I used to work with Marshall at Cartoon Network. He's funny, passionate and loves people, qualities which manage to find their way into his caricatures.
Marshall did caricatures like these in the 80s and early 90s when professional computer caricature was still somewhat uncommon. I think he had to resort to added photographic and prismacolor enhancement to get what he was looking for.
What a shame that newspapers didn't pick up on what Marshall did...They could have had a Sunday comedy section built around funny pictures like these! As it happened Mad magazine picked up Marshall so it all had a happy ending!
I used to work with Marshall at Cartoon Network. He's funny, passionate and loves people, qualities which manage to find their way into his caricatures.
Marshall did caricatures like these in the 80s and early 90s when professional computer caricature was still somewhat uncommon. I think he had to resort to added photographic and prismacolor enhancement to get what he was looking for.
What a shame that newspapers didn't pick up on what Marshall did...They could have had a Sunday comedy section built around funny pictures like these! As it happened Mad magazine picked up Marshall so it all had a happy ending!
Another Marshal Vandruff fan!
ReplyDeleteI believe these were done for Mad Magazine. What a hoot! That second one always cracks me up.
Imagine if they did these for the mugshots of the criminals that made the frontpage. Talk about punishment as a deterrent!
The second one is beautiful! His face looks like a melted piece of clay! Haha, did he do these on a Amiga or something?
ReplyDeleteWow! And I have problems doing caricatures by hand! That looks tremendously difficult to do without current technology!
ReplyDeleteI saw some things like that in Mad Magazine a bunch of years ago. I never knew who did them until now.
ReplyDeleteThanks Uncle Eddie. B)
Wait, these appear in MAD Magazine? Man, I've been collecting that magazine for couple years now and never noticed it. This is what happens when you go directly to Ted Rall's stuff, Spy vs. Spy, MAD Look At and some others and ignore the rest. I'll have to go through my collection, because these are hilarious.
ReplyDeleteP.S., I hope you don't mind me asking, Uncle Eddy, but what do you think of Ted Rall?
Forgive me for being the voice of dissent here, but I consider computer manipulated photos to be highly overrated. These samples put me in mind of the glut of greeting cards out there featuring photos of pups and kittens with huge heads, bulbous eyeballs and a mouth full of grinning teeth. Personally, I find those things rather unpleasant to look at.
ReplyDeleteIn short, this type of imagery is putting real cartoonists out of work, and hand-drawn cartoons are infinitely more aesthetically pleasing to the eye. As one who specializes in caricature myself, I regard the computer manipulated counterpart to be a very low form of art, lacking genuine wit or insight into the personality of the subject. Just one man's opinion of course...
Marshall was one of my favourite teachers in art school. He is so enthusiastic, and has a real insight for working with students and artists. I learned a ton of great stuff from him.
ReplyDeleteHe also did a kick-ass Wallace Shawn impression for a short I was doing. :P
My initial reaction to your suggestion of "too bad the newspapers didn't pick up on this" had me imagining of their backing down after some ridiculous letter to the editor citing cruelty or taste or some other gripe. I also thought a comedy section in a newpaper a bit unrealistic. I have seen warped photos as basis for newspaper illustration, usually in the living section, some gardener or housekeeper or some other shocked or frustrated consumer engaged in consumer activity, based on some model who released their image for such purpose. Ad friendly, no one was hurt.
ReplyDeleteI am also reminded of how much better a Dick Tracy movie could have been, if they merely cast the movie to type with character actors, rather than using makeup effects for some boring primary colored celebrity romp.
And I somewhat agree with Pete Emslies dissent... it actually was commonly used, overused in fact, in nonskilled ways (no artists eye for charicature) for the greeting card market, that it was railed against as cliche to be frowned upon on photoshop blogs. No Gimmicks for Gimmicks sake. It also sorta cheapened Mad Magazine (cheap!) when they did the photoshop warp covers, instead of using a cartoonists or painters line.
The quality of your examples is an exception, even amongst your pals playing around with Photo Booth on a Mac, there is an eye for design, structure, and funny at play that makes them work. Heck, even a simple ultra wide angle lens and the right lighting angle and expression, can do wonders. It is how the tool is used that makes it work (or not).
Looks like my Katzenjammer buddies beat me to it!
ReplyDeleteNot olny does Marshall do these great characatures... But he also knows just about everything about physical anatomy and great storytelling! All this in one of the greatest teachers ever!
I wouldn't say that photomanipulation is a lower form of art than hand-drawing caricatures, just different. It still takes a good sense of judgement and an artistic eye to know what looks good and how to manipulate the image in a way that produces something that will actually make an individual laugh. I think a lot of artists feel threatened about how accessable "art" has become because of the many computer programs that make it easy, but they don't realize that there are still artistic qualities required to make something that is truly great.
ReplyDeleteYes, some photomanipulations will be vapid and pointless, but there are just as many hand-artists who suck at what they do. You can't write of a medium because of its worst pieces.
Hi Eddie,
ReplyDeleteNo offense to Mr. Vandruff, but I'll take Marlo Meekins' caricatures over this stuff any day of the week.
Also, to C. Brubaker: Ted Rall and the new Spy Vs. Spy are complete and utter garbage.
You need to get to a used bookstore and read up on great cartoonists of the past, son.
mike,
ReplyDeleteTrust me...I do. I have tons of those books (Charles Schulz, Mort Walker/back when he was great, Johnny Hart/pre-born again, Howie Schneider, Bill Watterson, etc.).
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ReplyDeleteMarshall, you ought to post that first composite! Practically historic now. : )
ReplyDeleteI guess that was when you were making the Paranoid Worm, wasn't it, Eddie? I remember having lunch with you at the Showboat place and you were over the moon about it.
marshall is amazing!..even if you are not a fan of this particular style of caricatures, marshall is an astonishing draughtsman and an even better teacher..check out one of his workshops and you'll see what i'm talking about.
ReplyDeletegreat post uncle eddie!
Marsh: Great to hear from you! I know the composite you're talking about. I'll post it as soon as I can find it!
ReplyDeleteJenny: Yeah, I was really jazzed about that project and it was fun eating with you at the Showboat. A couple of times I had lunch with Maurice Noble there. He brought a bag lunch. I Remember him talking about the 1960s. He thought it was the fault of Dr. Spock's baby book which resulted in kids being spoiled.