was head of the Cartooning department at Hofstra University’s UCCE Youth Programs at the time and hired me as one of the teachers.
A Navy veteran, Al had studied at the Art Students League of New York, SVA (at that time the Cartoonists and Illustrators School of NY) and Pratt Institute (1949 – 1952).
In the 1950s he worked for Disney as an inbetweener on films like Peter Pan and Lady and the Tramp. In the 1980’s he turned to teaching and never looked back.
Al was in his seventies when I met him, but had the energy and enthusiasm of a man in his twenties. He mentored a multitude of students through the years, passing on his love and enthusiasm of cartooning to a whole new generation of artists.
g are just a few articles, pics and video from around the web on Al. I hope you enjoy…
Hilary Fine and Al Baruch
Al was an amazing man, artist and teacher. To the kids at HAAS, he was one of their magical Art Masters who would visit them and work along side of them
at their Art Master Workshop. To me, he was a good friend and mentor. He also taught kids with special needs and was an advocate for the Holocaust Memorial and the Florida Youth Orchestra. You are loved by so many and you are in our hearts forever. Much love to you and your family. -Hilary Fine
6-87). Hy taught lettering; which in those days meant Ames guide, a B6 lettering nib and india ink.
Hy was the kind of teacher you’d bring assignments to you’d been working on from other classes. His critiques had straightforward advice, with a little bit of biting wit thrown in for good measure. And if you paid attention and followed his advice, it made you a better artist. The class was INVALUABLE and had a real world payoff years later when I was doing the Flash Gordon comic strip.
A National Cartoonists Society Award winning cartoonist, Hy has worked for many different publishers over the years (Charlton, Marvel and Harvey to name a few) and has also worked on such classic comic strip characters as the Katzenjammer Kids andPopeye.
I point out his Syndicate work as I coincidentally get to work on Hy’s artwork as colorist. It’s been a privilege to be able to work on Hy’s comic strip work for all these years (Hy started on the Katzenjammer kids in 1986 – I’ve
Behind the Tracing Paper: Interview with Hy Eisman and Fernando Ruiz Filmed at the Kubert School in 2016.
What’s more to be said than…
The preceding pic is for a wall of birthday greetings to be displayed at the Kubert School. It was hand lettered to show Hy I’m not slacking off after all these years.
