Daumier

Honoré Daumier was a lithography cartoonist that worked for the political-satire newspaper, "La Caricature", in France during the early to mid 1800s. In his time he was acclaimed for his draftsmenship. The Illusion of Life says Disney artists studied his cartoons for their amazing expression and attitude. They also got their newest talent to try and improve the staging in The New Yorker cartoons, allowing them to learn about good staging upon failure.

After a brief immersion in Daumier's caricatures, I'm a little surprised they didn't mention the incredible staging in his work as well. Daumier had an amazing ability to give his characters the illusion of motion, drawings forces not forms (as Don Graham would say). Take at look at these great examples:

You can feel the forces in this, almost as if you're creeping or lifting yourself. Note the intrigued expression of the woman on the left.

The illusion of motion lets you feel the force behind his ripping action in this one. You can also feel the weight of the chest with the great accents in the hips and shoulder on the background characters. Amazing!

Look at the angles in this one and the resulting force in the pose. Doesn't it make you want to push the angles in your next pose as much as you can?

Great compisition, staging, emotion.

Personality through body language. Great posing and attitude.

Great character.

As you can see his work is exceptional in all facets: staging, compisition, posing, personality, forces, draftsmanship, etc. I recommend that you check out the entire series entitled, "Sketches of Expression".