Roy Doty, Cartoonist Artist

*Continuing Richard Taylor's 1950 article from American Artist magazine woven in among some more wonderful Roy Doty cartoons. I say "more" because long time readers will remember that I've written about Roy on several previous occasions. Roy must surely be the most prolific advertising cartoonist of the 20th century, and I've had the distinct pleasure of corresponding with him and of actually meeting him in person two years ago at the NCS Reubens Awards in New Orleans.


Here's an example of Roy Doty's work on an extensive Life magazine ad campaign from 1953. This is just one of a series of DPS Life ads Roy drew. A new one appeared in Fortune magazine each month for several months in '53 (a single page ad from the campaign is at the end of this post).


In one of his emails to me Roy wrote, "The fifties were a great time to be in NY. In the fifties I was working for everyone, plus turning out books galore... and for three years doing one of the early kids television shows daily on Dumont, and making 40 half hour movies at the same time. EGAD!"

With typical acerbic Doty humour he continued, "I never shared a studio with anyone, never have. Always worked at home. Still do. It's a great place to work but it costs you a lot of wives."


And now, on to the next passage from Richard Taylor's article...


"The beginner almost always starts off with overly-ambitious attempts."


"He fails to realize that full page drawings in the leading magazines aren't purchased from unknowns..."


"... and that juicy advertising accounts aren't handed out to artists without a name."


"The moment he gets it through his head that the wise way is to start small and work up, concentrating on modest work at modest prices, things usually begin to happen."


"The point is that the Big Boys can't be bothered with the $5 to $50 markets (because they receive from $100 up per drawing) and so the Little Field is wide open to the beginner."


"If the talent is there..."


"... and the urge to develop is there..."


"... he won't stay in it long."


* My Roy Doty Flickr set.