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PAGF 10. WEDNESDAY. MARCH 10, 1976, WHITBY FREE PRESS 20-year-old David Schembri Cartooning was an escapefrom boring lessons by BRIAN WINTER Staff Writer The art of caricature and cartooning has a special appeal to many people, for the editorial cartoon is one of the most read parts of a newspaper, and cartoons forn an integral part of advertising and public amuse- ment. Most everyone likes to see political figures, their friends, or even themselves lanpooned by a good cartoonist. A cartoonist of unusual ability for his age is Whitby's own David Schenbri, who, at the age of 20, has recently embarked on a commercial art career at Studio 601 on Euclid Street. "I've been interested in art since I was quite young", says Mr. Schembri. "I got a lot of encouragement from my family, art instructors and teachers". Although he is a painter, photographer and commercial artist, his real love in life is cartooning "I liked cartooning be- cause it was fun; it was an escape", h'esays. David Schembri began cartooning when he was a srnall child and in elementary school when the lessons got boring he would draw in the margins of is notebooks. "I think I took down more cartoons than actual notes", he says. Often he would draw caricatures of his teachers, and once this almost lost hin a grant for his further education. Mr. Schembri appeared before a local organization which supplies scholarships, and one of the members was a teacher who did not like a cartoon David once did of him. However, bygones were bygones, and Mr. Schembri got his grant. Throughout his school years, Mr. Schembri was closely associated with news- papers and student publica- tions, editing them as well as doing the art work. In Grade seven, along with some other students, he produced a school paper called "Senior Byline", at St. John's Separate School. At Anderson Collegiate he produced two papers which he named himself, "Moby Press" and "Lunchpale". Mr. Schembri admits he was influenced by many of the Toronto underground papers at the time, but he later abandoned them as they became more political. From 1973 to 1975 he took a commerical art courFe. - lai the Oakville campus of Sheridan College, where he produced a paper called "Moon". In his first year he was art director, and assumed the position of managing editor in his second year. "Moon" was a carefully designed paper technically, illustrated by many of Mr. Schembri's cartoons. After graduation in May 1975, Mr. Schenbri went to work for Bob Reid at Studio 601, and one day did a cartoon of his boss sitting at his desk with one of the muses whispering in his car. This cartoon led to his latest project, drawing carica- tures of each of the 23 mem- bers of the Whitby Kiwanis Club, which will be hung in Gold Roon of the Centennial Building, where the club meets. Mr. Reid, a Kiwanis member, thought the cartoons would give the club a personal touch, and Mr. Schembri is hard at work now on the 10th in the series. He explains that it takes about a full day to produce such a cartoon from start to finish. The first step is to gel the person's likeness on paper, cither from a photograph or a personal sitting. This, lhe says, takes about I 5 to 30 minutes.- "1 gel an idea of how to po>rtray thie guy, if he's a gambler or a drinker, and I play il up from there", he says. For instance one of the cartoonis shows a nman withî four aces in his hand while he is daydreaming about having five aces. Another man, a boater, is in an admiral's uniform at the wheel of his yacht. Another is an insur- ance agent, reading a book called "Insurance and You", with a Playboy magazine hiddeninsiie. David Schembri, a cartoonist with a flair for capturing a person's character, sits at his drawing board as a new inspiration comes to him for his latest project. Behind him are his sketches of members of the Whitby Kiwanis Club which will be hung on the walls of Gold Room in the Centennial Building. Free Press Photo "You take a person and try to get his real true personality in the cartoon", says Mr. Schembri. He looks for the little things that are part of the person like a cowlick in his hair, bushy eyebrows, (the eyes are very important) or if a person is left-handed. "Caricatures have to have -lhese features", says Mr. ç4çmbri. "There is more character in the faces of older people, and politicians are good to do because they're older". The initial drawings are donc on tracing paper and transferred onto a clean piece of paper to be inked in. "Each one is a challenge. Everyone I take on is a unique thing", says Mr. Schembri. Mr. Schembri has a collection of books on con- temporary cartoonists, and says he is particularly influenced by Aislin of the Montreal Star and Gazette. "My style resembles his quite a bit", he says. "He more than Macpherson, brings out the character. He's very witty an'd precise. le really captures the character". While at college, Mr. Schembri met Harvey Kurtz- man, who started Mad Magazine, and one of his instructors was Graham Pilsworth, a cartoonist for the Toronto Star. He likes Andy Donato's political comments, "but bis style, I can take it or leave it". Mr. Schembri says he would not want to be an editorial cartoonist on a day-to-day basis for a news- paper, although be lias donc cartoons for Oshawa news- papers. le doesn't like doing comic strips that mucl either, but prefers gag cartoonis witli a psychological and witty feel to them. lis main aim is to be a magazine illustrator or cartoonist. le bas two large sketch books filled with caricatures and drawings, some of which look plainly weird in tlie style of tiie underground papers, but with tlicir long noses and big ears are enough to make anyone burst out laughing. Mr. Schemïbri considers his weird iaracters e influenced by Monty Python. Although he has done several art assignments in the Whitby-Oshawa area, Mr. Schembri admits he has not always been given credit for his work. For instance it was David Schembri who drew the man in the 1910 model car which became the, syînbol for Oshawa's 1974 Autofest, but his name never appeared on the drawing. He is presently working on bulletins and stationery for the Malta Social Club of Whitby, and is working towards doing some volun- tary work for Whitby Arts. Mr. Schembri describes hirnself as a versatile type. "To be an artist is like an expresion. Each different medium has its form of expression", he says. Mr. Schenbri's sense of humor and touch of the ridiculous shows through clearly in his cartoons. As a parting gift for a teacher at college he drew the man with his hands on a clock face which had only the numbers 11, 12 and one, because the teacher was in class from only 11 a.m. to1 p.m. In one of his Kiwanis cartoons he has a man with a glass of beer in one hand and a Vic Tanny bag in the other as a devil and an angel whisper in his ears whether or not to drink and gain weight. "I've had -the knack and the gift for cartooning since I was quite young", says Mr. Schembri. "Other people would tell me I'm pretty good, but I had to work on it to develop it. I really didn't find my true directions in art till I went to college for the first year. That was the highlight of my life--a real eye opener". Mr. Schembri is not the only cartoonist who started out in Whitby. J. W. Bengough, the founder of Grip magazine, who did the famous Sir John A. Mac- donald cartoons of the 19th century began his career in this town. Surprisingly, Mr. Schembri did not know this, but was interested when he found he is following in the footsteps of this dean of early Canadian cartoonists. -i V~ ,,aie- IC ENNEL.S where TheGet r Lov.ng Car BOARDING PUPPIES TRAINING CAT & DOG FOOD Case of 48-15 oz. cans (dented) $6.50 or 5 cases ' $6.00 each SHUR-GAIN 20kg. (441bs) $8.75 Frozen beef still $9.50 per 35 lbs. box HWY. 12 BROOKLIN WE DELIVER 655-4721 TIMOTHYJ. O'NEILL CHARTERED ACCOUNTANT 214 Dundas St. E. P.O. Box 28 Whitby, Ontario L1N5R7 668-3346 77', 7-j a 01