Mad's Original Idiots Jack Davis by Jack Davis

As a child, he adored listening to Bob Hope on the radio and tried to draw him, despite not knowing what Hope looked like.

Early life ĭavis was born December 2, 1924, in Atlanta, Georgia. His cartoon characters are characterized by extremely distorted anatomy, including big heads, skinny legs and large feet. He was one of the founding cartoonists for Mad in 1952. (Decem– July 27, 2016) was an American cartoonist and illustrator, known for his advertising art, magazine covers, film posters, record album art and numerous comic book stories. He received two of his profession’s most prestigious awards - The Milton Caniff Lifetime Achievement Award in 1996 and the Reuben Award in 2000 - and the Society of Illustrators inducted him into its Hall of Fame in 2005.John Burton Davis Jr.

And I copied the photograph among the covers that I’d pick from, and I made up the rest, the body language and everything else…You’re on your own and there are editors to please, so you do what you can, and I’ve done what I could. I think with TIME magazine, when I had an assignment to do the cover, I could get any type of a picture I wanted, whether it was a profile or a smile or anger, you couldn’t miss it. “And the one with Kissinger.”Īll of these illustrations were done with little “direction” from the editors, he added: “The one I did of Ford rolling up his sleeves is about one of my best,” he said. presidents Gerald Ford, Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter. Club asked Davis in 2011 what illustrations he’s most proud of, the cartoonist said his TIME magazine covers -which, as seen above, spoofed the most influential figures and events of the ’70s, from football’s Joe Namath and the Super Bowl to U.S. He went on to do the movie posters for the 1963 slapstick comedy It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World and for ’70s flicks, such as Woody Allen’s Bananas and Robert Altman’s The Long Goodbye.īut when the culture news outlet The A.V. His freelance comic art for William Gaines’ EC Comics helped earned him a place in the so-called “Usual Gang of Idiots,” the group that started the humor publication MAD magazine in 1952. The Atlanta native started his career at the University of Georgia‘s campus publications before moving to New York City to take evening classes at the Art Students League. Jack Davis, a caricature artist and founding member of MAD magazine who designed covers for TIME magazine, died Wednesday.

Mad's Original Idiots Jack Davis by Jack Davis