Sunday, June 3, 2018

2006 Playboy Jazz Festival Program Features Doug's Cartoon

The ad agency representing the City of Las Vegas commissioned Doug in the spring of 2006 to render a 2-part cartoon for the 2006 Playboy Jazz Festival program.  His full-page color cartoon appeared on the inside front pages of the 84-page program promoting the June 17-18, 2006 Jazz Festival at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles.


Inside program cover - he says,  "I read Playboy for the articles."


Page 1 of the 84-page program - she says,  "I go to Vegas for the shows."


(Las Vegas was the official sponsor of the 28th anniversary 2006 Playboy Jazz Festival.)

Doug's first pencil/ink preliminary rough (image area:  6 1/2 x 8 on 24 lb. paper) to block out the characters and set the scene.


follow-up preliminary pencil rough (image area: 6 1/4 x 8 on standard tracing paper)


final preliminary pencil rough with alternate heads (image area:  6 x 7 1/2 on standard tracing paper)


color rough with alternate heads (image area:  6 x 7 1/2 on heavy card stock using Dr. Ph. Martin's aniline dyes; please note: Doug typically xeroxes the final pencil rough and then applies aniline dyes for a color rough to "test" color selections before going to final art.


The preliminary pencil/color rough sequence is available for purchase at the Doug Sneyd Premium Gallery at:


The 2-part cartoon was also reproduced on pp. 64 and 65 in the November 2006 issue of Playboy.



"I read Playboy for the articles." was also featured on page 1 of The Art of Doug Sneyd, published by Dark Horse Books in July 2011.

The 248-page hardcover book, featuring 270 of Doug's full-page color Playboy cartoons, was a 2012 Eisner Award nominee in the Best Humor Publication category.


A softover edition is also available for purchase at:



(blog entries by Heidi Hutson)

Playboy Cartoon: Preliminary Pencil Sequence - June 2003

caption: "But enough about me.  Let me tell you about the fishing in these parts." 

Doug's full-page color cartoon - rendered on Arches of France cold press art board using Dr. Ph. Martin's aniline dyes - was published on p. 85 in the June 2003 issue.


After Playboy notified Doug of an upcoming cartoon meeting to submit gag lines, he contacted his writers with requested topics and a due deadline.  (Some would sent him 5-10 gag lines; others wrote dozens.)  He'd read them over and select those that he thought would be visually interesting and entertaining.

It was then time to go to the drawing board and start with quick, loose sketches (generally in pencil on 8 1/2 x 11 copy paper) to block out the characters and set the scene.  When these were all finished, he'd go back, using a black Sharpie permanent marker, and add the caption, more details, his signature, generally in a lower corner, and the writer's initials under it.

(This identification was important:  since Playboy paid the gag writers directly, it allowed the magazine to match the initials with mailing addresses and issue the checks to the right people.)

Finally, Doug sent off the hand-drawn gag roughs to The Mansion for Hef's review and selection.

the approved - "OK color page H" in red pencil - loose-style gag rough (gag line written by Chris Kemp) for Doug's full-page color cartoon published in the June 2003 issue on p. 85.


After the meeting,  Playboy returned all of Doug's submitted gag rough originals; those that Hef approved for final art were used for reference and Doug started to work on preliminary development pencils.

first pencil prelim on heavy tracing vellum - image area:  8 x 10


later pencil rough with more details for the girls and fishing lodge as well as addition of Sneyd signature - image area:  8 x 9 3/4 on heavy tracing vellum


final pencil rough - notice changes, including placement of the Sneyd signature, omission of the moose head on the lodge, and girls' clothing/hat; image area:  7 1/4 x 9 on heavy tracing vellum



memo from the Cartoon Dept. at the Playboy office in Manhattan, which Playboy Enterprises later closed in 2009


To see available Playboy cartoon originals, preliminary pencil/color roughs and loose-style gag rough originals from Secret Sneyd:  The Unpublished Cartoons of Doug Sneyd, visit the Doug Sneyd Premium Gallery at:


(blog entries by Heidi Hutson)

Playboy Cartoon: Hef's Approved Gag Rough - June 2011

caption:  "I know I have the right to remain silent, but I want you to know I'm a screamer."


Approved - "OK color page H" in red pencil - loose-style gag rough original; cartoon published in the June 2011 issue (p. 67).  Size:  8 1/2 x 11 on 24 lb. copy paper using Dr. Ph. Martin's aniline dyes.


To see more available Playboy approved loose-style gag rough originals, visit the Doug Sneyd Premium Gallery at:


(blog entries by Heidi Hutson)

Mermaid Original Art

19 1/2 x 14 1/2 mermaid original features the tighter style of Doug's Playboy cartoons.

Artwork is rendered on Arches of France cold press art board using Dr. Ph. Martin's aniline dyes - products Doug has used for nearly 500 cartoons published in Playboy.  (His first full-page color cartoon was published on p. 205 in the September 1964 issue.

Arches was granted "Enterprise du Patrimoine Vivant" (Living Heritage Company) status last year by the French government in recognition of high quality paper making since 1492 in the Vosges region of France.

(The company joins a prestigious club whose members include famous French names such as Hermes, Cristalleries Saint-Louis, Baccarat, Chanel, De Buyer and Garner Thiebaut.)

To see more available original art, visit the Doug Sneyd Premium Gallery at:



Please note:  this is a photograph of the mermaid original.

(blog entries by Heidi Hutson)

June 1967 Playboy Cartoon/Cover

Doug's full-page color cartoon - "So you're not Amelia Earhart.  We'd still like to take you back with us." - was published on p. 138 in the June 1967 issue of Playboy and reproduced on p. 179 (Chapter 9, Some Other Time, Some Other Place) in The Art of Doug Sneyd, published by Dark Horse Books in July 2011.  

The 248-page hardcover book, now also available in a softcover edition, features 270 of Doug's Playboy cartoons published since the early 1960s.


To see more available Playboy cartoon originals, visit the Doug Sneyd Premium Gallery at:


(blog entries by Heidi Hutson)