GALLERY: Figure and Animal Drawings of Animation Legend Jesse Marsh

For nearly twenty years, Jesse Marsh (1907-1966) drew the Tarzan comic books, in the process creating one of the most idiosyncratic comic styles of all-time. His art combined an impeccable eye for composition and design with the quirks of a self-taught drawing style. He was also incredibly prolific, pencilling up to 100 pages per month. Prior to his comic career, Marsh had worked at Disney where he contributed storyboards to films such as Make Mine Music and Melody Time, and developed numerous projects that were never produced like Don Quixote and One More Spring. His most admired contribution to the studio though might have been his pin-up drawings (drawn on large rolls of butcher paper) which adorned the doors of artists throughout the studio.

The figure and animal studies below were sold at Heritage Auctions a few years back. Based on the subject matter and drawing style, they would appear to be drawn some years after Marsh had departed Disney. These rarely seen drawings reveal a new side of an underappreciated artist who created an exceptional body of work in his lifetime, both in animation and comics.

Most of the images can be enlarged by clicking on them.