Wednesday, June 21, 2017

MORT DRUCKER WEEK!

This week the great Mort Drucker is being inducted into the Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame. There will be a dinner and a reception at the Society in New York on June 22, 2017-- about 25 years late, as far as I'm concerned, but I'm still glad to see the 88 year old artist recognized that way.

At the same time, I'm pleased to announce that the new issue of Illustrators Quarterly, a superb international journal of illustration art, features a cover story (written by yours truly) about Drucker.


It features 32 pages of his marvelous drawings reproduced directly from the original art.










For the article, I was able to interview Drucker in his home and learn about his life and career.

Drucker's wedding picture with his wife Barbara

Drucker worked for his entire career on this same battered portable drawing board. 

It was a real treat for me, and I hope for readers.  This issue is a keeper.  It can be purchased from the publisher in the U.K. or from distributors in the US.

17 comments:

Tom said...

Looks great David! I will be ordering it.

thanks

Anonymous said...

David, Amazon says this isn't available yet. Do you know when it will be out?

JSL

Gianmaria Caschetto said...

Quite timely post! I've just finished a caricature commission and I was constantly looking at Drucker's work for inspiration (I also checked out this blog's past entries on Drucker). I remember when I discovered his work many years ago on a MAD Star Wars parody. The way he nailed Alec Guinness' likeness left me mesmerized. I was very young and Star Wars characters were a staple of my sketchbook repertoire, but I had to struggle to get the faces right. Drucker provided some valuable insights about how to interpret facial features and proportions and especially how to handle the inking.
(I must add that I'm still light years from that kind of confidence and draftsmanship, though...)

James Gurney said...

Look forward to your article and Mort's amazing pictures.

kev ferrara said...

yay!

Mack Chater said...

that is AMAZING. He's my all time favourite illustrator. I learned to draw, copying his work from MAD magazine (which I was introduced to on a VERY rainy summer holiday in Greece back in about 1982 - the hotel had a bunch of the paperback MAD books - I think I bought them all!!).

Just utterly LOVER his line work. Just makes me smile eveytime i see it!

Can;t wait to get my hands on the issue - you always write such wonderful pieces!

-M.

David Apatoff said...

Tom-- Many thanks!

Anonymous / JSL-- The magazine is definitely available in the U.K.-- I have it in my hands and brought it to the Society of Illustrators event last night. It may have taken a little longer to arrive in the US but I know outlets such as Bud Plant books and Stuart Ng ship copies rom the U.K.

Gianmaria Caschetto-- That's good to hear. Judging from the Hall of Fame ceremony last night, it seems more than one illustrator learned to draw from studying Drucker's work. Those pages in MAD provided an art school for kids who couldn't afford art school. In fact, when I asked Drucker what kept him working so hard for so many years adding all those additional touches, he said it was the all the young fans who really appreciated the work.

David Apatoff said...

James Gurney-- Mort's drawings won't disappoint. As for my article, I can't guarantee!

Kev Ferrara-- Yay indeed. I'm sorry it took this long to get such an article out. Among artists who know, Drucker was a mainstay of American satirical drawing for 50 years. Yet, he has been so under appreciated amongst the general public. I'm determined that he get as much recognition as possible while he's still around to hear it.

Mack Chater wrote: "Just makes me smile everytime i see it!"

I have the exact same reaction!




Anonymous said...

Gonna git this sucka!

Ken Meyer Jr.

kev ferrara said...

Fuchs books looks absolutely fantastic David. As definitive a monograph as could be wished. Congratulations and best of luck with it.

Anonymous said...

Well deserved tribute to one of the all time great illustrators..
the photo of his hands and drawing board is Fabulous!
Congrats,
D.H.

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Robert Cosgrove said...

My copy of Illustrators 18 arrived yesterday. Enjoyed your article very much, and the illustrations were especially well chosen.

David Apatoff said...

Ken Meyer, Jr. -- There is shocking little available on a talent like Drucker. I hope you find that this article fills a gap.

Kev Ferrara-- That means a great deal coming from a tough and observant judge like you.

D.H.-- Thanks, I'm glad you like those hands. You should've seen the crummy wooden board he worked on all these years.

David Apatoff said...

Anuj Agarwal-- Thanks.

Robert Cosgrove-- I'm so delighted to hear your reaction. Thanks for ordering it.

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