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=                         Edwin_George_Lutz                          =
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                            Introduction
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Edwin George Lutz (August 26, 1868 -- March 30, 1951) was an American
artist and author. As an illustrator, he contributed cartoons and
human interest articles illustrated with his drawings to several
magazines and newspapers. Under the name E.G. Lutz, he authored 17
books. Most were how-to manuals dealing with art and drawing
techniques, but two were about aspects of the film industry, which was
rapidly developing in the early years of the 20th century. One of his
most popular books was 'Drawing Made Easy' (1921), which was written
for young artists. Perhaps his most influential work was 'Animated
Cartoons' (1920), the first book to describe what were then
state-of-the-art animation techniques. A 19-year-old Walt Disney
discovered the book at his local library and used it as a guide during
his first years in his animation career.


Early life
============
Lutz was born August 26, 1868, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to
German immigrants John Martin Lutz (c. 1842-1878) and Anna Ernestine
Bachman Lutz (1845 - 1879). He was the oldest of four children. His
siblings were William Florence Lutz (1871-1945), Flora Johanna Lutz
Wiegandt (1873-1959) and Ernest Martin Lutz (1877-1928). His parents
died of tuberculosis within a year of each other, and the siblings
were split up and raised by different families in 1879. Edwin and his
brother William were raised on a farm in Palmyra, NJ, while Flora and
Ernest grew up in the homes of aunts and uncles in the Philadelphia
area.

At the age of 11, Lutz was enrolled in the boarding school Nazareth
Hall, a "classical academy" where music, drawing, painting, French,
Latin, and Greek were taught. When he was 17, he became a student at
the Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art in Philadelphia,
PA. The curriculum focused on drawing and sculpture. In this school,
he studied under Thomas Eakins, a realist painter that has prominence
as an important artist in American art history.


Marriage
==========
Lutz married Eleanor Ludlam Dangler (born in 1873) in Philadelphia on
June 8, 1892. Eleanor was a milliner and the owner of the Mme Eleanor
Hat Co. (or Mme Eleanor Millinery) in New York, NY. Based on census
records, the couple were divorced sometime between 1920 and 1930. The
couple did not have children.


Artist career
===============
As a cartoonist and illustrator, Lutz met with early success and his
work appeared in many newspapers and magazines, including: The Monthly
Illustrator, Joseph Pulitzer's newspaper - The World, Life, Country
Life, The Cosmopolitan, Century Magazine, St. Nicholas magazine,
The Sun, New York Tribune, Satire (a Pulitzer periodical), The Seattle
Intelligencer's Book of Magic and The Washington Times.

Many of his illustrations and cartoons included anthropomorphized
animals, food, and early optical toys.

In 1900, at the age of 32, Lutz attended the Académie Julian in Paris,
France, a private school for painting and sculpture.


Publishing career
===================
Lutz published 17 books from the 1913 through 1936, under the name
E.G. Lutz. His first work, 'What to Draw and How to Draw It', was
published in 1913 by Dodd, Mead & Company. The book, which was
created for the beginning drawer, consists of sequenced illustrations
that provide step-by-step instructions on how to sketch figures. This
book and 'Drawing Made Easy', published by Charles Scribner's Sons in
1921, grew out of work Lutz created for a series of newspaper articles
published in The Sun in 1912.

'Drawing Made Easy' was Lutz's most popular book and was reprinted
through the 1970s. In it, Lutz taught a method of drawing based on the
technique used in French art schools in the 19th century: begin with
large basic forms and progressively refine them by adding smaller
shapes and detail.



At the age of 52, Lutz wrote his most influential book, 'Animated
Cartoons - How they are made, their origin and development', (Charles
Scribner's Sons, 1920). The book offered practical ideas for
streamlining the production of animated drawings. While a few articles
and books on animation mentioned studio practices before 'Animated
Cartoons', this was the first book dedicated to the subject. The
bookaffected the entire animation industry in the formative years of
animation studios.

At the age of 19, Walt Disney borrowed 'Animated Cartoons' from the
Kansas City Library shortly after the book was published in 1920. It
is well documented that 'Animated Cartoons' greatly influenced him in
his early years in animation. The book was one of the primary
animation guides used by Disney's Laugh-O-Grams studio team in Kansas
City, Missouri, throughout the 1920s. Referring to 'Animated
Cartoons', Disney himself has stated that "Finding that book was one
of the most important and useful events in my life."


                            Bibliography
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* 'What to Draw and How to Draw It - The Ideal Method' (1913)
Dodd, Mead & Company
* 'Practical Drawing - A book for the student and the general
reader' (1915) Charles Scribner's Sons
* 'Practical Art Anatomy - Structural anatomy of the human figure
easily understood by ingeniously drawn diagrams' (1918) Charles
Scribner's Sons
* 'Animated Cartoons - How they are made, their origin and
development' (1920) Charles Scribner's Sons
* 'Drawing Made Easy - A helpful book for young
artists' (1921) Charles Scribner's Sons
* 'Instead of Scribbling - A guide to pencil drawing, a drawing
book for young people' (1924) Dodd, Mead & Company
* 'Practical Graphic Figures - The technical side of drawing for
cartoons and fashions' (1925) Charles Scribner's Sons
* 'Practical Pictorial Composition - A guide to the appreciation
of pictures. With pen-and-ink interpretations of paintings and
diagrammatic analysis by the author' (1926) Charles Scribner's
Sons
* 'The Motion-Picture Cameraman - A book for the amateur and
professional cinematographer' (1927) Charles Scribner's Sons
* 'Practical Pen Drawing - A clear presentation of pen-and-ink
illustration' (1928) Charles Scribner's Sons
* 'More Things to Draw - A sequel to Drawing Made Easy. A
helpful book for young artists' (1928) Charles Scribner's Sons
* 'Practical Art Lettering - A treatise on the construction of
the symbols of the alphabet' (1929) Charles Scribner's Sons
* 'Practical Landscape Paintings in Oils' (1930) Charles
Scribner's Sons
* 'Animal Drawing in Outline - A drawing book for young
people' (1931) Dodd, Mead & Company
* 'Practical Water-color Sketching - With specific instructions
for making wash drawings in color and black and white' (1931)
Charles Scribner's Sons
* 'Practical Engraving and Etching - A book of instruction in the
art of making linoleum blocks, wood-engravings, wood-cuts made on the
plank, etchings and aquatints' (1933) Charles Scribner's Sons
* 'Practical Course in Memory Drawing - For the classroom and for
self-study' (1936) Charles Scribner's Sons


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