[nick caputo]

My examination of The Comic Reader continues, with more rare art and articles:

http://nick-caputo.blogspot.com/2014/02/return-of-comic-reader.html

[jimmm kelly]

I remember FRIDAY FOSTER and ON STAGE from when I read them in the MENOMONEE FALLS GAZETTE. Both had great art--especially for the female characters--even if the stories felt drawn out to me at the time.

Back then you had a lot of commercial art in newspapers--for advertising and women's fashion. So at the time, I compacted this all into a theory that because commercial artists had to be good at drawing fashion this then influenced the kind of work they did in comics.  I was quite aware of how much detail some artists put into the clothing--so this is how I explained why that was in the comics I was buying.

I don't know how accurate my theory was. I'm sure some artists moved between both worlds--but maybe not as much as I believed. Back then I figured you had to be a commercial artist to make a living and the comic book artists couldn't get by on just what they made from funny books.

[nick caputo]

Jimm,

I don't know how many comic book artist were also doing commercial art at the same time, they were probably some but I don't think it was a great majority. Usually if they got jobs in those fields they left comics, but it's a good question.

Friday Foster was in the Menomonee Falls Gazette? I didn't know that. I would love to read the strip again after all these years. Gray Morrow actually ghosted the strip for a period.

[crashryan]

Like Nick said, advertising paid so much better than comics that once a comic artist crossed over he usually stayed in advertising. Nevertheless several comics people seem to have done one or two ads but remained in comics. I remember a comics-format toy ad back in the 60s (70s?) drawn by Chic Stone. Murphy Anderson did a sword-and-sandal movie poster. Didn't he also make drawings for the Major Matt Mason toys? I recall a toy soldier ad by Rocco Mastroserio. There was one by Russ Heath as well, wasn't there? I don't own the books any more so these examples off the top of my head may be wrong.

Storyboarding for commercials, TV shows, and movies is another place to which comics artists could escape. I believe Rafael Astarita became a storyboard artist. I read that ( sadly-underrated) pulp/comics artist Henry Sharp moved up to designing props for the original "Mission: Impossible" TV show.

From reading interviews with Silver Age artists in "Alter Ego" it appears that despite low page rates, a comics artist could make a decent middle-class living back then. He'd have to be good enough to appeal to editors and able to produce lots of pages month after month, but a number of artists seemed to have pulled it off.

[nick caputo]

Like Nick said, advertising paid so much better than comics that once a comic artist crossed over he usually stayed in advertising. Nevertheless several comics people seem to have done one or two ads but remained in comics. I remember a comics-format toy ad back in the 60s (70s?) drawn by Chic Stone. Murphy Anderson did a sword-and-sandal movie poster. Didn't he also make drawings for the Major Matt Mason toys? I recall a toy soldier ad by Rocco Mastroserio. There was one by Russ Heath as well, wasn't there? I don't own the books any more so these examples off the top of my head may be wrong.

Murphy Anderson apparently had an account with Aurora and did the art for many of their ads in the 1960's. Other artists had outside work, such as Kurt Schaffenberger and the aforementioned Chic Stone. Neal Adams, of course did much advertising and comics related artwork. There were many others that supplemented their income, such as Sol Brodsky, who had an ongoing account with Big Boy restaurants, supplying them with artwork for many years.   

[paw broon]

Not only  in N. America, but also in the U. K. Interestingly there is a conversation going on about this very subject on comics uk
with some examples.  Have a read:-
www.comicsuk.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=4766