Hal Foster facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Hal Foster
Foster at his drawing board in 1962
Born	Harold Rudolf Foster (1892-08-16)August 16, 1892 Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Died	July 25, 1982(1982-07-25) (aged 89) Hernando, Florida, U.S.
Area(s)	Writer, Artist
Notable works	Prince Valiant, Tarzan
Awards	Inkpot Award (1977)

Harold Rudolf Foster (born August 16, 1892 – died July 25, 1982) was a famous artist and writer. He was known for creating the exciting comic strip Prince Valiant. His drawings were very detailed and skillfully made.

Foster was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. In 1921, he moved to the United States and started his career as an illustrator in Chicago. He later became an American citizen. In 1928, he began drawing one of the first adventure comic strips, which was based on Edgar Rice Burroughs's Tarzan. In 1937, he created his most famous comic strip, Prince Valiant. This was a weekly fantasy adventure set in medieval times. Foster's artwork in Prince Valiant was very detailed. Instead of speech bubbles, he used captions for narration and dialogue.

Early Life and Career Beginnings

Harold Foster was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He worked as an artist for several companies in Winnipeg. In 1919, Foster rode his bicycle all the way to Chicago to look for work. He moved there in 1921 and started working for an engraving company.

Foster also attended classes at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts. He didn't formally enroll, but he learned a lot by sitting in on classes. This was a common way for students who couldn't afford tuition to learn back then. A famous illustrator named J. C. Leyendecker was an early inspiration for Foster.

Drawing Tarzan Comics

In 1925, Foster began working for an advertising studio in Chicago. He created art for big companies like Union Pacific Railroad and Wurlitzer Grand Pianos. In 1928, this studio was hired to turn the novel Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs into a 10-week comic strip. Foster was chosen to draw it.

The Tarzan comic strip first appeared in a British magazine in October 1928. It was later published in the United States starting in January 1929. Foster returned to draw the Tarzan Sunday strip from 1931 until 1937.

Creating Prince Valiant

William Randolph Hearst, a powerful newspaper owner, really wanted Foster to create a comic strip for his newspapers. He was so impressed with Foster's idea for Prince Valiant that he made a special deal. Hearst promised Foster half of the money the strip earned, which was very unusual and generous at the time.

Prince Valiant first appeared on February 13, 1937. The comic strip is still being published today, drawn by other artists since the 1970s. In 1944, Foster and his wife, Helen, moved to Redding Ridge, Connecticut. They later retired to Spring Hill, Florida in 1971.

Later Years and Retirement

By 1970, Harold Foster was suffering from arthritis. He started planning to retire from drawing Prince Valiant. He had several artists try drawing the Sunday pages before choosing John Cullen Murphy as his helper and eventual replacement in 1971.

Murphy drew the comic strip using Foster's ideas and pencil sketches. Foster stopped drawing the Prince Valiant pages himself in 1971. However, he did draw one special page in 1975. For nine more years, Foster continued to write the stories and make detailed layouts for Murphy to follow. He finally sold the comic strip to King Features Syndicate in 1979. After a surgery in 1979, Foster lost his memory and could no longer remember creating Tarzan or Prince Valiant.

Foster passed away in a care facility in Hernando, Florida, in 1982. He was 73 when he was chosen to be a member of the UK's Royal Society of Arts. This was a rare honor for an American.

Foster's Impact on Comics

Harold Foster is a very important person in the history of comic strips, especially adventure comics. Many experts say that Foster and Flash Gordon artist Alex Raymond set the standard for how adventure comic strips should look.

Foster's clear and detailed drawings, which didn't use speech bubbles, were admired by other artists. His biggest impact was on the young artists who created comics during the "Golden Age of Comics." Foster greatly influenced many of these artists, who later became famous themselves.

For example, Joe Kubert called Foster, Raymond, and Milton Caniff the "three saints" of comic art in the 1930s and 1940s. Artists like Joe Simon, Jack Kirby, and Bob Kane were inspired by Foster's style. Kirby even said he "cannibalized" Foster's style and that his character Etrigan the Demon was a tribute to a Prince Valiant strip. Wally Wood was fascinated by Foster's work from a very young age. Frank Frazetta called Foster's Tarzan work "perfection." Many other artists, including Carl Barks, Steve Ditko, and Al Williamson, have said Foster was a major influence on them.

Awards and Recognition

Harold Foster received many awards for his amazing work:

• The Silver Lady Award (1952)
• The Gold Medal Award (1954)
• The Golden Lion Award (1967)
• The Alley Award (1967, 1968, 1969)
• The Adamson Award (1969)
• The Ignatz Award (1974)
• The Inkpot Award (1977)
• The Sondermann Award (2008)

He was also honored by the National Cartoonists Society with the Reuben Award in 1957. He received other awards from them for Prince Valiant, including the Silver T-Square Award (1975) and the Gold Key Award (1977).

In 1965, Foster was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA) in London. This was the first time an American cartoonist received this honor. Foster is in five different artistic Halls of Fame, which shows how important his work was:

• The National Cartoonists Society Hall of Fame (1977)
• The Museum of Cartoon Art Hall of Fame (1977)
• The Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame (1996)
• The Joe Shuster Canadian Comic Book Creators Hall of Fame (2005)
• The Society of Illustrators' Hall of Fame (2006)

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