Michael Sporn Animation – Splog

- Last week we saw the first half of Wallace Tripp‘s book, Sir Toby Jingle’s Beastly Journey. Today we conclude our post of the book. Wallace Tripp is certainly an influence on many animator’s work. His fluid drawings look like animation work. Many thanks to Bill Peckmann for scanning the book and sending these pages on to us.

Here, then, is part 2:

Front Cover

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Back Cover

- After posting Wallace Tripp‘s book, Granfa Grigg Had A Pig, it became obvious to me that we had to post more. Bill Peckmann sent this first half of the book, Sir Toby Jingle’s Beastly Journey. It was illustrated AND written by Tripp and is a delight. The drawings are beautiful, and the book has a great flow. I hope you enjoy it.

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to be concluded next week.

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Indiegogo POE

- And now a word from our sponsor. I’d be remiss if I allowed a post to pass without the mention of our fundraising campaign for POE. That is, of course, the feature we are promoting, the feature we are trying to finance and hope to raise enough money to get a trailer completed. To that end, we’ve established a spot on Indiegogo a week ago where we are aiming for the highest. Please visit the site, tell your friends to tell their friends, and perhaps we’ll reach our goal. Many thanks, regardless, for your wonderful support.

- Wallace Tripp has to have been the source of inspiration for many an animator in the last fifty years. His artwork is so rich and round, his characters so full of life, and his watercoloring so masterful. No one can tell me that Ken Anderson‘s style, from “Robin Hood” on, didn’t emanate from Tripp’s illustrations. I know back in the seventies, many in animation talked about him and bought his books. Those calanders were everywhere.

Bill Peckmann reminded me of this by sending me the following illustrations. Here’s Bill:

Two difficult tasks. Task number one, of all of Wally Tripp’s exceptionally wonderful books, pick your favorite one, and then task number two, pick your favorite pages. Hopefully these pages from Wally’s Granfa’ Grig Had a Pig will fill the bill on both counts for your readers new and old to Mr. Tripp’s mastery of pen and paint brush.

(Sorry to leave out the real blockbuster pages of the book, the double page spreads, unfortunately my puny scanner will not do these pages justice.)

Book cover

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And here’s a page of one of popular the calendars that came out annually.

- Here, thanks to Bill Peckman, are the Wallace Tripp illustrations for a calendar released in 1981. (Sorry, I’ve eliminated the dates and kept to the watercolors.)

(Click to enlarge any image.)

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- I’ve recently featured a number of illustration pieces by Wallace Tripp and have frequently expressed my feeling that he should have been desigining for animation. His style seems so ideal for the medium. Well, thank heavens, I’m apparently not the only one who thought so.

Bill Peckmann sends me a copy of a letter he received from Mr. Tripp which states that the accompanying artwork was designed for Richard Purdum’s British studio. The dragons are a delight.

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(Click any image to enlarge.)

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The following sketch and the character closeups are obviously
for something completely different:

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- Recently, I posted a calendar by Wallace Tripp, and the response was strong. So, Bill Peckmann sent me his collection of greeting cards by Tripp, the earliest of which goes back to 1973, and I’m posting those here. (I’ll also have another calendar of his to post later in the week.)

Each and every card is a gem. I still say it’s a wonder that he didn’t work for an animation company designing characters. The guy was a brilliant draftsman, watercolorist and illustrator.

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(Click any image to enlarge.)

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This is the oldest of the cards.

By the way, take a look at the Tripp Family Archives site.

- Wallace Tripp‘s illustrations have gotten a bit of attention here, so Bill Peckmann followed up his other pieces with a row of book covers that Tripp illustrated between 1972 and 1999. (There are many other books not included here, but these are plenty to give an idea of the man’s scope and range.)

Many thanks to Bill Peckmann for putting these all together.

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1981
Front cover

Back cover

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Front cover

Back cover

The guy sitting at the dest at the top of this page of
Marguerite is a self-caricature of Wallace Tripp.

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- Wallace Tripp is one of those illustrators whose work seemed ready for animation. Everything he drew seemed designed and ready for animators to pick up their pencils. His illustrations for Amelia Bedilia are certainly part of the great success of that book series.

Bill Peckmann has saved this calendar from 1980 and sent it to me. It’s a great example of the work of Tripp, and I don’t mind sharing it. Great drawings, beautiful watercolors. Near perfect illustrations.

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(Click any image to enlarge.)

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A note of thanks, yet again, to Bill Peckmann for sharing and reminding me of Wallace Tripp’s great work.