Richard Thompson's Blog, page 20

NOT IN THE BOOK, AND IT'S SO OBSCURE THAT I DON'T REMEMBER IT

Anita Finklestein has been busy, diligently digging up bits of Thompson lacuna as though it was worth something. Like this image, which,  as with her preceding find was a calendar illustration done for a printer who wanted to show what he could do. Here's what he could do-

WHAT'S NEW AT THOMPSONIANA?

WHAT'S NEW AT THOMPSONIANA?
WE WERE HOPING NOBODY'D ASK, AFTER ALL OF THOSE RUMORS OF A COUP ATTEMPT BY DISGRUNTLED GREETING CARD WORKERS PROTESTING THEIR NEW 26-HOUR DAY, JUST ONE OF THE MANY ADVANCES WE'VE INSTITUTED.

THE PANHANDLER CARD



THE HUNGRY CONSUMER CARD



A TWO-FERTHE OLD WOMAN TOSSED UP IN A BASKET CARD 



A PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN CARD
WHAT A FINE SELECTION OF GREETING CARDS!
AVAILABLE ONLY FROM
   THOMPSONIANA
"WHERE DREAMS ARE BORN."

SO NOT IN THE BOOK THAT MICHAEL RHODE DOESN'T KNOW IT EXISTS

How can it be? How can such a thing exist? My oeuvre is so widely documented that no image should roam free. But here, through the diligent spade-work of Anita Finklestein is The One That Got Away.                                                                                            

NOT IN THE BOOK IV

It's time once again to alienate all of my friends and show some more images that were deemed unworthy of inclusion in the Art of book but I have scans so I might as well post them.
First up is a perennial favorite from Why Things Are.


Next, let's see some spots I did for Bono Mitchell.




That's me!

Well, wasn't that fun? And how! Now you'll have to excuse me while I round up some new friends, but watch for NOT IN THE BOOK V; RISE OF THE OMINOUSITY, when I run out of things to feed this blog again.

the New Yorker Gets With It

Eustace Tilley, ,,Rea Irvin's inexplicable  Everyman, has turned his dandy's monocle on Alice and Petey  and- well, what do you expect? It was never  a fair fight.             

NOT IN THE BOOK III

Let's have some more random images, shall we? These posts are so easy to do it's criminal.  All I need is a  computer full of disjointed and disconnected drawings that nobody's seen since publication (and boy, do I have that).

 First up is something I did for Bono Mitchell when she wasn't looking. Like many of thus period, it's colored with colored pencil, alkyd and/or oil.




 Ah, here's the Man Himself, Joel Achenbach, from when he had a column in the Post Magazine. I'm happy enough with this caricature to post it; as I recall he kinda hated it. Watercolor.




This was for the New Yorker when Bill Bennet was news; where do these people go? And why don't they stay there?



Speaking of which...

The Best Comics of 2014, Now With More Self-Regard

Whoever's in charge, Mr. Houghton or Mr. Mifflin, over at that firm they got must be asleep at the wheel. Guess who made it into the newest edition, compiled by the redoubtable Scott McCloud and his faithful droog, Bill Kartalopoulos. I'm thankful to them both for bending the laws of space and time so that Alice can sit with the adults. And hey, read the rreviews!              

The Best Comics of 2014

Whoever's in charge, Mr. Houghton or Mr. Mifflin, over at that firm they got must be asleep at the wheel. Guess who made it into the newest edition, compiled by the redoubtable Scott McCloud and his faithful droog, Bill Kartalopoulos. I'm thankful to them both for bending the laws of space and time so that Alice can sit amongst the immortals.

NOT IN THE BOOK II

Here are two more perfectly good drawings that didn't make it to happy hardback land. First, an airplane cut-away illustration from the Atlantic.
I always loved intricate cut-away drawings, especially of airplanes. Not doing them; looking at them. Doing them is boring beyond belief but looking at them- all those struts and rivets and everything in it's place- enthrall me. The  school library had a book filled with ligne claire drawings of airplanes, and I'd obsessively check it out (sixth through ninth grade) and try to mimic the art. Not for any reason or with an goal in mind, but just because I liked it. So when the Atlantic called with this job - a drawing of the largest passenger plane- I subconsciously returned to eighth grade.

One of the things I'll do when I'm the Guy in Charge of Caricature Studies is; I'll have everybody draw an imaginary character. That is, they'll have to invent an appropriate face for someone who doesn't exist. This cover for the U of C alumni magazine is about as close as I got. The red robes are painted with real vermilion, mercuric sulfide, just one of many Things You Didn't Need to Know.

NOT IN THE BOOK

I'm going to launch a  series called "NOT IN THE BOOK." This will use up drawings that are second-rate and it'll warn readers that they're missing out on something; in this case, some really second-rate drawings.

For the first one, I've selected this image; because it's the second in a series of 3 that reaches fruition  in the drawing used as a cover for The Art book, and because my friend Nick went bananas tearing up my studio looking for it, not knowing it was under the magical  protection of Caitlin McGurk.