About the illustration

Hubbard was really good illustrator/cartoonist all is work is really smooth, and thick lined which makes re-inking really easy. In spite of that I’ve probably redone this illustration maybe five or six times.

The purpose of me doing exercises is to help me improve my pen skills. It was nice to be able see a noticeable difference between my latest version of this and my previous versions. I also did a colored version with halftone brushes from the Retro Supply Co. to so the shading.

About Al Hubbard

Al Hubbard (May 26, 1913 – May 30, 1984) was an American comics artist and animator who had worked with Walt Disney Pictures, MGM Studios (Tom and Jerry), Warner Bros. (Sylvester the Cat), and Walter Lantz. He was one of the most prominent artists for the comic books with animation studio-licensed characters published by Western Publishing.

Like his peers, Ken Hultrgen, Jack Bradbury, and Tony Strobl, Hubbard in his early twenties also tried to enter the world of animation. He started his animation career as an inbetweener at the Walt Disney Studios in 1937, but left after the film workers’ strike in 1941, turning his attention to comic book art. He did funny animal art for Better Publications, Rural Home, and ACG, and was also an artist for ACG’s “Spencer Spook” and “Bungle of the Jungle” stories.

Hubbard brought to his new vocation all the experience accumulated in animation: an edgy and fast stroke, versatile and adaptable to different characters and contexts, often difficult to contain within the narrow limits of the cartoons.

In 1942, Hubbard moved to Glendale near Los Angeles, where for nearly ten years he worked at the studio directed by Jim Davis.