Who is winsor mccay

In the hundred years since their debut, Little Nemo and Gertie remain examples of the power of illustration art. Blackbeard, Bill and Winsor McCay. Little Nemo: Cologne, Germany: Evergreen, McCay drew incessantly throughout his childhood. His drawings impressed everyone with their high levels of detail-from bolt heads on machines to feathers on chickens-resulted from close observation and a cognitive process he later called "memory sketching.

In , the McKays moved to Stanton, Michigan. His father insisted that McCay have a business education. Once there he skipped classes he never graduated and made money by drawing portraits of patrons at a dime museum-a sort of permanent indoor circus sideshow-in nearby Detroit.

This work sharpened his abilities as a commercial artist, as he learned to create drawings that looked like the subject, but were always flattering.

It also fulfilled a growing need to perform publicly, as a crowd often gathered to watch him work. Goodison provided private lessons-the only formal lessons McCay ever had-and drilled the young artist in perspective, an understanding of solid geometry, and a sense of substance that would be evident in all of McCay's subsequent work. McCay went to Chicago, but instead of enrolling in the Art Institute, took a job as an apprentice at a printing company.

After two years in the print shop while again moonlighting in a dime museum, McCay's fortunes took him to Cincinnati, Ohio.

There he made promotional posters and art for another dime museum. He also worked as a billboard painter. His habit of drawing the outline of a figure in one continuous line without referring to a sketch attracted the crowds for which he loved to perform. Soon after he arrived in Cincinnati in , he met Maude Leonore Dufour, and they eloped. Five years later, they had a son, Robert Winsor, in June , followed by their only other child, Marion Elizabeth, in August To better provide for his family, McCay took a job as reporter-artist for the Cincinnati Commercial Tribune.

At the end of the nineteenth century, newspapers did not have the technology to reproduce photographs. A reporter who could produce quick, accurate line drawings of people and events, that could easily be turned into an attractive engraving for reproduction, was a great commodity.

McCay, with his strong background in forms and perspective as well as his talent for drawing from memory, was better equipped than most. His detailed full-page of places and events became an important part of the Tribune. McCay had a lighthearted humorous side, too.

It occasionally appeared in the Tribune, illustrating a poem or story. However, it found greater release in one of the premier humor magazines of the day, Life.

Not to be confused with Henry Luce's photo magazine that began in the s, Life was a collection of cartoons and short humor pieces. Not only did McCay contribute single panel editorial cartoons to the magazine, but Life artists, like A.

Henrietta is constantly fed by her parents and family members, until she eats practically anything in her vicinity. Yet all the little girl ever wants is actual love and care.

McCay was said to have based her on his own daughter, Marion. Given that the workaholic cartoonist barely had time for his family it may have been an expression of his guilt. In 'Hungry Henrietta' inspired the name of a restaurant in Antwerp, Belgium, which sported a frame from McCay's comic strip in their logo.

The title pointed out that while the comic strip was inspired by John Bunyan's classic novel 'The Pilgrim's Progress' , it still was a different take on the story. In Bunyan's allegory a Christian travels with a package called 'Sin' to a place of salvation. In McCay's comic strip a character named Mr. Bunion also carries a bag with a title, 'Dull Care', and seeks to find a street named 'Glad Avenue'.

The running gag is that he always tries to get rid of this bag of metaphorical problems, but it always finds a way to return. What makes this comic interesting - other than McCay's top notch artwork - is the deep philosophical and humanistic edge. Compared with most other newspaper comics at the time it actually transcends typical slapstick formulas. It's also notable for featuring one of the first instances of a celebrity cameo: in one episode Bunion dreams he can help U.

President Theodore Roosevelt. Poor Jake 'Poor Jake' featured a laborer being exploited by an emotionless Colonel and his wife. The latter strip is often seen as a reflection of McCay's own profession in regard to all the money others made off his creations. The character was originally created by Richard F.

Outcault , who had left for the New York American in The Herald continued the series until with a host of anonymous artists, most notably Will Lawler.

He won a lawsuit that allowed him to continue using the characters from 'Little Nemo', but under a different title: 'In the Land of Wonderful Dreams'. The first episode debuted on 3 September , but only lasted until 26 December Although McCay's art grew ever more beautiful, a lot of McCay's inventiveness in this reboot of 'Little Nemo' seems to have vanished. Unfortunately, McCay never finished this series, and it was cancelled on 26 December He then did press illustrations for the Hearst papers until his death in In the late s and s, McCay's son Robert tried to revive 'Little Nemo' through the Chesler shop and comic books, but with little success.

Animation career McCay was also a pioneer of animated cartoons. In he performed as a vaudeville entertainer, drawing sequential sketches on a chalkboard in front of a live audience.

According to an urban legend, his career in animation was the result of a bet with cartoonist George McManus , who claimed he couldn't produce enough line drawings to sustain a four- or five minute theatrical short. His animation was more technically skilled than his predecessors, with eye for anatomy, perspective and continuity. Instead of stiff stick figures he used fully rendered characters who move smoothly and realistically.

At the time, some people in the audience couldn't even believe it was all hand drawn and thought he had used trick photography with real-life actors. Gertie the Dinosaur To demolish such unbelief and accusations, McCay made 'Gertie the Dinosaur' , in which he used a character that couldn't be faked in real life: a brontosaurus.

A landmark in animation, it was the first cartoon with detailed backgrounds and built around the personality of a character. Gertie is invited by her keeper to do all kinds of tricks, but she is very unpredictable. Sometimes she is distracted by a passing mammoth, other times she disobeys her master and at one point she starts crying. The movie pioneered innovations that are still used in animation today, such as "inbetweening" drawing images between a pose.

Historically 'Gertie the Dinosaur' is also significant as the first convincing dinosaur movie and the first animated cartoon to star a female character.

The animated short was notable for not being based on a humorous fantasy. It featured the bombing and sinking of the ship, depicted in real time.

A technical "tour de force", the film was the first attempt to mimick real-life movement and can be seen as the earliest example of animation specifically aimed at an adult audience.

It also pioneered cel animation. Even in terms of live-action film making it was a landmark, filming from angles that regular movie cameras couldn't imitate at the time. What makes McCay's efforts particularly astounding is the fact that he drew most of the images in these cartoons himself, by hand. They were so sophisticated for their time that it would take almost 25 years before they were equalled and surpassed. McCay was also one of the first artists to create animated short films. Read on to learn more about Winsor McCay and the characters he created!

Winsor McCay was from Spring Lake! From an early age, he loved to draw. He spent all his free time drawing pictures. He even got in trouble at school for drawing instead of paying attention to the lessons! He drew a picture on the school blackboard of what he imagined the ship looked like being tossed in the waves. People were so impressed with the drawing that they asked a local photographer to take a picture.

Thought to be by Winsor McCay. Winsor McCay Broke Rules! He began drawing comic strips for newspapers in Cincinnati and New York. One way he did this was with a comic strip called Little Sammy Sneeze. Sammy was always getting into trouble for sneezing at a bad time. His sneezes were so violent that they would break things or send them flying. Winsor McCay Dreamed Big! Winsor McCay liked to draw comic strips about dreams. In dreams, anything can happen.