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The Unhappy Castle by Ken Hultgren

The Unhappy Castle from Ha Ha Comics #56
Ha Ha Comics #56 - Page 25
by Ken Hultgren, an animator who worked on Disney classics 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs' and 'Bambi.'
Ha Ha Comics #56 - Page 26
Ken Hultgren went on to draw comics throughout the 40s 50s and 60s…from the ACG funny animal titles to the Mickey Mouse comic strip, and even Flintstones and Archie Comics.
Ha Ha Comics #56 - Page 27
Ken Hultgren remained an animator all during this time, and continued until his death in 1968.
Ha Ha Comics #56 - Page 28 
Ha Ha Comics #56 - Page 29
Click on any image for a BIG comic book scan!
Ha Ha Comics #56 - Page 30 Ha Ha Comics #56 - Page 31 Ha Ha Comics #56 - Page 32 Ha Ha Comics #56 - Page 33
His work lives on in the classic drawing book,The Art of Animal Drawing,” which has been in print since 1951. Great book, by the way.
Ken Hultgren How to Draw Animals book

More Ken Hultgren goodies HERE:

11 comments:

Unknown said...

great minds think alike, sherm! i love this story and it in my new book: "the golden colllection of klassic, krazy kool kids komics" out in a few days!

Chuck Wells said...

"The Unhappy Castle" is terrific!! Keep posting obscure gems like this, Sherm with much appreciation too.

Sherm said...

Hey, Craig - funny co-inkydink! Is that book really coming out in a few days? It's been in my Amazon list for many many months ^_^

Hi Chuck -- Thanks for the nice encouraging words. Obscurities are my favorite!

Will Finn said...

Sherm, you unfailingly generous Sherm you--Love this little story and have a couple Hultgren comix somewhere in my stash--I will send them your way when they turn up...

Also the animal drawing book is one everybody should have but I did not know about the general drawing book until now--thanks to the great link over at "Zorak's"!

Unca Jeffy said...

Beautiful stuff as always Sherm!

Thanks for unearthing this wonderful stuff!

Mykal Banta said...

Great stuff by an under-appreciated funny animals guy! Thanks!

Duffs said...

Gorgeous, Sherm! A great find. (You too, Craig.)

:: smo :: said...

wow i really love that castle! there's so much life in all these drawings! i'm going to have to bookmark this post and check out his animal book too, i really need to do more animal studies!

thanks for all the great stuff and inspiration as always!!!

Sherm said...

Will-- tnx 4 the sweet sentiment. I love sharing almost as much as I love hearing from people like you that can appreciate that golden age cartooning goodness!

Jeff-- Thank YOU!

Mykal-- yeh, who knows HOW many comics Ken Hultgren drew...and so little info on his comic career.

Duffs-- don't forget...you got me started on this blogging thing!

smo-- you just made my day -- thanks for being a part of CartoonSNAP

Anonymous said...

Wow The Drawings On The Unhappy Castle Look Goregous and Beautiful And Very Sleek. Im Amazed that Ken Hultgren could Capture the Disney Style of Human and Technical Realistic Style Drawing in Just A Few Simple Cartoony Lines. Drawing Cartoony and Simple Style with Extremely Few Lines to Me is Always Much More Daring and More Convincing (and also Much More Fun) to Do Than Drawing in That Ugly Stiff Statue Like Style Used in Those Awful Superhero/Adventure Cartoons and That Dreaded Sloppy Style Used In Manga. Asim

Chris Sobieniak said...

I wish someone had a full copy of the "Know-How of Cartooning" as I'm still looking for that myself.