{ Alan King } ~ 1947 - 2021

 

It's with great sadness that I note the passing of Alan King.

Alan was a brilliant, inquisitive, wonderfully creative individual.  He also happened to be a good friend and mentor.

For those from the Ottawa area, Alan's work could be found daily on the editorial page of the Ottawa Citizen from 1979 to 1997.  

I still remember my first encounter with Alan.  I was enrolled at the local College and working as the Editorial Cartoonist and Illustrator on the Algonquin Times.  The Editor arranged for me to drop by the Citizen and visit Alan in his office.  

It was a crash-course in Editorial Cartooning and Humorous Illustration from one of the very best in the business.  He generously offered advice and pulled down from the shelf Nick Meglin's "the Art of Humorous Illustration"; we both expressed our admiration for Mort Drucker's caricatures and the work of Jack Davis.  Then Alan showed me the cartoon he was working on that day.  If I recall correctly, he was cutting the rubylith which indicated the gray screen tones requested from the printers, a common practice at the time for a graphic designer and spoke to Alan's complete understanding of Printing from his Art Director days in Toronto.  Beneath the Rubylith was that day's carefully composed and masterfully inked cartoon.  Alan worked considerably larger in scale to the actual dimensions of the cartoon on the printed page.  This was a very useful tip because the compression that resulted from reducing the image only made the final printed image appear crisp and precise.  He showed me his assortment of inking tools: dip pen nibs for the intricate cross hatching and detailing;  calligraphy nibs for the lettering; and Windsor & Newton brushes for the large areas of black fill and 'textural' dry-brush effects.  It was a bravura performance.  It was also casually created as just 'one day at the office'.  There would literally be hundreds of these over the months, years and decades.  That level of consistency and craft was perhaps his greatest legacy.  I remember opening the pages of the newspaper the next day to see the printed version.  It left an overpowering impression on me.  So much so, I wisely recognized there was no point emulating him.   Few could.  He had that corner of the market well covered.  I consciously opted to go in a different direction in contrast but remained his biggest fan.  There were many facets to admire. As one might expect from a graduate in English from Western University, he had a natural facility with the English language and his cartoons were wonderfully written as well as drawn.  Each cartoon was carefully choreographed in terms of composition with great thought put into the backgrounds and his understanding of physical humor and posing was exceptional.  I was astonished to learn he had no formal training and was self-taught.  Remarkable, really.   He was versatile in the many forms of editorial cartooning: from caricatures of the leading notables of the day to the Giles-inspired tradition of  the 'everyman', Alan was equally adept at both forms.  Alan was proof that one could be a good artist AND have good business acumen.  He invested in a fax machine very early on and started faxing his cartoons to various small-town newspapers across the country.  He did quite well for himself.  Eventually, others caught on to this model.  

Over the years, we developed a fast friendship and it seemed I kept following in his footsteps.  He left the Citizen and took up Illustration and digital painting as an extension of his mastery of most traditional painting methods from watercolor to oil.  This too proved to be a smart career path and I followed suit, especially helpful as the newspaper industry began to contract in the face of the internet and online information.  He returned to the classroom, teaching at Algonquin College, and then later at George Brown College.  He recommended me for my first teaching position at Algonquin.  I've been there for close to twenty years.  

His was a sharp, inquisitive mind which always made for engaging and thoughtful conversations.  The term 'Renaissance Man' comes to mind when I think of his abilities. He was an accomplished pianist/organist who had a deep and abiding admiration for the work of Johann Sebastian Bach.  So much so, when he returned to Toronto, he sought a position as Church organist.  The fact he was an avowed atheist sums up this most remarkable individual: he was his own person with many facets to his temperament which defied easy categorization.  

Alan's originals now reside within the Library and Archives of Canada.  A worthy addition for future generations to admire.  

RIP Alan King; you were one of kind and will be greatly missed.