Before finding some small success as a cartoonist, Charles M. Schulz began his career as one of the instructors at the Art Instruction School in Minneapolis. But the greatest of correspondence courses for illustration and cartooning was The Famous Artists School in Wilton, Connecticut. Among its faculty was my favorite classic illustrator, Jon Whitcomb. As stated in the video, he specialized in drawing pretty girls, which is probably why he is my favorite classic illustrator.
As a kid I rode my bike countless times to buy comic books at a shopping center that was two miles away, in Wilton. As a teenager I came to realize what, and who, I had left behind by moving to Massachusetts. I had been living in the midst of many cartoonists and illustrators! With absolute certainty, I can say that if my family had remained in Norwalk, Connecticut, I would have pursued an art career, most likely starting as an assistant to an established cartoonist or comic book artist.
