One of the first teachers I had when I attended the Joe Kubert School was Jose Delbo.
One of the exercises he would have us do every week was draw horses. The following are a few examples I kept (circa 1987). Jose’s corrections are in pen over my pencils.
Jose Delbo was a great teacher because he wouldn’t let an inferior drawing slide. When you got a compliment or a good grade from him you knew it was well deserved.
I got the chance to catch up with Jose Delbo at SpringCon 2012 in Minneapolis and I had him sign the drawings shown above. I showed him some of my more recent work and he made a point of telling me I was really doing some good work – so good in fact that he would pass on a script he had just received.
A cowboy strip – lots of horses…
A quick remembrance of a cartooning class taught by Jose.
A student was getting critiqued – during the critique Jose stated that the student needed to spend more time on his work. The student responded that he had already worked on the page for two weeks. Jose replied, “How much of that time was actually pen to paper.”
I never forgot that insight. It doesn’t matter how much time you have to work on something if you’re not putting pen to paper.
Jose Delbo – a fantastic artist and teacher.
