Virgil V.I.P. Partch 1950's magazine cartoons (Updated 4-19)

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I have always felt drawn to VIP's cartoons first for their twisted sense of humor, and then secondly for something it took me a while to finally put my finger on. Partch has this seemingly simple style which is rather graphic and a bit "designy" & yet it never feels flat or like it's just hovering on the page. What makes this even more astounding is that he typically didn't use much in the way of background in his work, and yet he managed to maintain this dimensionality and strong perspective throughout his work. Undoubtedly Partch was well schooled and had a solid knowledge and understanding of "traditional" art concepts and techniques that allowed him to imbed such life into his chosen style of cartooning. Above all else though the thing that I feel always draws me in and captivates me about most of Partch's work is that it has this underlying almost magical feeling of action in even the simplest of one panel gags. To me when I look at a VIP cartoon it's almost as if I'm looking at a still frame from a piece of animation, because even though it is a stationary, singular image, I can feel what's happening and have an immediate sense of the larger scene he is portraying and how it will play out. This is what I admire most of all in Partch's work - the sense of action and life that he infuses into each and every cartoon.

Look at how this guy is sitting, it's hilarious! Who in their right mind sits down at a picnic and cuts their meat from this type of stance. Only a madman - Call the cops. Yet the pose is believeable because Partch knows his stuff.

Look at the pain on this poor womans face... better yet look at how Partchdrives the point home even further in her foot. Ouch!

Ever have some smart little jerk put a tac on your chair when you were a kid in school? tell me this isn't exactly how you felt as the point pierced your rump.

Sorry for the somewhat lousy quality in a few of these, but they came from old paperbacks that have definitely seen better days.

As promised, here are a few more examples of Partch's work along with a great article from his section in the "Famous Artists Cartooning Course" that gives us some insight into his process and technique for creating such great cartoons that continue to entertain & inspire over fifty years after their initial publication.






Also, I just want to say that if you frequent this blog and have gotten particularly inspired by something I have posted here and were able to use that inspiration in creating your own piece of artwork or animation, please feel free to e-mail them to me at info@csnyde.com i'd love to see them.

Also, if you ever have any additional artwork or information that relates to a post here on the Inspiration Grab-Bag, by all means don't be shy - email me and I will be happy to add it to the post here on the blog, or link to it.

Take care and have a great holiday weekend everyone.