Working with a legend

By Times staff writer

© St. Petersburg Times, published March 6, 2001

John Rose, 37, an editorial cartoonist at the Daily News Record in Harrisonburg, Va., became Fred Lasswell's art assistant three years ago. On Monday, he talked with the Times about working with the legendary cartoonist, who died Sunday at age 84.

TIMES: How did you get the job with Lasswell?

ROSE: I had followed the strip my whole life and was looking for an assistant-type position. I drew some samples of his characters and sent them to him, and he called me back. He said he liked the way I drew big noses.

TIMES: Did you have any input into the actual gags?

ROSE: No, I was an artwork assistant. Fred would fax me a rough sketch with all the type for that day's strip, and I would take that and create all the finished artwork, then e-mail it back to him. He was always into the latest technology.

TIMES: Do you see Lasswell's influence in your own cartooning work?

ROSE: Maybe not as much in the drawing style, but in some of the things I've picked up from him. The effectiveness of simplicity in creating a really good gag, for example. You don't want things to get too overcrowded.

TIMES: Are you in the middle of drawing any Snuffy Smith strips?

ROSE: Actually, I just sent back a week's work of daily comics on Friday. I talked to him on Friday; we have a big cartooning convention in May, and we were making plans for it.

TIMES: What will you remember about Lasswell?

ROSE: He almost seemed like he could walk right out of his comic strip. He used the word "bodacious" pretty often. One of the last Sunday pages I sent him, he e-mailed back, "I love that bodacious art." That sounds like something Snuffy would say.

- Interview by Mike Wilson, Times staff writer

Recent coverage

'Snuffy Smith' artist dies at 84 (March 5, 2001)

Cartoonist had more fame than most have 'ever seed' (November 22, 2000)

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