The September meeting for CAPS featured some intriguing videos.
First up was a silent film featuring noted cartoonists from 100 years ago. One of the special aspects of it was not just watching the cartoonist draw while being filmed, but also some of the earilest animation ever done for film. Individual drawings done of the cartoon characters, and each shot, frame by frame. We marveled that the image matching was all done by hand, without light box, and all the wonderful tools we have now. It was also noted that the slight coloring in the animation was tinting done directly on the film by hand, sincer there was no color film at that time.
Next up was a documentary from the 1940s about newspaper comics strip artists, with the “gee, wow” narration that was typical of the newsreels. Also amusing was that all the gentlemen were shown wearing shirts and ties. One of the CAPS members quipped, “Oh, that’s what we’re doing wrong! We’re not wearing ties when we work!”
The highlight of the evening, though was a video interview that Stan Lee did with Sergio Aragonés in 1991. There was some amusement at Stan’s methods of expression, but listening to Sergio describe his early career was fascinating. And then Stan had Sergio do a number of quick sketches as they discussed things like expressions and knowing anatomy.
After that video (which was nearly an hour long), Sergio answered questions – about the experience of being interviewed by Stan, filling in biographical things skipped over in the interview, fleshing out some of the stories that didn’t quite come through clearly in the video.
Sergio Aragones
Sergio remains one of the most charming and delightful people you could possibly meet. After listening to him talk like this, I’ve come to conclude that his ability to continue drawing some of the funniest cartoons in existence is that he takes such joy in life. He doesn’t take anything for granted, he is totally interested in what is around him. It’s an honor to know him.
