March 18, 1998
Cartoonist, 84, still finds life a little sketchy
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
Sketching to capture life is a way of life for George Ferris. At 84, the Garfield Township resident still reaches for scrap paper to sketch his impression of something he finds amusing.
Mostly retired for 10 years, he occasionally dabbles in creating cartoons for friends. But 66 years ago he created cartoons for a community.
"I had my first cartoon in the Record-Eagle in 1932 on the front page," the Traverse City native recalled, whose cartoons appeared regularly in the newspaper in the 1970s. "My third cartoon offended the editor, it was a very politically conservative paper then, and I didn't do another for them for over 30 years."
Ferris never drew back after publishing that first cartoon. He went on to illustrate cartoons for companies, greeting cards, newspapers and magazines. A New York agency even hawked his work for a while, but Ferris found the venture less than profitable after giving the agency its cut. He also made one animated cartoon as a television advertisement for Michigan Bakery Co. in the early 1950s.
"I've done it all for the fun of it," said Ferris, whose cartooning only served as a side job. "I always made a living anyway I could."
By his count, Ferris has worked through three different careers while cartooning. He was a tool and die maker for 14 years, then an electronics sales and repairman for more than a decade. He wound up teaching art and photography for 25 years to special needs children.
"I sit and hear people tell me how they've been a farmer or something their whole lives and I think they've had such dull lives," he said. "You might as well live well; you live only once."
Ferris fended off life's monotony through his cartooning, which he began as a 4-year-old with a pencil and first lesson from Dad. He soon began doodling frequently, mimicking the comics in newspapers to learn the basics of cartooning.
He later took correspondence courses in art whenever he could. As a railroad worker during the Great Depression, he was too poor to afford formal schooling.
"I started in the Stone Age. When I started there were no books saying how to do it," said Ferris, who has since taken numerous art courses at Northwestern Michigan College.
Ferris himself began writing a book in the 1950s to teach the basics of cartooning, but it was never published. Now, with whole shelves of bookstores devoted to drawing and cartooning, Ferris believes the book market is saturated. But he is quick to share his fundamental philosophy about sketching people.
"I tell people to start with a hot dog, which anyone can draw, and make it come to life," he said.