The Daily Cartoonist

Industry news for the professional cartoonist

Steve Canyon artist Richard Rockwell passes away

Alan Gardner51 mins

Sad news is being reported by Mike Lynch that Richard Rockwell, who worked on the Steve Canyon feature for 35 years, passed away Tuesday.

Longtime NCS member Richard Rockwell passed away on Tuesday the 18th of April. He was 85 years old. Richard’s career included penciling, as well as inking, Milton Caniff’s long running Steve Canyon comic strip for 35 years.

In addition, he published numerous editorial cartoons, illustrated books, was a courtroom artist, and a teacher. He was an art and illustration instructor for over thirty years at New York University and Parsons School of Design. Most recently, Mr. Rockwell taught “Art of the Comic Book” at FIT.

Services will be held in Mahopac, New York, on Friday, April 21st.

5 thoughts on “Steve Canyon artist Richard Rockwell passes away”

  1. I attended the comic book class taught by Mr. Rockwell at FIT one summer. He was a very nice man and a good teacher. Mr. Rockwell was a talented artist and an inspiration for the students in the classes he taught.

  2. Richard worked for us at Valiant Comics. I used to look forward to the days when he would come in. He was so interesting and good-natured and always had something new and wonderful to show us or tell us about. He is by far one of the most pleasant people I’ve ever worked with.

  3. I was a student of Richard’s at Parsons from 1984 to 1988. I loved talking to him, and agree that he was one of the lovliest people I have ever met.

    I used to love to look at the sketch book that he brought with him to our class. Instead of having our names written down in the book, like most instructors would, Richard had sketches of each student. That’s how he took attendence, I think.

    He was a true lover of reportage. I will miss him.

  4. I am saddedn to hear Richard Rockwell has passed away. I regret having lost touch with him over the years. He was a great teacher, and inspired me to continue my studies and believe in myself as an artist. I did an independent study with him way back at Parson’s, and felt fortunate to be his student.
    Several times he brought in some originals from Milt’s Steve Canyon strip, which rockwell pencilled and caniff inked. Needless to say, the craftsmanship was astounding to see up close and in person.

  5. I took Ricahard Rockwell’s anatomy class at NYU about
    30 years ago. He was a very encouraging teacher. I was
    just talking about him last night and how remarkably
    humbe he was.

Comments are closed.

Top