My Dad the Cartoonist

I grew up watching Dad cartoon.  [And yes, he happens to share the same name as me].  Whether it was drawing birthday cards for everyone in the family, creating banners for our team sports, , drawing on our school lunch bags, cartooning for our community newsletter, painting Christmas windows on shops around town, designing logos for customers, or cartooning just for the sake of cartooning — I watched him do it, and consequently, I wanted to do it.  And I often did, right alongside him in his amazing art studio tucked away in the rafters of our garage.

In the History and Printing chapters of Vert’s Story, I talk about my dad and how he cartooned for the Daily Trojan while attending college at USC (1962-1966).  [Click here for a fun look back at Dad in action in a photo essay created by his good friend in college, Gary Ferington; Click here to see Dad’s Daily Trojan Collection].  As I was nearing my graduation, he and I took a trip to his alma mater and found ourselves in the main library blowing dust off of rolls of microfilm from the 60’s.  Below are a few of his cartoons we were able to find:

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As a side note, Dad’s last cartoon for the Daily Trojan (above) shares a striking resemblance to my last cartoon for The Hotline.  [Click here for a side-by-side].

For my graduation, Dad drew up this caricature of myself and Vert for the LACC yearbook.

Thanks Dad for your inspiration!