by Eldon Dedini.
If you’ve never picked up a copy of Playboy you’ll be surprised to know that most of it isn’t over-retouched photos of fading stars and wannabe celebs from the flyover-states. In between the demi-porn is a magazine which reads like Vanity Fair - if Vanity Fair was edited soley for the benefit of Harley Davidson dealers and cigarette manufacturers.
One Playboy staple is the ‘erotic’ cartoon and one of the most famous practitioners of the genre is Eldon Dedini. Though racy when Playboy was the only porn magazine you could legally own, today most of his stuff is sweet enough to share with your Dad. Who probably remembers it from the first time around ( take my word for it, asking him might be weird.)
Metafilter’s published a rough guide to Dedini online. If you get fired for looking at it you’re probably out of an environment that’s not doing much for your soul.
His work is outstanding. I highly recommend the book of his Playboy cartoons that came out a little while ago. It come with a DVD chronicling his career there.
True.
But I prefer the art of Dean Yeagle.
It is beautiful stuff, as is all of the Old Guard of Playboy artists. Sadly I fear it’s becoming a lost art– if not already. Very few publications call for or even search out art of such caliber.
The addition of Dean Yeagle a few years ago, well known in the art and comics trade, was a positive step in keeping the cartoonists tradition alive. And it’s A good compliment to the post-modern calendar pinups Olivia has contributed in recent years, who herself experiments with several variations of her signature style to hit that Elvgren and Vargas “sweet spot.”
Yeagle is dope, too. I found out that Playboy cartoon stalwart Buck Brown passed away a few months ago. He too, was one of the greats.