Russ Heath: In Memoriam, Part One (Il Showdown a Rio Jawbone) (Gunsmoke)

In memorial for the recently departed Russ Heath, I'm posting a copy of a panel of Russ's from one of my favorite art jobs by him, entitled “Il Showdown A Rio Jawbone”, published in National Lampoon Presents: The Very Large Book of Comical Funnies (1975). It was a parody of Spaghetti Westerns and European Graphic Novels. I made this copy as my entry into the Russ Heath Tribute booklet, published by C.A.P.S. in conjunction with the Annual C.A.P.S. banquet (for whichever year that was) honoring Russ Heath.

Russ has been one of my favorite artists since High School. I really dug his stories in National Lampoon and the Warren horror black & white magazines, Creepy, Eerie and Vampirella.

I'm also including the original story, and Russ Heath's Presentation Samples he executed in the 1950's when he was trying to get assigned to the Gun Smoke syndicated comic strip.

The Scrabble Player: Bill Fishman 082418

I sketched this last night (August 24, 2018) while playing Scrabble with Bill Fishman. We listened to Alice Coltrane and the Mamas and the Papas as we vied for Scrabble dominance. I won the first game, Bill won the second.

Kings Road

I recently watched “Kings Road”, starring Ann Southern, Robert Cummings and Ronald Reagan. The story and acting was so so, but the production design (by William Cameron Menzies) and cinematography (by James Wong Howe) was striking. Since I was laid off for 2 weeks prior to my ankle surgery I decided to indulge myself and sketch the cool compositions. 

Luminous. What makes the images seem so bright is the contrast with the deep, velvety blacks.