Bette Banjack sits down with Loose Parts’ Dave Blazek and gets a recipe.
Moving through the newspaper world he landed at the Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News. Being a creative person, Dave has done it all. Graphic arts, writing, plus creating and directly some 500 radio commercials plus around 100 TV commercials. He retired as Inquirer Creative Director in April of 2018.
When it came to “Loose Parts” he was confident that he could pull off writing the material but not drawing the panel. He recruited a co-worker and friend John Gilpin to do the artwork. It was a success and since 1999, “Loose Parts” has appeared daily in newspapers across America.
But the very first year, John Gilpin became ill and had to stop drawing. Dave being Dave decided to “just to sit down and gut it out” and to draw the cartoon as well. Except, he did not know how to draw by the way. Relying on Eileen’s artistic input he sat at the kitchen table and learned to draw well enough in six weeks to present to his editors. They bought it so he became an “accidental cartoonist” and now has drawn over 7,000 cartoons in a row and compiled seven books of “Loose Parts” cartoons, too. And last year, the National Cartoonist Society awarded Dave and “Loose Parts” a Reuben Award — the Oscar of cartooning — for producing America ‘s best newspaper comic panel.
Read The Phoenix Reporter & Item article.
He is a print newspaper man — the paper is delivered daily to his home. Today the Blazeks live near Valley Forge National Park. In 2018, he built his own art and media studio. Dave has to be reminded that he is retired.
I didn’t realize creating seven cartoon panels a week is considered being retired.
