Henry Martin cartoon original

( Note: The gag line, which he typed in, was reset here because it was so small. )

Around in the 90's I wrote Henry and begged him for an original and he sent me this beautiful masterpiece which I have hanging in my studio alongside Lorenz, Syverson, Don Reilly, Henry Bosch and others.

This one was drawn with india ink on a quality high rag content bond paper and with blue watercolored  brush areas to indicate the Ben Day tones for the printer.

Henry Martin, in my opinion was what I call a real journeyman, . . . an authentic magazine cartoonist who could actually draw . . .After all,  It was essential at one time , that it was a good idea that you should learn to draw FIRST if you intend to become a cartoonist . . . I know it sounds crazy, but people actually thought that way . . .

You know . . . Crazy ideas like: Go and get licensed to be a plumber . . . THEN, you are allowed to do plumbing jobs . . .

All that crazy thinking became OLD and RIGID . . .  then a "progressive" paradigm shift kicked in, right about that time when Dylan started to inform us that " Times, they-are-a-changin' . . "

Jackson Pollack had given us his message . . . Anything goes, up is down, down is up, it it feels good, DO It, right . . .No rules . . .  Let it all hang out, TRIP, BABY, TRIP . . Tim Leary, Jack Kerouac, LSD,  drop out . . . If you are a comedian, it's okay to draw cartoons . . . even if your drawings are atrocious, horrendous, child-like, embarrassingly amateur . . it does not matter, because I said so, that's why . . .

 Henry Martin's style influenced me without a doubt.  If you notice, there isn't ONE extra line in the drawing that you could have left out, not one.