Roy Doty has been illustrating books and magazines since the 1940s. I first came across his work around 1970 when I acquired an old stack of Popular Science magazines from the 1950s. He did (and still does) a regular comic strip called "Wordless Workshop," which showed you how to make something cool without using any words to describe how. That's difficult to pull off, but Doty's clear and precise drawing style was (and is) up to the task.
When we started MAKE in 2004, I was overjoyed to learn that Doty was still illustrating. I wrote him and asked if he'd like to illustrate our puzzle page. When he said yes, it was a dream come true. At age 86, he's still going strong.
Every year, Doty hand draws a new Chrismas card to send out to his friends and associates. I'm lucky to be on that list!
Hogan's Alley has posted this amazing archive of cartoonist Roy Doty's legendary annual Christmas Cards. The highly imaginative collection, dating back to 1950, features puzzles, contraptions, and other creative twists. 2007's was even presented as a möbius strip.
(Via Drawn!)
- Incredible Roy Doty Christmas card – Boing Boing
- Roy's Doty's Leap Year card — Carpe Diem! – Boing Boing
- Happy Birthday Roy Doty! – Boing Boing
- "With the Chemex, even a moron can make good coffee."
- Gnome puzzle from MAKE 11, illustrated by Roy Doty – Boing Boing
- Boing Boing Week in review: Sep. 3-9, 2007
