If one studies Carl Barks' artistic works in chronological order, it is plain to see that his artistic abilities developed rapidly. This is clear from the incredible and prolific published work that is readily available, but all his published comic book stories and paintings started with numerous idea sketches. and not many of these have survived. Barks sketched all of his life - starting on the barn walls of his ancestral home - but it is the very nature of the artistic process that not many sketches will be saved for posterity. Below you will find a small collection covering more than seven decades.

It has often been said that young Carl made this splendid caricature in 1912, but Theodore Roosevelt only held the presidency from 1901 to 1909 which strongly suggests that Carl drew the portrait when he was only 8 years old. It is amazing to see how many details young Carl incorporated; from the wavy hair down to the broad smile. The president was accident-prone, which explains the two humorous bumps on his head.

In the late 1940s Barks dabbled with the idea of inventing his own series of human characters but he soon realized that it was safer to stick with the ducks. These are only a few examples of his ability to draw beautiful women.

In 1959 Barks was asked to supply sketches for the book The Lemonade King and they were later rendered into watercolours by another artist. Observe that the nephews on the title page are omitted in the end result. This was due to the simple fact that they were not present in the story!

Barks started sketching this 8-pager for publishing in 1959 but after three pages he abandoned the project because he suddenly realized that it would involve too much work. The reason being that the story - which was inspired by the well-known German fairy tale of the Pied Piper of Hamelin - called for numerous rats in the panels. In 1990, Don Rosa invented a suitable ending and the story was published with a faithful and accurate inking of Barks' original work. Don Rosa even spotted and corrected a slip by the master: Gyro would not call the old miser Uncle Scrooge!

Barks was sometimes asked by Western to produce a few modelsheets of his ducks in order to show the other artists what they should look like; sizes, expressions and so on. These are a few examples.

FC1329 U$17 Barks was asked to substitute a duck character for the human fortune teller. Daisy was the obvious choice. U$48 U$60 U$62 Barks sketched and inked numerous front covers for his duck stories. The few examples above show how much work went into each one. It was quite common for Barks to sketch different ideas for a front cover before the final decision was made.

Barks always did a great number of sketches and 'before-paintings' when creating his paintings. These were done primarily to try out different poses and compositions, but also allowed the artist to experiment with colours. This is just one of many meticulous watercolour sketches for An Embarrassment of Riches. 1982 An Embarrassment of Riches The end result. In the early 1980s Barks made studies for a painting which was to be named Trail of the Forty Thieves. Unfortunately it was later abandoned.