ONE LOVELY DRAWING, part 79

 In 1966, The Cartoonist Cookbook published a drawing and recipe from each of 45 popular comic strip artists.  The snappy draftsmanship on the comics pages in those days was extraordinary.

For example, the talented Leonard Starr contributed this drawing of his wife trying to trick him into eating tuna fish, which he'd told her he hated:

Stan Drake contributed this sparkly drawing of his character Eve Jones:

Today there's no artist on the newspaper comic pages that comes within ten miles of these draftsmen.

 

In The Cartoonist Cookbook, even the most simplified strips such as Johnny Hart's BC could demonstrate observational powers and drawing skills.

But today's "one lovely drawing,"  the one with the real frim fram sauce and shafafa on the side, is the contribution from young Neal Adams: 

Adams was a mere stripling at the time, young lean and bold.

Bio from The Cartoonists Cookbook

But even at that young age he exhibited the fearlessness with ink which later became his trademark: 

The astonishing variety in his line is not something found in nature; it is purely an invention of Adams, something he forced into the picture to great artistic effect.

The precocious (and cocky) young Adams already had the courage and the range of a far more mature talent.  Look at the range of marks he employed in this one small drawing.   

Flipping through the pages of the 1966 book, it must've been obvious from this one lovely drawing that the boy cartoonist was destined for greatness.  And indeed he was.