Bob Foster – RIP

Cartoonist and animator Bob Foster has passed away.

Word is spreading that Bob Foster has died.

Bob spent his lifetime in a wide range of cartooning and animation jobs. Below is Bob’s resume from 2010.

I first learned of Bob’s talents with his Myron Moose comix books and his History of Moosekind in Crazy magazine. That would have been the first half of the 1970s.

Early on Bob split his time between comic books and animation studios. From Lambiek’s Comiclopedia:

Throughout the 1970s, he was an assistant animator and animation layout artist for such studios as Filmation, Hanna-Barbera, DePatie-Freleng, and Marvel. In the 1980s , Foster was a staff writer/artist for Disney Publishing … From 1980 until 1985, he was simultaneously the animation layout supervisor for XAM! Productions in Salt Lake City … When Disney took the license from Gladstone and published the comics themselves, Foster held  the position of Managing Editor for the entire line of titles. He was also editor of Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories, Uncle Scrooge Adventures, Donald Duck Adventures and DuckTales from 1990 until 1992, for which he also did rough sketches for all the cover gags.

Back to Lambiek:

In March 1992, Foster moved to Denmark to be a script editor for Egmont … in April 1994, Foster returned to Los Angeles, working as a storyboard artist for Warner Bros., Nickelodeon, Fox, Wild Brain, Scholastic, Dreamworks, Laika, Sony and Disney (current). He has worked with Disney Television Animation as a storyboard artist on ‘Mickey Mouse Clubhouse’, ‘My Friends Tigger and Pooh’ and ‘Jake and the Never Land Pirates’.

While at Disney Bob wrote the Donald Duck newspaper comic strip from February 18, 1980 to December 31, 1989; at which time the comic strip went into reruns.

Above is Bob’s first Donald Duck comic strip; below is Bob’s last Donald Duck comic strip.

From a 2015 Our Town profile in Silverton, Oregon where he had moved:

Bob Foster has led a storied life. He’s worked for Hanna-Barbera Productions, Marvel Comics and Disney Studios. His list of job titles have included layout artist, writer, artist and editor. Foster has seen and done a lot in the animation and comic book business.

There were several inspirations that pushed Foster towards the life of animation and story-telling. They started, as most things do, in childhood.

“It was there early on,” Foster said. “I read the comic strips, comic books but not the superhero stuff, maybe Superman and Batman but not more than that. I really liked the funny animal comics, Disney animals, Barney Bear, Pogo, Donald Duck, Uncle Scrooge, all that funny animal stuff really struck a chord with me.”

For more see the Bob Foster blog and the Bob Foster Portfolio where many of the above images came.