About the illustration

I found the original image at Heritage Auctions and thought it looked cool. I wasn’t sure if I would be able to re-ink it due to the lack of definition and the interference the colored dots created. However, it turned out it was much easier to work with than I thought. The most challenging part was the letter “G” in the word gas. I had difficulty keeping the line thickness consistent and matching the remaining letters in the word gas.

I don’t know much about this thing. I’m guessing it was a small promo comic for gas appliances published by Dell comics to coincide with their comic book adaptation of the Andy Hardy movie series starring Mickey Rooney. Although I don’t know who did the original artwork, I think it’s safe to assume it was Al Hubbard’s based on the original illustration’s distinctive style.

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.