EXTRACTS: Illustrators issue 31 © 2020 Book Palace Books * 96 PAGES in FULL edition

61 latter state that he developed his love for horses and cow‐ boys, a sentiment that was often reflected in his artwork. He returned to Toronto with his mother in the late ’30s, where they lived in the High Park area of the city. There, Crawford attended Western Technical-Commercial high school. An able artist at an early age, he began drawing pro‐ fessionally at 16 when he illustrated the feature ‘The Three T’s’ in Bell Features Publications’ Joke Comics (March/April 1942 issue number 1). Besides drawing that feature he also did a number of fillers and adverts for both Triumph and Joke Comics , and also worked on contest pages and one- page information pieces. Before the year of 1942 was out, Crawford, then only 17, enlisted in the Royal Canadian Navy and thus ended his involvement in those early Canadian comics. Once the war was over he used his veteran’s benefit to enrol at the Ontario College of Art and Design. After graduating he headed for the United States with the prospect of working in animation. Instead, in the late-1940s he began working regularly on licensed projects for animation studios through Western Publishing, and its subsidiaries like Whitman Publishing. By the early fifties Crawford was drawing comic books for Dell on such titles as Howdy Doody , Mr. Magoo ,