Monday, November 18, 2013

On the Road Again.

Alimentary (nom de plumed after an obscure nephoo of Albert), is our newish and active Friend-in-Kelly. I say 'active' cuz he is taking Kelly art and running places with it, so to speak. This piece of Kelly art, to my understanding, was for a comic book cover that didn't come to be. Alimentary has taken the black & white drawing and applied some nice color to it to give us a pre-holiday treat.

Thank you A! You've got the Kelly spirit, no doubt about it.

© Walt Kelly Estate

5 comments:

  1. I should cite the origin here, if anything so you can assess how much vandalization-- I mean, work, I put into this.

    http://www.coollinesartwork.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=257763&ArtistId=764&Details=1&From=Room

    - (A)

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  2. This fits right in with the Dell comic book covers of the '50s. It seems like most of those covers had the characters using some unorthodox method of transportation! Beautiful coloring job, Alimentary! I love the way Uncle Antler's hooves are skidding in the dirt, trying to keep up with Albert's pedaling. And the dainty way Albert honks the horn, one pinky extended. Always the Southern gennleman!

    ~Craig

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    Replies
    1. I was definitely channeling the late 40's-early 50's Dell cover color scheme for Pogo. Later, he seemed to lose the pinkness of his limbs, but honestly I like that style since it sets his limbs off from the fur on his body more clearly. Admittedly, real 'possums have pink only on their digits and nose. I resisted the urge to yellow up the palms and soles on Albert though, which occurs in at least 3 cover illustrations, even as late as the mid-50s in one case.

      I couldn't resist coloring this cover because I fell instantly in love with the 'steam-punk' quality of parts of this drawing. The original drawing was just begging to be colored.

      - (A)

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    2. Kelly was still giving Pogo pink limbs and nose as late as 1956, in the Songs for the Pogo book. Even as late in the game as the 1969 "NO!" book that Thom posted awhile ago, Kelly was still giving Pog' some pinkish/purplish highlights on the nose, ears and limbs, but it was much more of an afterthought by then. Unfortunately, we don't have too many examples of Pogo actually being colored BY Kelly; usually we're seeing Kelly's vision filtered through colorists working for Dell or the Hall syndicate, and then their work filtered again through the limited printing technologies of the day. So it's not too shocking that Pogo's color model lost some detail in the translation. It's worth noting that Kelly's color guide for the very first Sunday strip in 1950 (available in Vol. 1 of the Fantagraphics series) doesn't have the pink highlights, indicating that right off the bat, Kelly was realistic about what he could expect from printers on a deadline.

      As a sidebar, it's always kinda bugged me that Pogo's coloring bounces back and forth between grey and tan, depending on the medium and the era. Kelly seems to have favored the grey, although the aforementioned color model has him strangely tan.

      ~Craig

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  3. I suspect Pogo actually is naturally gray, but that orangey Georgia clay probably colors his fur more tan. At least until his next bath. They do live in a swamp and Kelly does occasionally reference the fact they are pretty earthy critters.

    If it were my preference for Albert, he would be yellow from chin to the tip of his tail. Also, I'd go the extra mile ad carry it to the palms and soles of his feet in the bi-color style you see on humans (but also on real alligators).

    Like so:
    http://img577.imageshack.us/img577/8432/nzu8.png

    There's hints for all of these except the underside of his jaw and his palms. I don't think Albert ever was colored above the neck in yellow. It may be that hitting those zones would have been too complicated for accurate coloring.

    It did bother me a little that towards the end of his career, Albert looked more like a green salamander wearing a yellow catcher's chest guard.

    Then again, my mother thought Albert looked a bit like a duck. And Pogo looked like a dandelion.

    - (A)

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