Sunday, October 7, 2018

Prelims for Cartoon Originals From Playboy Press Publications

In addition to having nearly 500 of Doug's full-page color cartoons published in Playboy magazine since the early 1960s, a limited number of cartoon originals were featured in supplementary collections from Playboy Press/Chicago.

(All of Doug's work for Playboy was rendered on Arches of France cold press art board using Dr. Ph. Martin's aniline dyes; image area approximately 13 1/2 x 18.)

To see these available cartoon originals - some with preliminary roughs, visit the newest CAF gallery room - Cartoon Originals - at the Doug Sneyd Premium Gallery at:



caption:  "I'd like to work you into my circuit training program."


final pencil prelim, on heavy tracing vellum/notice the omission of the second gymnast in the final art


color rough "tests" color selections before going to final art




caption:  "He's really fit - 150 cholesterol, 60 resting pulse rate and a 10 minute recovery time after he comes."


final pencil rough on heavy tracing vellum


color rough


caption:  "She's a lot of blonde for the money, assuming you want a lot blonde and you've got the money."


preliminary pencil rough on heavy tracing vellum


final pencil rough (please note:  overlays are common in Doug's hand-drawn preliminary work)


(blog entries by Heidi Hutson)

Playboy Cartoon: October 2012

caption:  "Follow the white rabbit."


Approved - "OK color page - H" in red pencil - loose-style gag rough original; full-page color cartoon published in the October 2012 issue (p. 115).


early preliminary pencil rough on heavy tracing vellum; image area approximately 7 1/4 x 9 1/2

color rough (image area approximately 7 x 9) on Arches of France 100% cotton 140 Lb. cold press watercolor paper; left side is hand-drawn, right side is a xerox overlay, which are common in Doug's hand-drawn preliminary work


(blog entry by Heidi Hutson)

3 Commercial Advertising Cartoons Posted in New CAF Gallery Room

Three commercial advertising cartoons, commissioned by an ad agency in Toronto in the early 1980s, are now available in a new CAF gallery room - Cartoon Originals - at the Doug Sneyd Premium Gallery at:  


All of Doug's cartoons are rendered on Arches of France cold press art board using Dr. Ph. Martin's aniline dyes.

In 2017, Arches was granted "Entreprise du Patrimoine Vivant" (Living Heritage Company) status by the French government in recognition of its high quality paper making since 1492 in the Arches paper mill in the Vosges region of France.  Hermes, Cristalleries Saint-Louis, Baccarat and Chanel have also earned Living Heritage Company status and act as ambassadors for "Made in France" quality. 

Overall board size is approximately 14 1/2 x 19 1/2; image area is approximately 13 1/2 x 18.

caption:  "Fletcher's into creative writing.  He's ghosting the President's Message 
for our corporate brochure."



caption:  "How do you want me - suave, sophisticated, charismatic, didactic, pedantic, 
or just my usual bastardly self?"



caption:  " . . . there's a cover that says it all."


(blog entries by Heidi Hutson)

Playboy Cartoon: October 2008

 caption:  "You won't find this kind of reality on TV." 


Hef's approved gag rough - "OK H" in red pencil - on 20 lb. standard paper.  Before sending gag rough originals to the Mansion for Hef's selection and approval of new material, Doug added his signature, generally in the lower corner, with the writer's initials under it.  This identification was important: since Playboy paid the gag writers directly, it allowed the magazine to match initials with mailing addresses and issue the checks to the right people.


color rough, which was typically a xerox copy of the final pencil rough


final preliminary pencil rough


The full-page color cartoon, published on p. 53 in the October 2008 issue of Playboy, was also reproduced on p.  35 (Chapter 2/Pickups, Hookups, Breakups) in The Art of Doug Sneyd, published by Dark Horse Books in July 2011.  The 248-page hardcover book, also available in a softcover edition, features 270 of Doug's Playboy cartoons published since the early 1960s.


 (blog entries by Heidi Hutson)


















Gag Rough Original from Secret Sneyd

Loose-style gag rough original - Chapter 8, "Happy Holidays," p. 221 - from Secret Sneyd:  The Unpublished Cartoons of Doug Sneyd

(on 24 lb. 8 1/2 x 11 copy paper using Sharpie permanent marker and Dr. Ph. Martin's aniline dyes) 


The 280-page hardcover book, published by Dark Horse Books in April 2017, features 250 of Doug's favorite loose-style gag roughs from the thousands he's submitted to Playboy since the early 1960s.

Copies are available at:





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


(blog entries by Heidi Hutson)

Happy Halloween

In the years since Doug's first cartoon was published in Playboy (September  1964 issue on p. 205), he's rendered thousands of loose-style gag roughs, which were sent to Hef for approval.

Here's one of his Halloween favorites, which was published, p. 33, in Unpublished Sneyd (2007 by Sneyd Syndicate Inc.)


(blog entries by Heidi Hutson)