Hi, Web-ed.
Your article about the ACES Artist is fascinating.
You said early on that you don't draw, paint or sculpt anything, so, I thought I'd add some perspective from someone who does. I've done some pen-and-ink drawing. Not a lot. Nothing great. And not recently. But I know the technique. A pen-and-ink artist takes a steel-tipped pen, dips it into a bottle of ink, draws s few strokes, and then has to dip the pen into the ink again. Ir's a tedious process, but the cartoonists of the Golden Era got good enough at it that they could do great pictures and crank them out quickly. Anyone who has attempted to do pen-and-ink drawings has an immense respect for the ones who are good at it.
You mentioned that the ACES artist put more dilligence into the spankers than he did the spankees. I didnt notice that until you pointed it out, but now it really stands out to me.
I might have a possible explanation for that. For source material, an artist can use live models/photos, or memory/imagination. Pin-up artist, Gil Elvgren used to hire live models, pose them, arrange their clothing in the way he wanted, and then take their photo, so that they didn't kave to hold their pose for the entire time it took him to paint their picture. Some of those photos have surfaced recently. In his finished paintings, there would be details that he changed using his imagination.
For the money that
Humorama artists were paid, I don't suppose that many of them hired live models. I've speculated that perhaps some of them, such as Dan De Carlo and Bill Wenzel might have had their wives pose for them now and then. A lot of the
Humorama artists who did spanking cartoons looked like they spent more time and effort with the spankees than the spankers. I have one example I'll share:
- Dan De Carlo spanked secretary.jpg (580.09 KiB) Viewed 4995 times
The errant secretary is clearly the center of attention. I think he drew her first and added everything else as an afterthought. What really stands out is the beautiful shape of the woman's buttocks, and the shading that makes her look three-dimensional. The first thing I noticed about the man was the knowing leer. SHE thinks she's being punished for her spelling errors, but, nod nod wink wink, WE know he's just been looking for any excuse he could find to turn her over his knee and hike up her dress. It took me a long time to realize that his legs were wrong. Her lower ribs are supporrted by his left thigh... but her hips are levitating in front of his left knee.
I think the ACES Artist used live models, or photos for the men and the backgrounds, but he if he was worried about being "outed" as a spanko, he would be hesitant to hire a female model and ask her to assume a pose that looks like she's ready for a spanking. I think he knew female bodies well enough to draw them from memory,,, but not in as much detail.