Large, Original, Hand-Signed Erotic Pen & Ink Drawing by Bill Ward
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Large, Original, Hand-Signed Erotic Pen & Ink Drawing by Bill Ward:
$165.00
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bill Ward
Bill WardBornWilliam Hess Ward
March 6, 1919DiedNovember 17, worksTorchy
William Hess Ward(March 6, 1919 - November 17, 1998), known asBill Ward, was an Americancartoonistnotable as agood girl artistand creator of the risqué comicscharacterTorchy.
BiographyEarly life and careerBorn inBrooklyn,New York, Ward grew up inRidgewood, New Jersey, where his father was an executive with theUnited Fruit Company.[1]
At age 17, Ward, already an art hobbyist, began his professional career by illustrating \"beer jackets\", a type of white denim jacket with text or design printed or drawn on the book; Ward charged one dollar a jacket, and by his own count drew hundreds during that summer.[2]He went on to attend Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, where one classmate was future naturist painter Bob Kuhn.[2]Ward graduated in 1941, and through the university\'s placement bureau obtained a Manhattan art-agency job at $18 a week, sweeping floors, running errands and serving as an art assistant. He was fired after accidentally cutting in half a finished Ford automobile illustration with a matte knife.[2]
Torchy#5 (July 1950). Cover art by Ward.Still rooming at his collegefraternityhouse, he received a call from Pratt regarding another job, assistingcomic bookartistJack Binder. He joined Binder\'s small art studio, a \"packager\" that supplied outsourced comics pages to fledgling comic book publishers, where Pete Riss was his assistant. The studio was relocating fromThe Bronxto, coincidentally, Ward\'s hometown of Ridgewood, New Jersey, to the upstairs loft of a barn. There, Binder drew layouts forFawcett Comicsstories, for which Risspenciledandinkedfigures and Ward drew the backgrounds. Features includedMister Scarlet and Pinky,Bulletman,Ibis the Invincible,Captain Battle, theBlack Owl, and the adaptedpulp magazinefeaturesDoc SavageandThe Shadow. The studio grew to about 30 artists, withKen Baldas theart director.[2]
Ward\'s first credited works are writing and drawing an episode each of the two-pagehumorfeaturesPrivate Wardin Fawcett\'sSpy Smasher#2 (cover-datedWinter 1941) andBulletman#3 (January 14, 1942), published closely with each other.[3]
Shortly thereafter,Quality ComicseditorGeorge Brennerhired Ward to write and pencil the hitaviatorfeatureBlackhawkofWorld War II. Ward artwork forMilitary Comics#30-31 (July–August 1944), with the next several issues generally but unconfirmably credited to Al Bryant.[3]Ward stated that he succeededReed Crandall, the preeminentBlackhawkartist, when Crandall was drafted into the U.S. Army,[2]but Crandall first drew the feature inMilitary Comics#12-22, and he was succeeded primarily by the team of the pencilerJohn Cassoneand the inkerAlex Kotzkybefore Ward took over.[4]
TorchyTorchy made her comic-book debut as star of a backup feature inQuality Comics\'Doll Man#8 (Spring 1946), and continued in all but three issues through #28 (May 1950), as well as inModern Comics#53-89 (Sept. 1946 - Sept. 1949). A solo series,Torchy, ran six issues (Nov. 1949 - Sept. 1950).[3][5]
Several Torchy stories, including some Fort Hamilton strips, were reprinted inInnovation Comics\' 100-page, squarebound comic bookBill Ward\'s Torchy, The Blonde Bombshell#1 (Jan. 1992). Others have been reprinted infy Pages#1 (1987);AC ComicsanthologyGood Girl Art Quarterly#1 (Summer 1990), #10 (Fall 1992), #11 (Winter 1993), and #14 (Winter 1994), and in AC\'sAmerica\'s Greatest Comics#5 (circa 2003).[3]Comic Images released a set of Torchytrading cardsin 1994.[6]
Ward drew an original cover featuring Torchy for Robert M. Overstreet\'sannualbookThe Comic Book Price Guide(#8, 1978).
Later careerWard panels from \"The Adventures of Pussycat\"Ward\'s last confirmed comic-book work is at least oneBlackhawkstory inBlackhawk#63 (cover-datedApril 1953; another story in that issue is unconfirmed but generally credited to Ward). His last unconfirmed but generally accepted comic-book works both appeared two months later: a Blackhawk story inBlackhawk#65 and aCaptain Marvel Jr.tale inFawcett Comics\'The Marvel Family#84 (both June 1953).[3]
Ward turned to magazine cartooning afterward, doing humorous spot illustrations, some featuring Torchy, for such publications as editor Abe Goodman\'sHumorama. Some of Ward\'s gag comics were collected in theAvon BookspaperbackHoneymoon Guide(#T-95, 1956; reprinted as #T282, 1958). Ward was also a regular artist for the satirical-humor magazineCracked.
He did very occasional comic-book humor stories, such as the four-page \"Play Pool\" in Humor-Vision\'ssatiricPow Magazine#1 (Aug. 1966),[3]and, that same decade, episodes of \"The Adventures of Pussycat\", a risqué feature about a sexysecret agent, which ran throughout variousmen\'s adventuremagazines published byMartin Goodman\'s Magazine Management Company. Ward dabbled inunderground comics, drawing apornographic\"Stella Starlet\" story in publisher John A. Mozzer\'sWeird Smut Comics#1 (1985) and a \"Sugar Caine\" story in issue #2 (1987); both were written by Dave Goode.[3]
Ward illustrated erotic stories, written by himself, in suchmen\'s magazinesasJuggsandLeg Show— an article a month for the former in his later years.[7]During this period he also did cover and interior illustrations for various paperback publishers of softcore and hardcore pornography, especially those owned byWilliam Hamling;[8]and illustrations (primarily covers) forScrew.[9]
In a rare turn doing a mainstream comics character, Ward drew the four-page part one of aJudge Dreddstory, \"The Mega-City 5000\", in the weekly British comic book2000 AD#40 (November 26, 1977), reprinted inJudge Dredd: The Early Cases#3 by Eagle Comics (April 1986).[3]
Artwork for sale is a tantalizing erotic drawing by the master of naughty animation, Bill Ward. This is a large pen and ink drawing of a classic, voluptuous Ward Nude. The drawing measures 16 and 1/2 \" X 12\" and is signed in blue marker at the lower right (photo 2). Lots of detail and plenty of sizzle. The number \"4\" is written in blue marker on the left side of the paper. Here\'s your chance to own an original drawing by the animator who was featured in so many PLAYBOYs, CRACKED, JUGGS, SCREW magazine, smut novels, the comic BLACKHAWK and, of course, Torchy. The photos tell the story of how well this piece (of artwork of course) is executed.
Large, Original, Hand-Signed Erotic Pen & Ink Drawing by Bill Ward:
$165.00