The blog of Richard Thompson, caricaturist, creator of "Cul de Sac," and winner of the 2011 Reuben Award for Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year.
Thursday, September 19, 2024
Dave Kellett's original Richard Thompson art at 1 hr 57 minutes
Tuesday, August 13, 2024
Jason Chatfield quotes Richard Thompson 3x in his new newsletter
'How do you decide who you're going to be when you get up in the morning?'
How one piece of advice from Edward Sorel changed my career and helped me finally find my own style.
Saturday, June 22, 2024
Team Cul de Sac fundraiser t-shirt by Sergio Aragones info
Sunday, June 9, 2024
Richard Thompson original art including in Chris Schweizer's graphic novel exhibit
ART OF THE KIDS' GRAPHIC NOVEL Exhibition Virtual Visit
Tuesday, May 28, 2024
Jason Chatfield on seeing Richard Thompson originals
from his Dispatches from NancyFest 2024 on Substack, and reprinted with his permission. Subscribe here - https://www.newyorkcartoons.com/
When I was here 6 months ago for Cartoon Crossroads Columbus —my first as a guest presenter— I got to see an extra special selection of art by my favourite cartoonist, Richard Thompson. Jenny had pulled them out, especially for me ahead of time.
When I eyeballed Richard's original art for the first time I thought I was having heart palpitations. I pored over the Cul De Sac strips with a magnifying glass, forensically studying his line like Sherlock Holmes trying to solve A Scandal in Bohemia. I can't quite describe how important it is for artists (especially younger artists) to see original art, up close: white-outs, pencil marks and all. I never attended art school, but I've learned more from mushing my eyeball against great art than from any drawing class I've ever tried.
Friday, March 22, 2024
Tuesday, March 5, 2024
Richard Thompson drew About Schmidt
Tuesday, December 5, 2023
Team CDS drawings by Jon Esparza for this year's auction
Jon's always been great about donating artwork for the annual auction at HeroesCon. Here's 2 pieces he did this year. The Mr. Danders balloon was photographed when Chris unwrapped the art and unfortunately has a reflection of packing material as a result. I bought the Alice and put it on the scanner when it arrived from Chris this week (we operate on Thompsonish time scales).
And a real quick page addenda for your existing book:
Wednesday, October 11, 2023
New book from Richard's friends Watterson and Kascht
Collaborating on The Mysteries - Bill Watterson and John Kascht
https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=HHND7L1wUl0Thursday, May 4, 2023
CdS daily page sells at auction
Thursday, March 30, 2023
Bonotom Studio design samples book
Friday, March 10, 2023
Richard lifting his mother's Suitcases (updated)
One of Richard's earliest jobs, done in a style he never returned to, was illustrating his mother's autobiography, The Suitcases. His mother, Anne Hall Whitt, spent some time in an orphanage in Charlotte, NC. The book is touching and worth reading.
The first time we went to HeroesCon, Richard and I visited the site (pictures now included below), and he was very moved by it. Here's some images from Bono's copy of the book, along with some material from Mrs. Whitt-Thompson's funeral that was laid in.
The following letter and photo layout are from Richard's father -
Thursday, March 9, 2023
Richard Thompson, Chameleon
Richard wasn't really a chameleon - he was pretty much a WYSIWYG, except for a couple of minor things.
If he said, "Bless your heart," as a true Southerner's son, he may have either meant it, or "Damn you to Hell."
He was modest, but also he knew his value. He knew he was good, but didn't crow about it.
He also liked orange food, which may or may not be an attribute of chameleons.
Anyway, this is a project that he was part of in 1999. Can you tell what section he did?
He was the face. The other creators were Jeanne Turner, Annie Lunsford, Richard Steadham, Bono Mitchell, Dana Verkouteren, Ken Krafchek, and Patricia Cullen-Clark.
I know some of the group - Krafcheck teaches art at MICA, Verkouteren is a courtroom artist and caricaturist, and Mitchell and Lunsford have passed away.
Here's Diane Rickenbaugh for HOW Nov/Dec 1999 on the project:
I'll put a pdf of the article and larger versions of the poster on the Internet Archive later tonight.
Wednesday, March 8, 2023
How to strengthen your real estate market illustration, and a TCDS piece
I'm not sure what Richard did this illo for, but I bought the original from Bono Mitchell's estate -
Tuesday, March 7, 2023
Billions of billions of drawings - Richard draws Carl Sagan
Monday, March 6, 2023
Illustration work for Electrical Contractor and Contingencies
As any regular reader of this blog knows, Richard did a lot of work for Bono Mitchell, an art director at BonoTom Studios. Recently I got a few magazines from her estate featuring Richard's work. Of this, most of it shouldn't be familiar - I think only the little girl at the blackboard appeared in The Art of Richard Thompson.
Tom Richmond also did some work for the studio, and gave his permission to repost one here, while saying about Bono, "I did several jobs with her as AD and she was a delight to work with. Funny, smart, and she knew her stuff. "
Tuesday, February 21, 2023
RT's Christmas party invitations
Monday, January 9, 2023
Another dedicace for Cul de Sac
Material keeps trickling in, now that we've finished the book. Here's a drawing I got from a friend over the weekend.
And the new page you can print to add it to your book.