I’ve been making art, mostly cartoons, since I was in the 7th. Grade. I started out copying the art I enjoyed by reading “Car-Toons” magazine, “Drag Cartoons”, and the stuff being put out by Ed ”Big Daddy” Roth in the hot-rod magazines of the day. “Rat Fink” was a favorite, and I could copy it faithfully which gave me a status with the greaser crowd, and offered me protection. At 4', and change I needed it.
After my wife and I were married, I decided to try art as an avocation to get better and make some extra cash. I started pitching to the magazine that started my interest, as “Car-Toons” is still being published all these years later by Petersen Publishing in L.A. I eventually started getting my work published, as well as my writing. I was working with—and being mentored by—my childhood heroes: Dennis Ellefson, Pete Millar, and Ed Roth. I freelanced for the next 30 years supplying cartoon art to different small magazines: “Wooden Boat,” “Small Craft Advisor,” and a handful of others.
I went to work at San Francisco State U. While I was there, I decided to get more involved with the students and faculty, so I founded a club. “The Comic and Cartoon Club” was established as an official club- with me as its advisor and biggest cheerleader. After I retired, I kept in touch with the students and members of the club—and I still do.
My art has branched out quite a lot since retirement. I now do, besides cartooning, Lino relief printing, papier-mâché sculpture, and large 3-D “sculpto-pictoramas,” a term coined by Red Grooms who is a big influence on my art. Along with all the aforementioned art styles, I am also currently working on a graphic novel, “Tattoo Klaus,” which has been an ongoing project for over 5 years.
