Uncle Wiggily

If I were to point to one thing that influenced my work more than anything else, it would have to be the "Uncle Wiggily" books.  A series by Howard R. Garis of some popularity in the early to mid 20th century, Uncle Wiggily was an elderly gentleman rabbit, with a car made of nonsense components and edible parts.  Though the writing was imaginative and fun, I was really in it for the pictures:

                                                                     unclewiggily.jpg

The use of color and line in the Uncle Wiggily illustrations is superb.  The portrayal of the animals is interesting, and the use of human elements such as clothing, cars, and houses is fascinating.  Though these pictures may not look revolutionary now, after decades of Disney and Warner Brothers cartoons with anthropomorphized animals... these might have been wild back in the day.  After all, these came first.    That suggests a bit of artistic influence...