When I was working with Ralph Bakshi, I would regularly prowl the hallways after hours digging through the trash for discarded doodles. One night I was in Ralph’s office rummaging through his can when he furiously burst through the door. “Hey! What the @&$% are you doin’?!” Ralph hollered. “I’m looking for doodles.” I replied. Ralph’s whole demeanor changed. “OOooo! Have ya found any good ones?” “Yeah! Lookit this…” In a flash Ralph had upended his wastebasket on his desk and we were digging through his discarded sketches like schoolboys trading bubble gum cards. The next night, I found a particularly nice doodle perched on the edge of Ralph’s trash can. It was inscribed, “To Steve, my best friend”.
The best drawings in an animation studio don’t always end up on the screen. Animators’ pencils never stop, and since the beginning of time, cartoon studios have been wallpapered with hilarious caricatures and gag drawings making fun of co-workers. My pal John K is the King of doodlers. I can’t think of a time when we’ve gone out for a pizza or a hot dog when he didn’t have his yellow pad with him, scribbling out cartoons to illustrate what he was talking about. To heck with Bill Gates and his DaVinci sketchbook. I like this stuff better!
John is now shoveling his doodles out to the internet by way of his story blog, John K Cartoon Stories. His price is way too cheap if you ask me, but he never asked me- so it’s your lucky day. Here’s a link to his store page where you can pick up an authentic autographed John K pizza doodle of your very own!