MARTIN Ted
Photo taken from Pavlov’s Pad.
“Cartoonists are a unique breed when you consider that there are less of them around than there are brain surgeons.” The Hecklers: 244.
In fact I’d place artistic talent at the bottom of the “how to become a cartoonist” list. In my opinion a sense of humour would be the number one requirement. Number two would be an overwhelming ambition to become – a cartoonist – to the point where you eat, sleep, dream and live cartoons. … Number three requirement would be a writing ability of sorts, the better the writing ability the better your chances unless you want to specialize in sight gags. Number four on the list would be luck with a capital “L” and number five the ability to persevere through thick and thin and then back to thick” Canadian Cartoonist, v. 1, October 1989: 2.
Born 1938 in Blackpool, England.
He attended the Doncaster College of Art in South Yorkshire England where the emphasis was on classical art, architecture and lithography. Cartooning was frowned upon. As he was growing up, he discovered Punch Magazine, and through it, Andre Francois , a French cartoonist, who was one of his major influences. “He had a deceptively simple style that was devoid of clutter, detail and shading plus his cut lines were gems of succinctness.” Another influence was Ronald Searle. “Without a doubt one of the greatest cartoonist[s] of the Twentieth century ….”
In 1956 at the age of eighteen, he was drafted into military service. His first choice was the navy, but he wound up in the army which was a blessing in disguise. He became employed on the Regimental paper as a cartoonist where he covered sports events and did a weekly gag panel for about twenty months at which time his National Service stint was finished and he returned to civilian life. For a while he did ad illustrations and one column cartoons then joined and worked for a small ad agency. He had had a brief visit to Canada in 1956, he returned in 1962 and joined the Telegram [Toronto], doing promotional art plus some occasional illustrating and cartooning. He branched out and did cartoons for Gourmet Magazine and Maclean’s. The Telegram collapsed and the Toronto Sun emerged. Ted was commissioned to do a daily one column gag panel (While with the Telegram he had previously done Ben Wicks single column cartoons while Wicks was in England.) and a cartoon for a weekly dining feature. When Donato was on holidays Ted did the editorial cartoon for the Sun. The single column gag cartoon evolved from political to social comment and finally into “Pavlov” a humorous cartoon panel centering on a dog and his owner. In 1978, “Pavlov” was syndicated by Universal Press Syndicate. In addition, he did “And this just in ____” a cartoon in the “City Life” pages of the Sunday TV and Art’s Magazine, a supplement in the Toronto Sun circa 1995.
In 1974, he and his wife Dawn opened The Ted Martin Gallery and Illustrators Salon on Avenue Road in Toronto, the first of its kind in Toronto. He was a founding member of the Toronto Cartoonists Society which emerged out of the activities surrounding the gallery. The gallery was closed in 1983. In 1980 Ted was a member on the jury panel judging cartoons for the seventeenth Salon International de la Caricature.
In a 1989 letter to Canadian Cartoonist, Ted mentioned that he had received four prizes for his cartoons from the Salon International de la Caricature and that Jerry Robinson of the Jerry Robin’s Cartoonist Writers Syndicate saw Ted’s captionless gags in a Salon catalogue and invited him to submit work to their feature “World Wit” which was launched in 1987. . Ted did and his captionless cartoons were successful.
WORK:
CARTOONIST:
BOOK GRAPHIC COLLECTION:
Content cartoon panel & Cover book front & back:
Pavlov. Dell Publishing Co. Ltd., Jan. 1984..
Pavlov dog pounds. Andrews and McMeel Inc. 1983.
Pavlov’s Pad. Andrews and McMeel Inc. 1982.
Pavlov’s Pad. Dell Publishing Co. Ltd., Aug. 1984.
BOOK TEXT & GRAPHIC:
Content humour & Cover book front & back:
The Incomplete Runner. Writ., Bruce Lansky. Musson Book Co./General Publishing Co. Ltd., 1978. Lansky wrote about running. Martin drew cartoons about running. The two were separate.
CARTOONIST & WRITER:
PERIODICAL TEXT & GRAPHIC:
Content memoir plus cartoons Cover front:
Canadian Cartoonist, v. 1, October 1989: “Ted Martin”: 2-6
SOURCE:
Article book:
The Hecklers. Writ. & Ed.., Peter Desbarates & Terry Mosher. McClelland & Stewart Ltd., 1979: 244.
Article periodical:
Canadian Cartoonist, v. 1, October 1989: “Ted Martin.” Writ., Ted Martin: 2-6.
Article newspaper:
Toronto Sun, 8 Jan. 1995: “Funny Business.” Writ., Ian Harvey: 11.