Sunday, January 11, 2015

Doug's Mermaids

Stories of mermaids appear in the folklore of many cultures worldwide, but mention "mermaid" today and most people think of Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale "The Little Mermaid" (1836).

In addition to Tivoli Gardens, Nyhavn and Amalienborg Palace, visitors to Copenhagen typically want to see the world-famous bronze statue of the little mermaid, displayed, since 1913, on a rock by the waterside at the Langelinie promenade.

You can see Doug working on this recent mermaid original, on Arches of France cold press art board using aniline dyes, by checking out the archived December 7 and 14, 2014 blog posts.


For nearly 20 years, starting in the mid-60s, Doug Sneyd and SCOOPS news cartoons appeared daily in newspapers across North America; the 1972 (top) and 1973 (bottom) Doug Sneyd single-panel cartoons - distributed by the Toronto Star Syndicate - featured mermaids.



He has also depicted these alluring mythical beauties in two full-page color cartoons in Playboy:

April 1993, p. 161 - "I'd like to, but I'm allergic to seafood."

August 1999, p. 85 - "Those Greenpeace types are all alike.  One minute they're all over you and the next they dump you for some beached whale."

This is the approved gag rough for the August 1999, p. 85 full-page color cartoon in Playboy.


Both of these mermaid cartoons were among the 270 of Doug's full-page color cartoons featured in The Art of Doug Sneyd, published by Dark Horse in July 2011.  The 248-page hardcover book was a 2012 Eisner Award nominee in the Best Humor Publication category.

(The 1993 cartoon is on p. 184; the 1999 cartoon is on p. 235.)

(blog entries by Heidi Hutson)

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