Cartoon SNAP: Willard Mullin

Gangsters, Gunsels, Crooks, Cops and...Hitler! Willard Mullin Draws Some Amazing Characters

standing man talks to guy in chair - cartoon drawing by Willard Mullin copy

If you want to learn how to draw people in lively dynamic poses...even regular folks doing everyday things..you can't do better than to study these amazing drawings of civilians by legendary sports cartoonist Willard Mullin.

man in a zoot suit looks back at another guy - cartoon illustration by Willard Mullin copy

Click any image for a ridiculously HUGE high-resolution scan

Gangster with gun forces man to drink from bottle illustration by Willard Mullin copy

As you can see from previous posts on Willard Mullin (see links at bottom), he was the master at drawing sports cartoons that had a breakneck and electrified sense of life. But it wasn't just athletes that received this treatment...Willard Mullin could infuse even the most mundane activity with the breath of life.

Big guy approaches a talking cartoon cow illustration by Willard Mullin copy

Adolph Hitler and Nazi marching in cartoon illustration by Willard Mullin copy

These scans are the last batch from the book, "It Beats Working."

The previous sets of boxing, baseball, football and horse-racing cartoons from the same book are linked at the bottom of this post.

Little boy talks with his mother as she is busy cooking - cartoon art by Willard Mullin copy

Fat man in pinstrip suit pushes a guy in the face- cartoon drawing by Willard Mullin copy

You remember Jim Braddock cartoon drawing by Willard Mullin copy

Paper boy hawking newspapers illustration by Willard Mullin copy

Big man in suit talks with thinner timid man cartoon drawing by Willard Mullin copy

Men playing pool illustration by Willard Mullin copy

man at a bar talks to big fat bartender - cartoon art by Willard Mullin copy

Cop grabs spectator and tosses him out -drawn by Willard Mullin copy

Crying man drops flowers on the grave of cricket -drawn by Willard Mullin copy

great silhouettes, leading the eye, line of action, nothing is horizontal or vertical, beautifully unbalanced balance
Previous posts on Willard Mullin:

Willard Mullin on Boxing

Willard Mullin on Baseball &Football

Willard Mullin on Horse Racing

You'll find lots more links when you see those posts, too!

Willard Mullin Goes to the Races - Horse Racing Sports Cartoons by the Master of Action Cartooning

Horse and jockey cartoon drawing by Willard Mullin

Willard Mullin knows how to draw action,
and he knows how to draw horses.

Here are all the horse-related sports cartoons
from from the book,"It Beats Working."

Click on any picture below to open up a ridiculously huge scan

cartoon race horse pleads with the jockey - drawn by Willard Mullin

Man with syringe talks to cartoon horse - drawing by Willard Mullin

tall jockey riding on a cartoon zebra - illustration by Willard Mullin

Jockey running with sign - cartoon illustration drawn by Willard Mullin

And I'm going to throw in this drawing of a track runner because it doesn't fit into any of the other categories:

cartoon track runner fills out his expense account illustration drawn by Willard Mullin

The next batch of illustrations (coming soon) has some of the most amazing drawings in the entire book. The strange thing is that none of them are sports figures! Here's a sample of what coming up in the last batch of cartoons from the book, "It Beats Working."

Gangster with gun forces man to drink from bottle illustration by Willard Mullin

The next post is going to be the best, so be sure to leave some comments to let me know if you wanna see them ...

Biographical info on Willard Mullin
How to Draw Animals by Willard Mullin

Willard Mullin Tribute Site

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Previous posts in this series;

Willard Mullin on Boxing

Baseball and Football
Cartoons by Willard Mullin

Baseball and Football Cartoons by Willard Mullin

Baseball player yells to the pitcher with a batter on first by Willard Mullin

I got some nice comments from some cartoon connoisseurs regarding the previous post about sports cartoonist Willard Mullin. Here are some more cartoon illustrations from the book, "Beats Working."

Baseball Player talks to a reporter on the bench - cartoon art by Willard Mullin

These drawings have so much life and energy, it's no wonder that Willard Mullin became a nationwide celebrity!

Baseball Player testing bats while on deck - sports cartoon by Willard Mullin

Scared Baseball Player drops the ball as a huge runner approaches first base- drawing by Willard Mullin

Click on any one of these thumbnails
to jump to a HUGE high--resolution image.

Baseball Players on the bench reading the racing form by Willard Mullin

...and football...

Football player misses the ball - cartoon illustration drawn by Willard Mullin

Football players get in a big fistfight with referees chatting nearby - cartoon art by Willard Mullin

Click on any one of these thumbnails
to jump to a HUGE high--resolution image.

Referee and football player look at giant gorilla with a helmet

Middle aged man coached big dumb football player in this cartoon drawing by Willard Mullin

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Next Willard Mullin post: Horse Racing!
...as soon as this post gets 5 comments,

I'll put them up here on the blog.
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If you missed the last Willard Mullin post
on boxing cartoons, here's the link below:

Boxing Cartoons by Willard Mullin

UPDATE: David Nethery just posted some great "animated line of action" tutorial pages from Willard Mullin on his Hand Drawn Animation blog HERE.

Animated Line of Action tutorial lesson by willard Mullin

Right below are a bunch of links with lots of high-quality scans of Willard Mullin's classic drawings and sports cartoons!

I still have plenty more scans,
so if you'd like to see more,
be sure to
leave a comment before you go!

Willard Mullin Link-Fest:

Willard Mullin Biography

Willard Mullin on How to Draw Animals

A Tribute to Willard Mullin

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Thanks to Leif Peng's Today's Inspiration blog for:

Advertising Art by Willard Mullin

Willard Mullin's Editorial Art

"Willard Mullin Draws the Brooklyn Bum"

Willard Mullin is Tops in Sport Cartooning

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...and check out these terrific posts on Will Finn's blog featuring
scans from the book, "Clowning Through Baseball":

"Clowning Through Baseball" book illustrations by Willard Mullin

More Mullin illustrations from "Clowning through Baseball"

Even MORE great lively poses from the baseball book

The last batch of classic baseball drawings by Willard Mullin

Boxing Cartoons by Willard Mullin - The Master of Drawing Dynamic Poses

Check out the Sports cartoons and drawings of Willard Mullin

Thanks to some recent posts on various cartooning blogs
(see links at bottom), I have fallen in love with the work
of master sports cartoonist, Willard Mullin

The collector in me wanted to buy up every out-of-print book that contains Willard Mullin's unbelievably dynamic drawings, but I wised up and whipped out the ol' library card instead!

I managed to find a bunch of beautiful books that I borrowed from the Los Angeles public library (you can do it all online) and subsequently scanned them for sharing with everybody here on the CartoonSNAP blog!

Each of the images below links to a GIANT high-res image
of scans from "It Beats Working," a book illustrated by
the greatest sports cartoonist who ever wielded a pen,
Willard Mullin!

willard Mullin cartoon Boxer eating steak

Click on thumbnails for the BIG picture!

Willard Mulllin drawing of two boxers...one boxer is biting the other one's ear

All the illustrations on this page are from the chapters about boxing, but later posts will feature Willard Mullin's drawings on Football, Baseball and Horse Racing, too!