Everett Peck - Creator of "Duckman"

Everett Comedy On Tap Salutes... Everett Peck Cartoonist, illustrator, writer, animator, and creator of the classic animated TV series, 'Duckman.'
By Jeff Hause

You probably wouldn't recognize Everett Peck in a supermarket, but I guarantee that you've seen his work. Just check the magazine rack.

Everett's distinctively hilarious ink lines have been in everything from The New Yorker to Playboy to Time, as well as on countless books, comix, and movie posters. He has had gallery shows in Tokyo, Los Angeles, New York, and Washington D.C. He's even written animated cartoons for Rugrats, The Critic, and a TV series based on one of his own cartoon characters, Duckman.

On top of that, just about every commercial illustrator working now was inspired by (ie: copies) Everett's style. But nobody can draw like Everett.

During the 1980's, Everett taught illustration and animation classes at a college in Southern California. I was not only lucky enough to have been there to take classes from one of the best illustrators of this generation, I also got to know him.

Everett not only taught me about illustration, he prepared me for all of my future work -- how to stay creative by keeping the mind constantly working. Everett was always drawing; on notepads, in sketchbooks, and even paper place mats in restaurants (left).

This particular drawing was done in order to teach me not to work on spec for Black Biker magazine, as well as not to hack out comics with stale, offensive scripts that I hated. This helped me in my later screenwriting work as well (until I temporarily forgot and wrote an Ernest screenplay for Disney).

Everett eventually gave up his teaching position to paint and do animation (if you've seen Duckman, you know he succeeded fairly spectacularly). But I hope he finds the time to teach again someday. As brilliant as he is at his art, he's even better at inspiring students, encouraging them, and making them feel special and talented.

After one of my last classes with him, he gave me a drawing that he'd done for a book on television:

It was called "Making Us Laugh." How could you not be inspired by that? There are plenty of great artists and writers that have inspired and influenced me, but only one of them ever became my friend.

Thanks, Everett.

(If you'd like to see more of Everett's incredible drawings, paintings, and sketchbook art, click on his web site.)

Everett Peck created the comic strip and TV series, 'Duckman,' receiving several prizes and three Emmy Nominations. His illustrations are published in the major periodicals: Esquire, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times Magazine, Rolling Stone and Time. He has had shows in Tokyo, Los Angeles, New York, and Washington D.C.

Jeffrey C. Hause has been writing professionally (in a very amateur fashion) for fifteen years. He's written screenplays at film studios like Warner Brothers, Disney, Universal, Columbia, and Interscope; and for producers such as Ivan Reitman, Samuel Goldwyn Jr. and Ray Stark. Jeff has also written for comics and entertainers such as Rodney Dangerfield, Gabe Kaplan, Rick Dees, and Jay Leno.
Here's his résumé.