make people laugh.”

In his interview with Mr. Nadel, Mr. Newgarden provides an oblique explanation, in the form of a childhood reminiscence, of the roots of his obsession. He recalls watching the Three Stooges on television, laughing uproariously at their “magnificent abuse,” when his grandfather would barrel into the room and rant: “How can you laugh? Those men are dead! Those men are dead!”

“That made it all much funnier,” he says.

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(link via HarryMcCracken.com)

Alex Chun has been writing some excellent animation/pop culture-related pieces for the LA TIMES in recent months, and his most recent article in tomorrow’s paper is no exception. This time, Alex writes about the “Remixing the Magic” art show currently on display at Gallery 1988. One thing I wasn’t aware of until I went to the opening last week was that Disney was actually sponsoring the show, a commendable gesture on their part - even if they did put forth a few rules on what could and couldn’t be depicted. Chun sheds some more light on the nature of Disney’s sponsorship in the LA TIMES piece. To see more art from the show, check out this earlier post on the Brew. (And congrats to our super-talented pal Katie Rice for getting quoted in the article.)

Painting above: Tony Mora’s fine piece inspired by carniceria murals.

Fans of THE INCREDIBLES will want to check out the new Golden Book, JACK-JACK ATTACK, based on the Pixar short of the same name. The book is illustrated by the great Tony Fucile, character designer and supervising animator on THE INCREDIBLES. His drawings are loose and expressive, displaying the effortless charm and sense of immediacy that can only come from years of animating. For $3, this is as affordable as inspiration gets.

MODERN ARF (Fantagraphics) is one of the most inspiring collections of cartoon artwork I’ve run across in a long time. I bought the book last summer and it’s become one of my frequent references for eclectic visual inspiration. The editor of MODERN ARF, cartoonist/historian/author Craig Yoe, calls ARF “the unholy marriage of art and comics.” Yoe is serious about dismantling the classifications of fine art and popular art. In one of the book’s pieces - a collection of cartoons about the subject of artists and models - a drawing by Picasso is shown alongside drawings by Milt Gross, André François, George Cruickshank, and Robert Crumb. Seeing Picasso and Milt Gross in such close proximity compels one to reexamine their preconceived ideas about these artists. Was Picasso a fine artist or a cartoonist? Was Milt Gross a cartoonist or a fine artist? Couldn’t we appreciate both of their art a lot more if we got rid of these superficial labels? In another piece, Yoe shows the influence of Jack Kirby on pop artists like Roy Lichtenstein and Richard Hamilton, but he also shows how Kirby himself was influenced by Cubism. Other highlights include Salvador Dali storyboards for an unproduced mid-1930s film, the Art Deco comics of Antonio Rubino, crazed-perspective cartoons of Hy Mayer and a bizarre Jimmy Hatlo strip called THE HATLO INFERNO.

Yoe’s presentation of the artwork is beautiful with images printed large and clear. Text is minimal, with just enough writing to provide history and context. Much of the artwork in the book is over fifty years old, but Yoe’s exuberant visually-striking book design makes the cartoons seem as if they were created yesterday. Craig is currently working on the second installment of the ARF series, ARF MUSEUM. I saw a preview of this a few months back and it promises to be another winner. Even better, the ARF blog will debut in five days. Join the countdown at ArfLovers.com.

Nate Pacheco’s blog deserves a second mention in as many days. A couple years back, he tried to convince the Leo Burnett ad agency to make Tony the Tiger appealing again and return the character to its original Martin Provensen design. He asked some industry friends - Craig Kellman, Lou Romano, Conrad Vernon and Miles Thompson - to create some concept art for the pitch. Leo Burnett didn’t go for the idea. Now Nate has posted a bunch of that art on his blog HERE and encourages you to contact Leo Burnett and ask them to start creating appealing Frosted Flakes commercials again. Everybody I know always gripes about how lame and unappealing Tony the Tiger has been for the past couple decades, but nobody has taken an activist role like Nate to actually encourage the production of better commercials. Hopefully somebody at Leo Burnett is taking notes.