Bogie Found!

Firstly, I think Steve's idea of opening the blog up to also include cartoonists from outside the UK is a good idea. While I was studying magazines like Punch, with a view to becoming a cartoonist, I had no idea that Bud Handelsman wasn't from the UK and of course back when I was starting out Alex Noel Watson was already blazing a trail in the US, so I give the idea a huge thumbs up - with both my huge thumbs.

The Bogie thing, man I wish I could find my Dick Bogie original, I'll look for it, it is "somewhere safe" with my other valuable cartoons.

So anyway, a long, long, time ago I got a Dick Bogie original cartoon from Weekend magazine. It was either the late 70s or early 80s, and I'm leaning toward the late 70s because I was trying like mad to find out what real cartoons looked like. I even bought prints from Punch, by Honeysett and Ffolkes, but they taught me nothing because they didn't reveal the things I wanted to know; what size the original drawings were, what material they were drawn on, and what you used to make the shading.

So, why post while I'm still looking for my Dick Bogie cartoon, well that's the thing; a good few years back I was dismayed to find the complete absence online of the major gag cartoonists of my day. I mean you could find a lot of cartoons, some of theme positively ancient, and it seems almost any editorial cartoon ever published, and strips, but no cartoons by Sax by Bogie by Styx by Taylor by Morris. I mean that has to be wrong; right?

So, anyway, last night I was online and I found that Dick Bogie is now there, on Google. I'm seriously delighted about this. Here's the most recent Dick Bogie drawing out there, I think.

Copyright, Gibsons Puzzles - Dick Bogie

This Bogie cartoon is a huge jigsaw puzzle, published by Gibsons, that you can buy from Amazon (click here), or from Jigsaw Gallery. With this kind of work, Bogie is doing what cartoonists do best, and that is change with the changing markets and seek out new outlets. Gone are the magazines and newspapers that were so full of the classic cartoons of their day; Reveille, Titbits, Weekend, She, Woman's World, et al, and almost every daily and Sunday newspaper, and what is left, in the UK at any rate, is a very small window of opportunity. With recent reports that traditional games, like jigsaw puzzles, perhaps on the back of the Sudoku craze, are making a comeback, the man who influenced so many cartoonists in the 70s and 80s, is once again showing the way forward.

After a little digging online, I was delighted to discover the first biographical details I have ever found on Dick Bogie, on a Canadian site, Canada puzzles:

Although he grew up rarely without paper and a pencil in his hand, Dick Bogie left school with the words "you've got to have a trade in your fingers" ringing in his ears.

Dick's working life started as an apprentice to an engineering firm near Knutsford, in Cheshire. Whilst learning the trade, he continued drawing and painting in his spare time and a number of paintings were displayed at local exhibitions. These sold well and so he was encouraged to broaden his horizons.

Over the next twelve months, he submitted cartoon ideas to various national daily papers and weekly magazines. Although his submissions were well received, it wasn't quite what they were looking for so Dick decided to experiment with different styles and soon after, a weekly entitled Reveille printed one of his cartoon gags. After this, Dick established a style that was to become his trademark and commissions started to become more regular, allowing him to give up engineering and concentrate as a professional cartoonist.

Dick was nominated Cartoonist of the Year by 600 Magazine and this lead to further commissions, including "Sunday Morning with Doll and Harry" for the News of the World. Today the work continues with greeting cards, cartoon line work and now Jigsaw Puzzles.