A background illustration by Paul Julian for The Tell Tale Heart, a cartoon adaptation of the classic short story written by Edgar Allen Poe (UPA, 1953). Photo: Heritage Auctions ...

Art Lozzi, a background painter on the early Hanna-Barbera TV cartoons, has written a great little tutorial on his background painting techniques. It is posted on John K’s blog .

Japanese art director and background painter Nizo Yamamoto died on August 19 of stomach cancer. He was 70. Yamamoto was born in Goto City, Nagasaki Prefecture, in 1953.