May 2007
The famously fickle and perfunctory but punctually procrastinating pen and ink men gathered at Showmar's on the last Tuesday in May. Present were Dimpled Dave McDonald, Tantalizing Tom Haines, Al "Fresco" Bigley and Grumblin' Greg Russell.
Dave brought several Johnny Hart obituaries and editorial cartoons. Ya know, Dave and Tom are from the same part of New York as Hart. As a matter of fact, Tom said that Hart gave him a critique on his art when he was 14 years old.
Tom said that one of his most prized possessions was a rejection letter from Hart when he submitted his idea for a new B.C. character to him. The letter was exceptionally nice and Hart even included a drawing of all the B.C. characters greeting Tom's character.
Many years later when Tom was opening a restaurant and club in Greenville, NC, Hart gave him permission to name it Grogg's and to use images of his characters on the walls and in his advertising.
Al talked about his "how-to" book that he had been working on for two years. He said it takes a lot of work to publish a book, but it should be a good source of income for years to come. He also brought sketches of trading cards he's illustrating for DC Comics. He will produce 200 in all.
All four talked about teaching and learning art. And all were relieved to hear that the others learned by tracing comics as kids. In fact, Johnny Hart advised Tom to trace as much as he could. Then, he said, he would develop his own style.
Greg is beginning work on a new book for Jeffrey Gitomer.
To round out the discussion, the four talked about Britney Spears and Anna Nicole Smith and why they shouldn't talk about them.
Since a group photo wasn't taken, below is a rendition of what the meeting looked like ...
The next luncheon will be held on the weekend of this year's Heroes Con at the Charlotte Convention Center. After that, meetings may be held on weekday evenings or on the weekend. Please yell at Dave to make your preference known.