Earl MacPherson (1910 - 1993)

Born Edgar Earl Macpherson, he started his career in the art business by painting posters for a local theatre, before moving on to take evening classes with the Chouinard School of art. 1929 saw him Painting portraits of wealthy guests who were staying at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel in Honalulu. His name eventually brought him to the attention of Brown and Bigelow. An alliance that saw his artwork take off in a big way with the introduction of the Artists Sketchbook in 1943.  Though it should be said, in Earl's eyes at least, a bigger alliance than that of his starting work with Brown and Bigelow, was the one he made with the first girl he painted for them, he married her.

Macpherson continued to create the Artists Sketchbook until he was struck by polio in 1951, at which time he passed the task of completing the sketchbook to Jerry Thompson (a relatively new artist to the company who had been assisting with it's creation during his time with Brown and Bigelow).

Despite moving on to other things, his creation of the Artists Sketchbook was probably one of the greatest contributions to the pinup genre, setting a standard that many other artists later followed.