Bill Yates Working Process Letter
Found this letter in some ephemera from the estate of Bob Gustafson. It is a letter written by cartoonist Bill Yates describing his working process and what materials he uses. Cartooning students take note.
Click image to enlarge letter
Bill Yates cartoon for the Satuday Evening Post.
Special thanks to Dave Wessels. See Dave’s amazing work on his blog.
Bill Yates (1921-2001)
Floyd Buford Yates (1921-2001) funny-man-cartoonist created Professor Phumble for King Features from 1960 to 1978, before assuming the position of comic strip editor for King Features Syndicate. At the end of 1988, Yates left his editorial position at King Features in order to spend full time cartooning. He continued to write Redeye and do both scripting and art on The Small Society, but increasing ill health forced his retirement from the strips in 1999.
What a cool piece of history!
I’m not sure what it was intended for, but it is very interesting.
I love primary sources like that. Pretty cool to see that making comics/cartoons hasn’t changed much at all! (For me, anyway, since I still pencil and ink traditionally).
I’ve seen your work in person, Pat, and your line work is really nice. There’s just no replacing the feel of pencil and ink in actual contact with the surface of the paper. I just can’t get that feel with a tablet no matter how I try.
How nice. I like how he spells “yeller.” I have an old letter from Mort Walker that he sent me when I was a boy.
That’s really cool, Tom! You should post that and send me a link.
Very interesting.
Thanks for sharing that Mark! 😀
I thought some people might be interested in seeing that. I’ m glad you liked it, Bill!
Ah, the history!
Fun stuff!