Monday, May 01, 2006

Robert Gentle and Art Lozzi

I'm a sucker for cartoon backgrounds. Johnny Johnson's work at MGM are some of the best along with Bill Wray's and Scott Wills' work on Ren and Stimpy and Samuai Jack. I'll address them in a different post. These screen shots are of backgrounds by my favorite Hanna Barbera painters Robert Gentle and Art Lozzi. I love early Hanna Barbera, the characters were great but the stories weren't that funny and the animation... well, it's limited that's for sure. But those backgrounds were always a favorite aspect of those shorts.

Robert Gentle


Art Lozzi

at

11 comments:

  1. Anonymous5/02/2006 10:10 PM

    Ditto... I love those old backgrounds, that classic '50s era cartoons.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Michael5/03/2006 6:12 PM

    Nice post Kevin! I'm a background artist and I really like it when people appreciate the work that goes into these often anonymous paintings.

    I've already put your blog in my links over at http://www.articlesandtexticles.co.uk

    More please!

    ReplyDelete
  3. TheFuzzyPubes5/06/2006 3:43 PM

    very nice BGs! Thanks for sharing.

    I'm putting a link to your awesome blog on mine... :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous10/27/2006 12:30 PM

    Kevin,thanks. How time flies.
    Use my email: alozzi@hotmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  5. Drake Brodahl (pumml)12/31/2007 2:43 PM

    Kevin, thanks very much for posting these goodies! Beautiful stuff.

    I'm a huge fan of Lozzi, Wray, and Wills stuff. I've got a bunch of screencaps of Sam Jack bgs in older posts on my blog, if you're interested. Looking forward to your future post about them.

    http://pumml.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  6. Nelli Gentle1/31/2008 5:50 PM

    Robert Gentle is my grandfather, it's really nice to see how much his art is still appreciated. He was a great man and a wonderful grandfather!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Kevin Langley1/31/2008 7:50 PM

    Hello Nellie, your grandfather's work is amazing. I love his backgrounds from Tom and Jerry. If you have any stories or info that us cartoons nerds might find historically significant please feel free to email me. kevin.langley@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous4/15/2008 11:56 PM

    Hey! Wait a minute! Robert Gentle is MY grandfather! We were very lucky to have him. Our two uncles were both involved in the cartoon industry as well, Peter as an animation supervisor i believe, and Andrew still working as a freelance layout artist.

    Hi Nelli!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous9/02/2008 3:44 AM

    HI GIANPAOLO (GREAT ITALIAN NAME!!!)AND NELLI. wHAT A WONDERFUL SURPRISE YOU ARE FOR ME.
    I WAS A VERY CLOSE FRIEND OF YOUR GRANDFATHER AND CERTAINLY A CLOSE CO-WORKER. THE GREATEST GUY! WHY WAS I SO DISTURBED TO SEE YOU USING THE PAST TENSE? AND YET!
    I STARTED AT MGM WITH MONTY. THEN WE THREE STARTED UP THE BACKGROUND DEPT FROM THE VERY BEGINNING OF H-B STUDIOS, AT THE CHARLIE CHAPLIN STUDIOS, IN THE MID-TO-LATE 50s. I KEEP THE GREATEST MEMORIES OF BOB GENTLE, WHO WAS TRULY A GENTLE, SMILING, LAID-BACK GUY... AND VERY TALENTED! BE PROUD. I CERTAINLY AM.
    ART LOZZI

    ReplyDelete
  10. brad woolsey11/01/2009 4:28 PM

    Bob Gentle and my father (Robert Woolsey) were friends in art school in the 30's. I found a charcoal portrait of my father done by Bob completed in '38.

    Bob Gentle ended up doing backgrounds and my father had to drop out of art school even though he was on scholarship at Otis in LA due to finances--he eventually became a toy designer/engineer.

    ReplyDelete
  11. brad woolsey11/01/2009 4:32 PM

    If Bob's children (I met them in Malibu in the 50's or grandchildren want Bob's work from '38 I'm happy to send them a file.

    It was funny cuz they were close friends and both went by Bob.

    bradrobt@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete