Lou Brooks
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Lou Brooks (September 5, 1944 – November 21, 2021) was a self-taught American illustrator,
cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comics illustrators/artists in that they produce both the litera ...
, and author. He is best known for his precise bold line work and graphic reinterpretation of mid-twentieth century comics, magazines, advertising, and other popular culture from the period.


History and influences

Brooks was born in
Abington, Pennsylvania Abington is an unincorporated area, unincorporated community in Abington Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States, coterminous with the ZIP Code 19001. Places of interest * Jefferson Abington Hospital * Abington Senior High Scho ...
. Until the age of nine, he lived with his parents and grandparents in
Warminster, Pennsylvania Warminster Township, also referred to as Warminster, is located in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, United States. It was formally established in 1711. The township is 13.7 miles north of Philadelphia and had a population of 33,603 according to the ...
. His grandfather, an immigrant brick layer from
Piacenza Piacenza (; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Piacenza, eponymous province. As of 2022, Piacenza is the ninth largest city in the region by population, with more ...
, Italy, built the house by hand. By this time, Brooks's father had returned from World War II, and, in order to raise his family, had abandoned his pursuit of having a career as a comic strip artist. Brooks found himself immersed in his father's art supplies and discarded sketch books of unfinished comic strips, and easily took to drawing cartoons at an early age. In 1954, he and his family moved to
Levittown, Pennsylvania Levittown is a census-designated place (CDP) and planned community in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is part of the Delaware Valley, Philadelphia metropolitan area. The population was 52,699 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 ...
, and a life of postwar conformity in a community of over 17,000 assembly-line homes on 22 square miles. It was the largest suburban planned community in the United States. Living there greatly affected what was to become Brooks's lifelong aversion to sameness. Nevertheless, the suburban baby boomer popular culture of the 1950s, which included comic books, cars, rock and roll music, and television, influenced Brooks's sensibilities to a large extent. His career in art began in 1965 as a production artist in the advertising art department of a Philadelphia newspaper, which he credits as giving him a thorough well-rounded knowledge of the graphic arts. He and his wife, Clare Vanacore, relocated to New York City in 1977, and lived there until 1994. They later resided in Northern California.


Illustration art

Beginning in the 1970s, Brooks's art has appeared in just about every major national publication, including fourteen commissions for Time and Newsweek covers, as well as six for the German news publication Der Spiegel. Other publications in which his illustrations have appeared include ''The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The LA Times, The Wall Street Journal, Rolling Stone, Fortune, Money Magazine, Vanity Fair, Sports Illustrated, Wired,'' and ''Reader's Digest,'' to name a few. In 1985,
Parker Brothers Parker Brothers (known as Parker outside of North America) was an American toy and game manufacturer which in 1991 became a brand of Hasbro. More than 1,800 games were published under the Parker Brothers name since 1883. It remained family owne ...
commissioned Brooks to redesign the
Monopoly A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek and ) is a market in which one person or company is the only supplier of a particular good or service. A monopoly is characterized by a lack of economic Competition (economics), competition to produce ...
game logo and illustrate an updated version of the character
Mr. Monopoly Mr. Monopoly is the mascot of the board game ''Monopoly (game), Monopoly''. He is depicted as a portly old man with a moustache who wears a morning suit with a bowtie and top hat. In large parts of the world he is known, additionally or exclusive ...
(formerly known as Rich Uncle Pennybags). He was also commissioned at the time to develop and illustrate the game's special "50th Anniversary Commemorative Edition" embossed tin box packaging. The art was also carried over onto the more traditional cardboard game box which was revised especially for the Anniversary. His Monopoly design and logo is still familiar to anyone who has played the game. Major advertising clients include: Coca-Cola, Pizza Hut, Budweiser, Dr. Pepper, CBS, NBC, Milton Bradley, Nikon, Sony, IBM, TWA, Clairol, Verizon, AT&T, and Exxon. His art has been animated for television by MTV, Nickelodeon, and HBO. In 1984, he was jury chairman of The New Illustration Show at the Society of Illustrators in New York City. In 1988, he was jury chairman of the Humor '88 Show at the Society. He has served on juries for various art competitions for Atlanta Art Directors Club, Society of Publication Designers, Creative Club of Boston, and Columbus Society of Communication Arts, among others. He's been a featured speaker at various organizations and Universities. Starting in 1983, he was a guest lecturer for several years at American Illustration Weekend, New York City. Brooks has been credited as a pioneer of infusing high-profile illustration assignments with the sensibility of low brow
comic book A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...
iconography.
Bob Staake Bob Staake (born September 26, 1957 in Los Angeles) is an American illustrator, cartoonist, children's book author and designer. He lives and works in Chatham, Massachusetts on the elbow of Cape Cod. After drawing editorial cartoons while at ...
, in his book ''The Complete Book of Humorous Art,'' wrote: "In many ways, Brooks's impact is similar to the effect that Andy Warhol had on the world of art. If Warhol said it was okay to call soup cans art, Brooks said it was okay to call old comic book imagery humorous illustration."


Comic art

Beginning in 1977 alongside such comic artists as
Art Spiegelman Itzhak Avraham ben Zeev Spiegelman ( ; born February 15, 1948), professionally known as Art Spiegelman, is an American cartoonist, editor, and comics advocate best known for his graphic novel ''Maus''. His work as co-editor on the comics magazin ...
and
Harvey Kurtzman Harvey Kurtzman (; October 3, 1924 – February 21, 1993) was an American cartoonist and editor. His best-known work includes writing and editing the parodic comic book ''Mad (magazine), Mad'' from 1952 until 1956, and writing the ...
, Brooks was a charter contributor to '' Playboy Magazine's'' monthly color feature ''Playboy Funnies'' with his comic strips "Teasers" and "Sweet Dreams," among others. His various top-of-the-page Funnies logo panels that exclusively opened the feature each month ran continuously for over a decade. Several of his comics as well as a Funnies logo are included in the 2004 anthology, ''Playboy: 50 Years: The Cartoons,'' edited by Hugh Hefner. From 1976 to 1979, his comic strip "Banana Bob, Boy Inventor of Harding High" was featured monthly in each issue of '' Bananas Magazine.'' He was also a regularly featured illustrator and occasional writer for the magazine. Bananas was edited at the time by the now-legendary horror author R. L. Stine.


Special projects

In 1980, Brooks was a founding member, performer and songwriter with the all-cartoonist comedy band, Ben Day & the Zipatones. Other band members included
Bill Plympton Bill Plympton (born April 30, 1946) is an American animator, graphic designer, cartoonist, and filmmaker best known for his 1987 Academy Award–nominated animated short '' Your Face'' and his series of shorts featuring a dog character starting ...
,
Mark Alan Stamaty Mark Alan Stamaty is an American cartoonist and children's writer and illustrator. During the 1980s and 1990s, Stamaty's work appeared regularly in the '' Village Voice''. He is the creator of the long-running comic strip ''Washingtoon'' – on w ...
, Elwood Smith, and Skip Johnston, art director of '' National Lampoon.'' The band headlined at the 1981 Artists and Models Ball at Irving Plaza, New York City, to an audience of 1,500 artists for the benefit of the
Graphic Artists Guild The Graphic Artists Guild is a guild of graphic designers, illustrators, and photographers and is organized into seven chapters around the United States. It is a member of the international organization Icograda. History In the mid-1960s most a ...
. Brooks also produced the concert. In 1982, he appeared as the voice of Mr. Hands in ''Mr. Bill in Space'', a book and record furthering the adventures of Mr. Bill, a character invented by Walter Williams for the television show ''
Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') is an American Late night television in the United States, late-night live television, live sketch comedy variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Michaels and Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC. The ...
''. In 1988, he and Robert Zemeckis served as the opening feature events for American Illustration Weekend at Fashion Institute of Technology, New York. Brooks performed on stage and presented his animated mixed-media mock biopic, "A Guy Named Lou." Since 2006, Brooks has been the founder and curator of The Museum of Forgotten Art Supplies,"Who Made That Built-In Eraser?"
by Pagan Kennedy. ''The New York Times'' (15 September 2013). a virtual online visual collection of nearly 700 graphic arts tools and supplies that the computer has made obsolete or near obsolete.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Brooks, Lou 1944 births 2021 deaths American illustrators Artists from Pennsylvania People from Warminster, Pennsylvania