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.

 

 

 

Richard at the orphanage site, June 6, 2010 (updated3/10/23):

 

 

 

The following letter and photo layout are from Richard's father -

 

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.

This year's Team Cul de Sac donation link

 https://give.michaeljfox.org/team/474477

Chatfield on Thompson by way of Searle

Artist Spotlight: Ronald Searle

Jason Chatfield

March 3, 2023

https://www.jasonchatfield.com/blog/artist-spotlight-ronald-searle

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 -

 

 and this drawing by Chris Schweitzer was for the Team Cul de Sac book and fundraising auction -

Billions of billions of drawings - Richard draws Carl Sagan

Richard did hundreds, if not thousands, of caricatures throughout his career. Here's one of astronomer Carl Sagan (the Neil deGrasse Tyson of his day) from a Washington Post Magazine  April 23 2006 article by Joel Achenbach. Thanks to Anita Finklestein for keeping this and passing it along,

 

 

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. "

RT's Christmas party invitations

Received today from Richard's old friend Brian Nicklas -

"I found another pair of Richard's well-illustrated maps to parties."

"I love the way he drew Santa.  And his description of "Bethesda"."

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.

Thompson's first paying work: A menu from the Celebrity Delly

 Here's some better pictures and information on this, from Brian Nicklas.

"While cleaning up and moving things around, I found this Celebrity Delly Menu that Richard did. I think Richard told me it was his first actual cash payment for art. (I paid him a pack of Twinkies and a Coke for an Atilla the Hun's Birthday Party announcement.- And I keep looking for that - it was a great looking Attila wearing a cone party hat and using a party blower.) 

This is pretty much a year out of high school I think. The original menu is on blue paper - it doesn't reproduce well. BUT LOOK AT THOSE FACES.  What a talent. (Signature below Woody Allen) 

 The Delly in Rockville moved, and moved yet again, and then was gone. But the best was when Richard and a few other friends came to visit me when I was at Uni in Florida.  We went to Disney World (of course) and stopped for lunch/brunch on the way.  At the exit in the North Orlando area, we saw a shopping center and pulled in. There was a sign for "Celebrity Delly"  so we thought "what a hoot - let's go."  Inside, down the wall, was the mural Richard had painted at the Rockville location. Except copied. And copied BADLY.  We were laughing so much we could hardly eat. I think we found out the one in Orlando was run by a cousin of the owner in Rockville. 

 That was the trip where Richard couldn't contain himself at Disney.  At one point, he pointed at the mouse head cast into the sewer lid and shouted: "A cartoonist did all this!  ALL THIS!  The POWER!!!"

My goodness I miss that man."

Compleating Cul de Sac 2nd edition's Addenda

 Even as we were going to print, we kept finding material on this blog that would fit in the book. You can print and add these three pages in, or download a pdf of them at https://www.mediafire.com/file/8uqlwp12b5a1lag/CCDS2_addenda.pdf/file

 Updated 1/9/23 with new pages that have the numbers on the proper sides. Print out as full size (not to fit) and you should get the strip on the bottom with a little white space to the bottom and side. Cut on that line, and insert the pages in your book.

 

Compleating Cul de Sac 2nd edition available in print now

Yesterday, we finally got the proof copies of the books. We don't think these will print, ship and be there in time for Christmas, and definitely not for Hanukkah. Maybe for New Years? But you can print out and use the attached IOU if you need to.  If you just quickly want a cheaper ebook as a DRM-free pdf, use this link to the Compleating Cul de Sac 2022 edition. If you donate at least $10 using the link and let us know, we will send you a PDF of the new book.  - Mike & Chris

Compleating Cul de Sac, 2nd edition paperback

https://www.lulu.com/shop/chris-sparks-and-mike-rhode-and-richard-thompson/compleating-cul-de-sac-2nd-edition/paperback/product-q9j5vk.html - this has glossy paper (we hope)

Compleating Cul de Sac, 2nd edition hardcover

https://www.lulu.com/shop/chris-sparks-and-mike-rhode-and-richard-thompson/compleating-cul-de-sac-2nd-edition/hardcover/product-m85k4v.html  - this has flat paper (to hold the cost down)

Here's the description one more time -

The Complete Cul de Sac isn't. Complete, that is. Compiling it while ill, Richard accidentally left out some strips. Others were purposely left out, either because he had redrawn them for syndication, or they were too tied to the Washington, D.C. origins of the strip to make sense for a worldwide audience, or he "just felt some were not funny." Over 100 are not in The Complete CDS. But if you're a cartoon completist, or just want a little bit more CDS, we understand and we're here for you. We've collected the lost water-colored Washington Post Magazine strips, the early inchoate musings about what the strip should be, the promotional material, the sketches for fans, and finally some fugitive Team Cul de Sac charity art. This whole book is about community—the people that loved Richard and CDS and what he gave to us and what we tried to give back to him. As Anna Straight noted when sending in a contribution, "Cul de Sac integrated into our lives and became the running comedy track for our family." With Richard's blessing, or at least active acquiescence, any money the book makes will go to Team Cul de Sac to fight Parkinson's disease. We initially published this as a print-on-demand book through Lulu in 2015, but after Richard passed away, people have continued to do tributes to him and the strip, and we were glad to take the opportunity to add over 100 pages of artwork and interviews to a new edition.

We haven't even printed CCDSv2 yet, and we're missing stuff

 I had to go back on the Art of Richard Thompson FB page, to look up info for Diego's tribute post, and discovered that we left out a Fleabag Theatre, and 2 comic strip tributes in Betty and Rex Morgan, MD.

March 25, 1977

Print them out and stick them in the book on an appropriate page.  I may create an addenda page for the people who are getting the PDF book. Aww, heck, you know I'll be creating addenda pages - I'll post them as jpgs when the book's finally out.

Betty by Gary Delainey and Gerry Rasmussen for August 20, 2016

November 26, 2017

REX MORGAN 11-27-16 to 12-18-16

Terry Beatty

Scary Terry’s World blog December 19, 2016

http://www.scaryterrysworld.com/2016/12/rex-morgan-11-27-16-to-12-18-16t.html

Here are the Rex Morgan strips from late November to mid-December. The first Sunday page is another seasonal stand alone strip. It doesn't advance the story any -- just establishes the time of year and lets me work on showing Rex and Sarah and how they relate as father and daughter. And gives us a little happy moment before the next storyline starts.

The snowmen are a tribute to the late Richard Thompson, artist of Cul de Sac and the still-with-us Bill Watterson of Calvin and Hobbes fame. I just wanted to tip my hat to Richard and acknowledge his remarkable work and his unfortunate passing. His pal Bill seemed an appropriate addition.