Tuesday, July 31, 2012

MORE JOHN K DRAWINGS


The poses above are from "Sven Hoek," one of the highlights of the second season of "The Ren and Stimpy Show." Nice, huh? I love John K's work when it's all cleaned up as it is here, but this post is about his roughs, which the public never sees. Here's a few, below. See if you agree that they're infused with charm and skill and a love of cartooning. 


Here's (above) a scene from Adult Party Cartoons' "Firedogs II" where the Fire Chief asks Ren and Stimpy to light him up. I love the simple but effective way John composes his shots. The Chief's giant head and thick, meaty hand are hilarious.

CHIEF: (To Stimpy) "Hey Eddie, gimme a smoke." (Then to Ren) Light me, Tommy."

REN: "Sure thing!"

[The Fire Chief never gets names right].

I like the way The Chief (above) studies Ren as our hero lights the cigarette.


A beautiful pose on The chief (above) as he artfully sucks in the smoke...



...then blows it out again...right into Ren's face. How do you like that baguette-like smoke? Being a fan of the Chief, Ren feels honored to be smoked at, but his eyes water like crazy.

Haw! Boy, this one (above) is really rough. John could easily have finished it. Maybe he wanted to see what his board artist could do with it.

Ever the fireman, the Chief responsibly stomps out the flame. I like the charm and restraint in this pose.

I value my collection of John rough Xeroxes and, until now, you had to work for John to get them. I was amazed when I found out that he was giving them away as prizes on his Kickstarter site.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1056985656/john-ks-cans-without-labels



Geez, these aren't even Xeroxes. They're originals. Frankly I think John ought to keep them. The day will come when things like this'll be auctioned off at Southby's.


He's giving away originals of his phone doodles, too. One of these days I'll put up some of my collection. You've seen a few of them....that's where he did some of his funniest caricatures of me.


5 comments:

  1. "Sven Hoek" is probably my favorite Ren & Stimpy episode ever (along with "Stimpy's Invention")

    I remember the scene where those roughs came from. I think that's the best Ren moment in the show.

    Did you work on that episode, Eddie? Do you remember what scenes you worked on?

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  2. Anonymous10:01 AM

    Thanks for taking the time to post more of John's beautiful, cartoony drawings! They're an inspiration for me to keep doing what I'm doing and practicing. Hopefully in a few months or by the end of my freshman year of college, I'll have some of my cartoons published in my university's student newspaper.

    As Charles said, "Sven Hoek" is also one of my many favorite episodes of Ren and Stimpy. That cartoon is a modern masterpiece and perfectly timed. There will never be another one just like it even though John really hated the yellowish colors on the cartoon.

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  3. John's work always inspires me.

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  4. Great to see JK's early sketches of R & S !

    BTW, Eddie, in Firedogs 2, were R 7 S's "Eddie and Tommy" names references to (or inspirations from) yourself and Tom Minton, courtesy of your / Tom's Mighty Mouse days with Ralph and JK ?

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  5. I love the raw energy in these ruffs! The fire chief looks a lot like Ralph.

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