The Art of Dave Deal

When I was a young kid in the late 70s, I loved only a few magazines: Mad, Cracked, Mini Bike and CarToons. Cartoons was the perfect combination for me: Funny car-related stories and cartoon illustrations together in one magazine, and often included a free iron-on decal for my shirt! One of the iconic monthly contributors was the late, great “Big” Dave Deal. Dave had a nice blend of organic shapes and implied motion in his drawings, and as a nice bonus they lent themselves well to model kits. Fast forward to 2002, and a small group of story and sketch artist were working away on an animated film about cars as characters. Who did we get to come to the studio and show us the basics? Mr. Deal held court for two days, and we learned a ton about drawing gestural shapes, warped perspective, and most importantly, giving LIFE to a car drawing. To top it all off, he was the coolest, nicest, and most humble guy you could ever meet. He passed away in 2008, and we still miss you, Dave…