Charles Alfred Taliaferro (August 29, 1905 - February 3, 1969), better known as just Al Taliaferro was an American cartoonist known for his daily strips. He was the first artist to ever feature Donald Duck in a comic story, when he drew The Wise Little Hen (originally a cartoon by Walt Disney).
Biography[]
Al Taliaferro was born in Colorado in 1905, but he later moved to, California to study at the Institute of Art. He joined the Walt Disney studios in 1931. He began inking Floyd Gottfredson's Mickey Mouse comics. He was later the first artist to draw a Donald Duck comic.
Influence[]
Carl Barks is known as the developer of the Donald Duck universe, Al Taliaferro is known as the creator. He created characters like Huey, Dewey, and Louie, Grandma Duck and Bolivar. He gave Donald his aggressive but caring appearance, his house, and his more sophisticated personality.
Creative content[]
Stories[]
Al Taliaferro drew more than 10000 individual stories, but most of them were only strips. He only drew three Disney comics longer than two pages, and only one of them was in the Duck universe (Counter Spy). Most of his strips are comedic, but he does touch on to other topics as well.
Writing[]
Al Taliaferro did not write any stories himself. Bob Karp wrote most of his stories for him. Al Taliferro was, however, involved in the writing process.
Drawing style[]
His drawing style is easily identifiable by the characters narrow eyes and their pointy shape. His characters are shown with a lot of emotions and are usually seen with sweat drops popping out of their heads. Al will often draw Donald looking at the reader in the last panel.
April 7, 1942