tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-47976389512787568972024-02-22T07:27:43.201-08:00SCRIBBLERBinghamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02933081835531209360noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4797638951278756897.post-35490064976154240412014-05-27T23:43:00.000-07:002014-05-29T14:03:03.942-07:00“Arbiters of Relevance”<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: .25in; tab-stops: .25in 58.5pt;">
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<b style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">Why a simple
question matters…</span></b></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">This thought-stream began as a question posed on
social media, I got involved until, as social media so often goes, the white
noise spilled over. But the topic remains important (hence my desire to continue
it here as a soliloquy). Decisions made by the wrong people, those in positions to influence and affect
change, can force a deterioration of art in all its forms and we are all the
poorer for it. It’s called <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">strangling
creativity with the power of authority.<o:p></o:p></i></span><br />
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<span style="color: white; font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">(I include my previous comments throughout as a
means of contextualizing. I leave out the opposing voices because…well, </span><span style="line-height: 18px;">frankly,</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> I don’t
respect them enough for inclusion as they are in fact deleterious to the
definition of true art. If anyone is interested in an expansion of these opinions
on art, I refer you to my earlier posts: <a href="http://drawingfire.blogspot.com/2011/07/transference-of-emotion.html" target="_blank">"The Transference of Emotion"</a> and <a href="http://drawingfire.blogspot.com/2011/07/art-is-objective.html" target="_blank">"Art is Objective."</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">Here is the initial question:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">“Because many
contemporary representational painters emulate the art of the nineteenth
century we repeatedly see nostalgic paintings of models in period costume. Is
such nostalgia healthy for contemporary representational art? If it is, why? If
it isn't, why not?”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">*<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">The world is far too large and diverse for many
people. Some feel the need to define what is in the world’s best interest,
regardless of those who may disagree. Sad to say, many in the art world operate
under those same misconceptions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">First, let me acknowledge that I have my own set
of standards—naturally—likes and dislikes in the world of art and were it up to
me, feces on a canvas would go nowhere other than a landfill far away from me.
However I would never tell an artist (or a monkey) he is un-<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">healthy for contemporary…</i>well, perhaps
in this case…and he should never shake my hand.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="color: white; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">Moving forward, let’s examine the operative word
to follow, “relevance.”</span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Pertinence.
Practical and especially social applicability.</i> “Artists and writers strive
for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">relevance </i>in their own time.” But
should they and who decides? The words <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">social</i> </span><i>applicability </i><span style="line-height: 115%;">indicates that it might be the society that ultimately determines relevancy. And,
whether pertinent to culture or society or art itself, can so large a segment
achieve consensus on a single artist’s relevance before many years have passed?</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;"><i>Legacies are never felt before an artist’s
passing.</i></span><br />
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<span style="color: white; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">This is an important issue to me, as it should
be to artists everywhere, after growing up during the puritanical-like reign of
the gallery power brokers of sixty years ago. I call them The Art’s Dark Ages,
because it lasted nearly as long and destroyed many artists with their
lord-like overreach. </span><br />
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<span style="color: white; font-size: large;">Much like the Pope chose to tell the population what art was acceptable in Michelangelo's time, t<span style="line-height: 115%;">he decision makers in NYC who, in order to become relevant
themselves and define their own self-worth in the art world, chose to tell the
world that a large amount of art being created was “irrelevant.” And they were
to tell us which art was important enough for the rest of us. (Naturally, this
drove up the prices of inferior work in their galleries making many who would
otherwise have remained anonymous, noteworthy.)</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">Anything that came before, all of the struggles
of artists and art schools everywhere, all of the teachings of the great
masters, the work of tens of thousands perfecting their crafts to the best of
their abilities, as well as the contemporary greats who rose to the top due to
hard work and intuition and sparks of genius, they would all be denounced as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">dated</i>, or <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">kitsch,</i> or lacking <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">innovation
and foresight. </i><i>Unique</i> was prized over ability, the <i>outrageous</i> replaced talent
and knowledge.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">Norman Rockwell spent much of his young life
idolizing other great painters. He struggled to be as great as J.C.
Leyendecker. Then as he became the most celebrated artist in the country, his
name a household word, copies of his art in tens of thousands of homes across
the US, along came the elite of the art world, most of whom would not know
which end of the brush actually touched canvas, the decision makers, the king
makers who declared to the press that representational art is passé. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Norman Rockwell is a fine “illustrator,” but
illustration is not “Art.” Not with a capital “A.”</i><o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">Who was the
first to decide this? Who would draw the original parameters of what
constituted Art? Who was appointed to decide this for the rest of us?<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">And all the other illustrators fell into line
behind him, shunned by the New York </span><span style="line-height: 115%;">intelligentsia</span><span style="line-height: 115%;">. Those who
knew better than the rest of the country and were on a mission to keep us
informed for our own good, for the good of Art. And they did <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">for half a
century.</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">And Norman Rockwell struggled to be recognized by the Fine Art
world.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">And here we find ourselves, all these decades
later, and representational art has risen Phoenix-like from the ash-heap of
contempt, Rockwell’s reputation, by the sheer virtuosity of his performance
garnering top dollar at auctions around the globe. His name is once again
spoken of with reverence by those who understand the work. Others through
diligence to the form, hard and often heart-breaking work, have regained a
modicum of stature amid the multitude of struggling wannabes as art schools and
universities and colleges open their doors and pour forth streaming legions
of new artists on an annual basis, all struggling to make their own individual
marks. All wanting to be noticed. To be respected by their peers. To be <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">important.</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">Today we find ourselves faced with voices within
our own ranks, artists critiquing other artists with the sole purpose to drag
the spotlight in their own direction. They have become the new arbiters. They
have chosen themselves as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">deciders,</i>
we’ll refer to them as the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“arbiters of
relevance,”</i> letting us all know what is or is not “Important Art.”<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="color: white; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">Perhaps it is the need to shrink their world
down to manageable size. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Control issues.</i>
Perhaps if they limit those around them, their own work will appear more
important. They will become more relevant.</span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">In a world of working for the love
of art and competing with oneself in a never-ending effort to be better than we
are, we now have many who have decided that the only way for them to appear to
grow is to restrain others. Tell the world they are more important than the
rest.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;"><i>The death knell to evolution is complacency.</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">The natives have begun eating their own. What they
fail to understand is the harder they try to look relevant, the more desperate
they appear. The box they have drawn themselves into (pun intended) has opaque
walls and they have lost the ability to see value in anything that does not
resemble their own.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">As to the initial question, a few of my aforementioned
responses:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">Criticizing an artist's work based on genre or
subject matter alone is the true disservice to the art world. All art, whether
it's dance or writing or painting, is about communication and emotion, as well
as the expertise of the artist. The greater the emotional response for the
viewer, the more successful the artist's intent is realized. There is room in
the world for more than one approach and the narrowing of definitions is merely
the fault of the critic.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: .25in; tab-stops: .25in 58.5pt;">
<span style="color: white; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">*<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: .25in; tab-stops: .25in 58.5pt;">
<span style="color: white; font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Too many "artists" trying too hard to
be <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">relevant, </i>rather than working to
perfect their craft. Like a writer working at being "topical," or
hammering the reader over the head with what they deem a popular theme or
political opinion, artists working hard at being relevant, with the exception
of very few, disappear from history as soon as their POV goes out of fashion.
Compete with no one but yourself. Paint what you love and, if you're good
enough, your audience will find you.</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: .25in; tab-stops: .25in 58.5pt;">
<span style="color: white; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">*<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: .25in; tab-stops: .25in 58.5pt;">
<span style="color: white; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">In 1885 Ilya Repin painted a scene from 1581. (Ivan the Terrible murdering his son.) To
him, his history was important. Hardly kitsch or sentimentalized. Certainly
emotional.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: .25in; tab-stops: .25in 58.5pt;">
<span style="color: white; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEHZJiXcGNjIX0p0663T9FBipu8lGKTXkTlg_I0K6sCvkiyQRhdcVA_sPz3H8w9kzX3zDOuwBjJyZljnt9ec5uFhxDuroKWyjSzC1vYPPIY_lEZF1COCQVtJS_2hfq0fGhmkmeQIH1M78/s1600/REPIN_Ivan_Terrible&Ivan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEHZJiXcGNjIX0p0663T9FBipu8lGKTXkTlg_I0K6sCvkiyQRhdcVA_sPz3H8w9kzX3zDOuwBjJyZljnt9ec5uFhxDuroKWyjSzC1vYPPIY_lEZF1COCQVtJS_2hfq0fGhmkmeQIH1M78/s1600/REPIN_Ivan_Terrible&Ivan.jpg" height="233" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: white; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: .25in; tab-stops: .25in 58.5pt;">
<span style="color: white; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">Alphonse Mucha painted history. Waterhouse painted mythology. N.C.
Wyeth. Howard Pyle. Dean Cornwell. Frank Schoonover. Harvey Dunn. In 1400s da
Vinci painted Christ. In 2014 Howard Terpning, whose fine art reputation rests
on his skill at representing North American plains Indians—it could be said
that he changed 20th C perceptions of the tribes and helped make the western art
genre popular to gallery patrons—sold for a record 1.9 million. I rest my case.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: .25in; tab-stops: .25in 58.5pt;">
<span style="color: white; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">*<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: .25in; tab-stops: .25in 58.5pt;">
<span style="color: white; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">"Representational art is dead." This
is the same limited thinking that insisted sixty years ago that Rockwell was
"not relevant," merely an illustrator and not as worthy as a flat
depiction of a Campbell soup can or Lichtenstein stealing the work of other
artists and enlarging their comic book panels onto canvas, pissing in a jar
with a crucifix and throwing dung onto a canvas…</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: .25in; tab-stops: .25in 58.5pt;">
<span style="color: white; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: .25in; tab-stops: .25in 58.5pt;">
<span style="color: white; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">My point is that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">relevance</i> is in the eye of the beholder,
those who refuse to read the futurists or the historians have merely limited
their own knowledge…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: .25in; tab-stops: .25in 58.5pt;">
<span style="color: white; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">And I make no excuses for my work. Those who
seek so desperately to limit the confines of creativity and draw stark borders
around art's definitions, need to expand their own horizons a bit.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: .25in; tab-stops: .25in 58.5pt;">
<span style="color: white; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: .25in; tab-stops: .25in 58.5pt;">
<span style="color: white; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">If another artist doesn’t share my love, it
doesn’t make him wrong; it doesn’t make me right. My relevancy as an artist
will not be determined by him. If I am good enough—and lucky enough—my audience
will find my work. The larger the audience, the greater the legacy, and if my
work disappears with time, then I have painted for myself and I’m quite<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>okay with that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: .25in; tab-stops: .25in 58.5pt;">
<span style="color: white; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: .25in; tab-stops: .25in 58.5pt;">
<span style="color: white; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">I grew up with the gallery, boy’s
club, ignorance of the 70s, so it's an important issue to those who felt
creatively stifled by this sort of narrow vision. I had one prominent gallery
owner tell me I should paint in pastel colors because wives usually chose
paintings to go with their decor. I was told what subjects were popular. Follow
the largest audience.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: .25in; tab-stops: .25in 58.5pt;">
<span style="color: white; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: .25in; tab-stops: .25in 58.5pt;">
<span style="color: white; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">I made my early living drawing comic
books. I was told whose style I should mimic, it was a job.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: .25in; tab-stops: .25in 58.5pt;">
<span style="color: white; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: .25in; tab-stops: .25in 58.5pt;">
<span style="color: white; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">My first graphic novel was drawn
without the standard word balloons. It was the translation of a poem and I
wanted it to be read as such. I was asked to sit in on a panel discussion with
a couple other artists and the question was posed: “Are word balloons an archaic
artifice now that you’ve made these popular books using only captions, and
should word balloons be done away with? I remained mostly silent because I
could not understand limiting the art form with a new set of parameters. I had
used it to my own particular ends for this particular piece of work. I didn’t
understand throwing away volumes of content for what might be a passing style.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: .25in; tab-stops: .25in 58.5pt;">
<span style="color: white; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: .25in; tab-stops: .25in 58.5pt;">
<span style="color: white; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">Then when I was first invited to a signing
at a French university, I had no idea that comic book art was considered
"Art" and displayed in actual art galleries all across Europe.
American galleries thought of it as trash.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: .25in; tab-stops: .25in 58.5pt;">
<span style="color: white; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: .25in; tab-stops: .25in 58.5pt;">
<span style="color: white; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">Over many years I’ve painted just
about anything imaginable: science fiction and fantasy, wildlife and still life
and studio models. When I matured, I decided to paint what I wanted and hell
with what others said they wanted to see.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: .25in; tab-stops: .25in 58.5pt;">
<span style="color: white; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: .25in; tab-stops: .25in 58.5pt;">
<span style="color: white; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">I studied for a time with a world
class portrait artist. He found joy in the colors, values and <i>landscape</i> of the
faces he painted. He asked if I had those same desires. I did not. I came from
an illustration background and I wanted to tell stories with my art. To paint
the history I spent fifty-some years studying, the personal, the drama, the
pain and the beauty, and occasionally, the ugly, and I realized how little the
average person knows about history. I felt I had a job to do.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: .25in; tab-stops: .25in 58.5pt;">
<span style="color: white; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP3xsp6-_68_dCKh8dHft1HjYow5PuwLI1UJ9P-v27P7YyGBUGhVPEF3FLAWt8gDyM4dJhlkHFfpnDeL2Yq-owGQEYdur6itdOq9_pL6ZREm2XvEU5h_6IYnE8VDuw9ymw_8RWmm7R-Rw/s1600/ilya-repin-09.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP3xsp6-_68_dCKh8dHft1HjYow5PuwLI1UJ9P-v27P7YyGBUGhVPEF3FLAWt8gDyM4dJhlkHFfpnDeL2Yq-owGQEYdur6itdOq9_pL6ZREm2XvEU5h_6IYnE8VDuw9ymw_8RWmm7R-Rw/s1600/ilya-repin-09.jpg" height="189" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: white; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: .25in; tab-stops: .25in 58.5pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">Do not define yourself by what others think you should paint, but ONLY what
you choose to paint.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: .25in; tab-stops: .25in 58.5pt;">
<span style="color: white; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: .25in; tab-stops: .25in 58.5pt;">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">I don’t tell others what should drive
them. </span></span><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 27px;">I don't pat myself on the back in public,</span><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 115%;"> and I don’t criticize other artists’ work (unless they prove to be unworthy
of their own ego.) C=EMS</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;"> ²</span><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 115%;"> (Criticism=Ego x Mouth-Size </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">²</span><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">)</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: .25in; tab-stops: .25in 58.5pt;">
<span style="color: white; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: .25in; tab-stops: .25in 58.5pt;">
<span style="color: white; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">—And I tell my students to do the
same, find their own niche, enjoy the work and the learning, because true Art
is very personal. Tell your story your way, even if it’s just a story of paint.
An artist’s life is about learning and giving of what he/she has learned. "Legacy" <i>(relevance)</i> is what is passed down to the next generation and the next.<i> If
the heart is not there, there is no Art.</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;"><i>And creativity is, and should always be, un-limiting and
unlimited.</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;"><i>—Jerry</i></span><br />
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<span style="color: white; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="color: white; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;"><i>*With apologies to Ilya Repin for using his paintings of historic import to make a 21st Century point.</i></span></div>
Binghamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02933081835531209360noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4797638951278756897.post-32137443951518815502013-03-11T11:13:00.003-07:002013-03-11T11:13:53.375-07:00Beowulf: a lot of mileage since 1984.
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size: large;">(A lot of mileage since 700A.D.—before most Brits knew there was an A. or a D.).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDme7_ryWzOqUNCK90zN18QXx-j1Bvpe9ufwhEGHELPF3Wcvu1xr3zMaUZdj5Esj2Fg9j5AaE4oWWCh9OU9_c6BRLzj-FLLvh4L9dh6GAW4KwhZg5oelAzz-0NUxeR8QjlgHHzMCStYsY/s1600/Beowulf_p02_sml.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDme7_ryWzOqUNCK90zN18QXx-j1Bvpe9ufwhEGHELPF3Wcvu1xr3zMaUZdj5Esj2Fg9j5AaE4oWWCh9OU9_c6BRLzj-FLLvh4L9dh6GAW4KwhZg5oelAzz-0NUxeR8QjlgHHzMCStYsY/s320/Beowulf_p02_sml.jpg" width="227" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size: large;">(But I kid.)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size: large;">A fan sent a
couple of recent articles that I thought I’d share with friends (see below). I
know many who’ve been with me since the beginning will mutter, “He’s still
plugging that old dog-eared thing?” But no, the book has been out of print for
over twenty-five years so I’m not hawking a thing here. I just thought it was
fun. Besides, the dog-eared books are the best. It means they’ve been enjoyed.
(My own ears are way too perky still.)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size: large;">And it is still
the most rewarding book I’ve ever been involved with—if not monetarily—as every
year or two, even all these decades later, I still get letters from teachers
across the country thanking me and telling how they used my book in their
classrooms. All ages.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjskyd3ZgwuPhS6eP2XuMaVIjsOe4Xm7-L2B-jjhD4F_Grt4wnUwmyQKWQ_FECgzHSoRTJJjSubVHWADr11MA1IXPtvs6e06pc_ELDyvvzc6JgyUP8pxp_LMvMQlrp5UffarmZtU6SpcL8/s1600/Beowulf_p35_sml.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjskyd3ZgwuPhS6eP2XuMaVIjsOe4Xm7-L2B-jjhD4F_Grt4wnUwmyQKWQ_FECgzHSoRTJJjSubVHWADr11MA1IXPtvs6e06pc_ELDyvvzc6JgyUP8pxp_LMvMQlrp5UffarmZtU6SpcL8/s320/Beowulf_p35_sml.jpg" width="228" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size: large;">The first time I
said, “Wow! Neat-o!” (or whatever the slang of that era might’ve been) was
about a year after publication when a high school teacher wrote me a great
letter saying he bought a whole case of my books for his classroom. This is
something I never imagined when I was originally trolling through my head in
search of ideas to work on. There were other letters.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5yBr_INzEtD7GhbPXBZaOfF75hTYieCqwG9CaITEkww2tbQHpuHXnV4iD1ew2lTqY6VHeNwNrPofEZ0V5uEac9cs_d_BCCLUMa5DzZcv6itRt6ryJEen7fo9C2cEfX8fohz0JeJKy-nw/s1600/Beowulf_p07_sml.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5yBr_INzEtD7GhbPXBZaOfF75hTYieCqwG9CaITEkww2tbQHpuHXnV4iD1ew2lTqY6VHeNwNrPofEZ0V5uEac9cs_d_BCCLUMa5DzZcv6itRt6ryJEen7fo9C2cEfX8fohz0JeJKy-nw/s320/Beowulf_p07_sml.jpg" width="225" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size: large;">I was further
amazed, at the San Diego Comic Con, being told I had just won the first Jack
Kirby Comics Industry Award for Best Graphic Album. Much of that amazement came
when I learned there was such a thing as a Jack Kirby Comics Industry Award,
then that some of the industry big shots who voted for me were the same guys
who rejected the book when I was shopping it.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPLpEXvVtWARAFbriVYNZfxUBfVVY6icqUqMXKj9q5nsoEas3PRZSSwkgTCXqJfykKZijUrzOnATWtp7vyPD35_9UaAdLX7OFwNuPChIDHOpjRelCZffLjMyCPG50XI7qsdfN3sJS8erY/s1600/Beowulf_p08_sml.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPLpEXvVtWARAFbriVYNZfxUBfVVY6icqUqMXKj9q5nsoEas3PRZSSwkgTCXqJfykKZijUrzOnATWtp7vyPD35_9UaAdLX7OFwNuPChIDHOpjRelCZffLjMyCPG50XI7qsdfN3sJS8erY/s320/Beowulf_p08_sml.jpg" width="229" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size: large;">Then in 1994—I
remember the L.A. Valley had just had the big earthquake, I had just undergone
my first hip surgery, so I was flat on my back in bed, unable to even roll
over, wondering if we’d get an aftershock that would level the house on top of
said bed—when the phone rang. I used my long, hospital approved, grabby-stick
to drag the receiver to the bed.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size: large;">It was a conference call from Rutgers
University—huh? I couldn’t have owed them anything; I’d only taken a smattering
of college courses over the years and I was sure none of them spelled Rutgers.
The callers claimed to be the two preeminent professors of ye olde English
languages in the US (see, I knew the lingo). They said they wanted to create an
original language version of my book for university studies. “Holy crap! (I
didn’t say.)” Sadly that never came to pass, but I was gob-smacked that after
ten years, and being out of print for much of that, the book was still getting
that kind of attention.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEYUnDPlMKkFS6k0ks79E8L5MHObZ59NjYPxdeNgK75P8sJaX6uIsXJcWrCDGWY5bcgxs8viFfla08QNyr7lAHQQmT9yIA2TEfpVnlg8rZ6I8dFYJ6r70mo7iAPV-Tgv2ifHnsPTT1_IE/s1600/Beowulf_p16_sml.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEYUnDPlMKkFS6k0ks79E8L5MHObZ59NjYPxdeNgK75P8sJaX6uIsXJcWrCDGWY5bcgxs8viFfla08QNyr7lAHQQmT9yIA2TEfpVnlg8rZ6I8dFYJ6r70mo7iAPV-Tgv2ifHnsPTT1_IE/s320/Beowulf_p16_sml.jpg" width="227" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size: large;">The letters
continued over the years.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size: large;">About four years
ago came the best. The mailman knocked on the door and handed me a large,
padded package...</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPsT69Xr5ihAl-Hc8-Qi9AhLDAOPja1uEhfgFq6-1qkEvm_C2N_kdh_PTipSd7Ahcq_XKpTPjbbcOMe5RD_w8yhwu5d6Ft3hdJy2PNCfgKwVwf5dHouziL0tioC7ZR4j1nlQGqy_YWUIE/s1600/Beowulf_p18_sml.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPsT69Xr5ihAl-Hc8-Qi9AhLDAOPja1uEhfgFq6-1qkEvm_C2N_kdh_PTipSd7Ahcq_XKpTPjbbcOMe5RD_w8yhwu5d6Ft3hdJy2PNCfgKwVwf5dHouziL0tioC7ZR4j1nlQGqy_YWUIE/s320/Beowulf_p18_sml.jpg" width="226" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size: large;">...it wasn’t explosive. I opened it to find school projects, many
of them. An elementary teacher had used my book in her classes and she had all
the students create a project around my graphic novel. Cards and letters of "thank you, Mr. Bingham," from each of the kids. Dozens of drawings, some in
crayon, poems, several had created whole kits where they included, strips of
cloth, chain, clippings and pictures of early Celtic and Viking dress and
ornaments. I gotta admit, it nearly brought tears to this olde guy.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2odFK6sxAidTd836yMFEzH6n53hdvEiAjPMNVPDTIuNGQjcRq_CISIhPQ6sku2wQj3pWYjvFluOSNFbQ2UO-u9iNuo9YyYe72TXKoEbJHF3-FBuSBMz1xN746lABfwRyL7SLIcMk42B8/s1600/Beowulf_p26_sml.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2odFK6sxAidTd836yMFEzH6n53hdvEiAjPMNVPDTIuNGQjcRq_CISIhPQ6sku2wQj3pWYjvFluOSNFbQ2UO-u9iNuo9YyYe72TXKoEbJHF3-FBuSBMz1xN746lABfwRyL7SLIcMk42B8/s320/Beowulf_p26_sml.jpg" width="230" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size: large;">I started
on sketches, intending to send them to all the kids—sadly, life and living
expenses interfered and I realized by the time I finished answering all of
those kids they’d have graduated college. So I sent the teacher my best thank
you email.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size: large;">*<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size: large;">RE: “…when I was
originally trolling through my head in search of ideas to work on—“</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZzFtYYEZGADd9Cbup-3IG_pk3p0oVzBPXxaxjfZk2MfH_KlPKa-20Ohv57oJ43SgnGxYOm7fMmdDPqNtPCyE_WTziE5LDPwMRyWMjO8J3-LLTbStr7oHOSSsdE-GWoizjrvmT3XHRZCc/s1600/Beowulf_p21_sml.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZzFtYYEZGADd9Cbup-3IG_pk3p0oVzBPXxaxjfZk2MfH_KlPKa-20Ohv57oJ43SgnGxYOm7fMmdDPqNtPCyE_WTziE5LDPwMRyWMjO8J3-LLTbStr7oHOSSsdE-GWoizjrvmT3XHRZCc/s320/Beowulf_p21_sml.jpg" width="226" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size: large;">What has worked
for me in my life (and I admit, that may be a short list) has always come
unexpectedly. I can plan grandiose schemes and projects to match Citizen Kane
(well, that might be a slight exaggeration) but these projects pile up, fill
cabinets and accordion folders, drawers and cardboard boxes and only end up
rewarding me with remorse for all the trees I’ve felled in my life.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: large;">Success
inevitably comes when I am too busy working, trying to just do something good,
noticeable. Something to get the eye of enough people that it might help to
prolong my career so I wouldn’t have to “…join the fire department…” as my dad
used to tell me.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size: large;">It was early
days. I was married, had bills, I had been a working professional (I use that
term guardedly—I was getting paid for my comics), for about six years. The
quality of my work was still “developing” and I was bouncing around a lot,
company-to-company, comic-to-comic, mainly because, I believe, I wasn’t very
good. (You can only fool an editor so far.) I had apprenticed under veteran Dan
Adkins for my first two years, and with his insightful, never-ending voice of
encouragement he’d always said, “Bing-haam,” (he always pronounced it that way)
“Bing-haam, you’re never going to make it. You either have It, or you don’t,
and you don’t. Look at Frazetta, look at Buscema, they always had It. They were
good from the start. You’ll never get there.” And he’d follow it up with,
“Besides, you have beady eyes. Nobody trusts someone with beady eyes.” Well, I
could hardly fault him on that one.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size: large;">But I was
determined, if I couldn’t alter my own genetics, I could at least work on my
drawing.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size: large;">So after the
first six years of finding direction, I decided I needed to prove something to
the comic book world…as well as myself. But how to do it? Up ‘til then, all of
my print work was rushed, and I was seldom paired with an inker who inked my
pencils “the way I penciled them,” if the inker was competent at all.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size: large;">(Photos intentionally omitted.)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size: large;">I had gotten a
smattering of paperback covers, but I wasn’t much of a painter in those days
either. So, digging through my stack of Playboy magazines (I swear they were
there for reference photos) I started playing with ink wash (I bet you thought
I was going somewhere else with that). As the maidens were sans clothing, how
to make them work for me? (Figuratively.)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size: large;">Okay, yeah, I
was a big fan of Sword & Sorcery and there ya go…some chain mail, a sword here,
a spear there, a little sponge cake…<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8YQZnjcbmdQuV_0Zkm-XkqwIiZ05IJj_JxN-JHMvm1m3nQdtxgj1rvCKOUIJOHcEwtv32nYET7TjmvXpJ7gE3d3gf5qono5srNpP9mbvAGE0La3i434QbvmqB7E8sm63U2dMt6x8ZUV8/s1600/malevolent_m_ax.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8YQZnjcbmdQuV_0Zkm-XkqwIiZ05IJj_JxN-JHMvm1m3nQdtxgj1rvCKOUIJOHcEwtv32nYET7TjmvXpJ7gE3d3gf5qono5srNpP9mbvAGE0La3i434QbvmqB7E8sm63U2dMt6x8ZUV8/s320/malevolent_m_ax.jpg" width="243" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: large;">Thus spending the next few years wondering when I'd receive that lawsuit from Playboy...</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size: large;">I painted seven
of them and finally found a publisher to put my portfolio together. Malevolent
Maidens it would be called. (As good a title as any.) But this would not
further my career as a comic book illustrator. I knew it.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size: large;">Then it hit me.
My next project. I was in the middle of my second reading of Tolkien’s trilogy.
I, like many virile young men back then, loved the Conan movie (the first one),
I’d read all the Howard books so I was starved for anything Conan, and my favorite
artist was drawing most of the Conan comics. I had also had a life-long love of
English Lit (thanks again to mom). So…<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxHN6CltmNPV455037N8rR3eru6JMDH9GzLEcOwU0e_Q3wImEbTop77SJ8Zqp5N0zn7NaX0zrwXnspDNIKGTtT2O9yzggr-lG-qv3jo_J3NG0N00MNjzpMQS9HDJ5rBMU91nT9Iub_N1M/s1600/Beowulf_p39_sml.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxHN6CltmNPV455037N8rR3eru6JMDH9GzLEcOwU0e_Q3wImEbTop77SJ8Zqp5N0zn7NaX0zrwXnspDNIKGTtT2O9yzggr-lG-qv3jo_J3NG0N00MNjzpMQS9HDJ5rBMU91nT9Iub_N1M/s320/Beowulf_p39_sml.jpg" width="223" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size: large;">…I decided to
show the young Tolkien and S&S and comic book fans where all these stories
originated. I clawed through my library and found my copy of Beowulf. Tolkien
was the Beowulf expert, after all, and spoke on the subject often. He’d
admitted much of The Hobbit, especially the conversation with the fire-drake,
Smaug, the thief in the night, came from there.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size: large;">So ta-daa! It
took a bit of doing, trips to the library, every translation was different—most
were difficult to understand for those who would rather read Stan Lee’s
Shakespeare-isms. But I managed to cobble together something I considered
readable and began with my page layouts. Fun stuff. No pay, I was living off
piece-money, but fun to do my own thing.</span></span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4ll2WMXq3XeZGrFkkGT0MQdicKZUXheGarWm_1wA6d3ZqmMIq6INadzH5vFVuYZe9pgdnH1oYvBbBPVbWn83aFarybdIWFsQFN95-2RRm4GXY8dHzpOFX0RAv9l4VMm2oACSTq05Z6dQ/s1600/Beowulf_p43_sml.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4ll2WMXq3XeZGrFkkGT0MQdicKZUXheGarWm_1wA6d3ZqmMIq6INadzH5vFVuYZe9pgdnH1oYvBbBPVbWn83aFarybdIWFsQFN95-2RRm4GXY8dHzpOFX0RAv9l4VMm2oACSTq05Z6dQ/s320/Beowulf_p43_sml.jpg" width="231" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size: large;">In extreme
retrospect, I wish I had done more research on the visuals, tried to
incorporate more of the historical accoutrements of the time, but I was
deliberately trying to keep the “Conan” look hoping familiarity would help get
exposure. Imaginary tradeoffs? The inking was the most difficult for me. I had
never really inked with a quill, apart from butchering a number of panels
Adkins was working on in my earlier days. But I studied as quickly as I could
from some of my favorites. Took my cues everywhere, from Dick Giordano to Hal
Foster to Jean Giraud and Victor De leFuente. And after a couple years of
extreme poverty, and much rejection by the major companies, I found a buyer. Yeah,
I had to bargain like a Casablanca street peddler, agree to work on one of
their comic book series for six months or so, but my Beowulf would see print. It
got my struggling career off the ground (in a Kittyhawk sort of analogy—the Wright
Brothers didn’t fly far either).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size: large;">The rest, as
they say, is…all the great stuff aforementioned on this page.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size: large;">My sincere thanks
to all the fans and everyone who has kept my translation alive. And passed it
on. And to the wonderful students who so enthusiastically shared their lovely
work with this humble scribbler, you kids made my year.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU1XqTr29AVwExFKsfMnaIzr9sdLu5YbtVX0UjN62MBYRnmFxttg3W28MKSlt2lAFIEc3cVqI7DZGazExvq1lxWsAcPhXo7lfuST03PneJ12QKl_lUWuNh0EIgfeuHxlioia7HqXRMnWE/s1600/Beowulf_p45_sml.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU1XqTr29AVwExFKsfMnaIzr9sdLu5YbtVX0UjN62MBYRnmFxttg3W28MKSlt2lAFIEc3cVqI7DZGazExvq1lxWsAcPhXo7lfuST03PneJ12QKl_lUWuNh0EIgfeuHxlioia7HqXRMnWE/s320/Beowulf_p45_sml.jpg" width="229" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size: large;">Cheers.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size: large;">—Jerry<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: large;">http://ncp.pcaaca.org/presentation/teaching-beowulf-comics</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size: large;">http://www.comicsreview.co.uk/nowreadthis/2011/03/21/beowulf-first-graphic-novel-1/<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: large;">"I think I understand what military fame is; to be killed on the field of battle and have your name misspelled in the newspapers."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: large;">—William Tecumseh Sherman</span></div>
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<!--EndFragment-->Binghamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02933081835531209360noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4797638951278756897.post-14359210203462403942011-08-28T14:15:00.001-07:002011-08-28T14:37:08.024-07:00THE IMMORTAL…<b><br />
</b><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>…and Origins (this day, the anniversary of Jack Kirby’s birth.)</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqDw1C17vfBItYZ6QXidw7IBoUMpxfQP5FQi-LijU-5A5FIyC2oDDA55FnUdfCNPNtcajtLxGMDbaQ8K0prNETsY_FQ1HDNlYAKGdF23B2HQB8nH3J8oZILgZxJoPFjcltqPHe4rK5uqk/s1600/Jack-Kirby.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqDw1C17vfBItYZ6QXidw7IBoUMpxfQP5FQi-LijU-5A5FIyC2oDDA55FnUdfCNPNtcajtLxGMDbaQ8K0prNETsY_FQ1HDNlYAKGdF23B2HQB8nH3J8oZILgZxJoPFjcltqPHe4rK5uqk/s320/Jack-Kirby.jpg" width="219" /></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b><br />
</b></span></span></div><div class="MsoBodyText"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Along came The King—Jack "King" Kirby. The man who created gods and immortals and who became that for the child-me. My strongest influence, my greatest teacher, the man who decided the direction of my life at the age of ten.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoBodyText"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHbo4bGjYPczt5ZJumDRqOjZsychPa2xQof9T-nxhVE4GTVh026F_RCYIeecCGYFy1tniEmJ_M_brbwgFH5xxfET60qLwtTkes-ZoXKDzB_0IGoOiH_kmO55GmInPx4NATJb1OXkkAKIE/s1600/Hulk1-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHbo4bGjYPczt5ZJumDRqOjZsychPa2xQof9T-nxhVE4GTVh026F_RCYIeecCGYFy1tniEmJ_M_brbwgFH5xxfET60qLwtTkes-ZoXKDzB_0IGoOiH_kmO55GmInPx4NATJb1OXkkAKIE/s320/Hulk1-1.jpg" width="213" /></span></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi69eWaLzbuSEpKq_Gn-MGLnjg_SLjyqKc2d8oPx93C4Fsq1Gla5d-WYiMbza71a64MLIN3EJAp8u27mUI6esjZMOgoJwX1CDQEkR5fNsr832F0YhSAqITIhY7hGelecUxKs1qPfS6cHYo/s1600/Fantastic-Four-1.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi69eWaLzbuSEpKq_Gn-MGLnjg_SLjyqKc2d8oPx93C4Fsq1Gla5d-WYiMbza71a64MLIN3EJAp8u27mUI6esjZMOgoJwX1CDQEkR5fNsr832F0YhSAqITIhY7hGelecUxKs1qPfS6cHYo/s320/Fantastic-Four-1.gif" width="212" /></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I wasn’t there for Marvel’s flagship books. I missed Fantastic Four #1. I missed The Incredible Hulk #1. I was out of the proverbial “loop,” regarding what was cool (see: story of my next 40+ years). While I was happily scribbling away, trying to copy Alex Raymond, Hal Foster, Stan Lynde (and a legion of others) from the Sunday funnies, and I was already bored with Hot Stuff and Casper, and I had just discovered comic books on some of my favorite TV shows like Twilight Zone, Thriller, and Outer Limits, and then Classics Illustrated—to a childlike understanding of such things, the art sorta resembled my Hal Foster—and just this year I had discovered great comics like The Flash, and Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen, other “cool” kids were already off to the races and collecting that which I was yet unaware.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrGQUczNKZDgFEws7n9Omr_3871GHP6-fAUYhbm3U9XIhfRIhguRng_0YP8JnD3OVTtLCgjyN3Yw0b1aXE6BYR78keCXUcWnuixcrPI-DM7FtYd3Nz7jtVU9JLgiF9NP20SujP7ZRSFHA/s1600/tales-of-suspense-ultimate-comics-on-dvd-4ff10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrGQUczNKZDgFEws7n9Omr_3871GHP6-fAUYhbm3U9XIhfRIhguRng_0YP8JnD3OVTtLCgjyN3Yw0b1aXE6BYR78keCXUcWnuixcrPI-DM7FtYd3Nz7jtVU9JLgiF9NP20SujP7ZRSFHA/s320/tales-of-suspense-ultimate-comics-on-dvd-4ff10.jpg" width="214" /></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh01DjmLNMkpbQHbVfaakCVxZ4U_YG88O7RdAKnsASTpw5eo6qthIVPl85bu_ulqDp6kglWH-mtFLjYtsd8cE8SKvbJHgGm47dP8Lc-WDz0-7oScK9ifsuq13AZxD3AYrE8eFYUDAx3stk/s1600/fantasticfour4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh01DjmLNMkpbQHbVfaakCVxZ4U_YG88O7RdAKnsASTpw5eo6qthIVPl85bu_ulqDp6kglWH-mtFLjYtsd8cE8SKvbJHgGm47dP8Lc-WDz0-7oScK9ifsuq13AZxD3AYrE8eFYUDAx3stk/s320/fantasticfour4.jpg" width="217" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And I would exhaust my 10c purchase, sometimes scribbling in the margins or tracing whole pictures with a ball point pen (Oh, the humanity!), and trade those comics with other “uninformed” (not-cool) kids because, hey, 10c was a lot of money to a ten-year-old in my neighborhood.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnFOQjIOv59gYxJGyqkc3a3m9tzQfEKvvm9Ih3NjszdSd8lMhSSV5sq13VQpgUKM3xA40tcUKp_SmrM19VCe3u_qE_fVXTbTCsRYosZ88d59CF2HAgNlRjZwNHG6qDPPo2lkuvms93A18/s1600/strange_tales.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnFOQjIOv59gYxJGyqkc3a3m9tzQfEKvvm9Ih3NjszdSd8lMhSSV5sq13VQpgUKM3xA40tcUKp_SmrM19VCe3u_qE_fVXTbTCsRYosZ88d59CF2HAgNlRjZwNHG6qDPPo2lkuvms93A18/s320/strange_tales.jpg" width="216" /></span></a></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF6fNjJ2YcpdCH3XBUBbkRjVEa_JdkGJpsa0uugJGZ7BI8jNvIdrWWi0nBe-dpK2eenMvjkTlVPk2xeYiX_YRzvi7X2CBI8Sj8UYUfF8DRhyphenhyphenuVLgnMAGL9q75FZVnUxbAFNAhyphenhyphen5BJkO50/s1600/moomba-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF6fNjJ2YcpdCH3XBUBbkRjVEa_JdkGJpsa0uugJGZ7BI8jNvIdrWWi0nBe-dpK2eenMvjkTlVPk2xeYiX_YRzvi7X2CBI8Sj8UYUfF8DRhyphenhyphenuVLgnMAGL9q75FZVnUxbAFNAhyphenhyphen5BJkO50/s320/moomba-1.jpg" width="217" /></span></a><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8TL-X-RIkgzRt8_iNf01rJxpw5rh-c-CBVWth0HIqSPlINq5u5iSoWevAgDi49pp2w9MFpvHc6b6VnAqny6ZAjlpRuolLSksNcakFYklrzesFakGb63FiqBoZ14PA5yJmqVP8aoGGJZI/s1600/monster-pants-fin-fang-foom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8TL-X-RIkgzRt8_iNf01rJxpw5rh-c-CBVWth0HIqSPlINq5u5iSoWevAgDi49pp2w9MFpvHc6b6VnAqny6ZAjlpRuolLSksNcakFYklrzesFakGb63FiqBoZ14PA5yJmqVP8aoGGJZI/s320/monster-pants-fin-fang-foom.jpg" width="220" /></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">If I came across the occasional Journey into Big Ugly Monster of the Month comic book, it naturally got the same treatment. Titles were interchangeable, I was already focusing on the quality of the picture-making…<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">…then </span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">HE</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> happened. </span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The King.</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB5y95jl2ILjnPPBE_eMuVMeDDG8R_2eu2M9Sknqr6Cii8nX7iCblv2j0mzsJ86DvE6Xf4N3naLc2AAZOuPbNPB5Qd4JicXJO5XfHs-2eTMYZwSkU-ZOkaBzCedVKgQCqH_LOrFICe-5Q/s1600/ff49.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB5y95jl2ILjnPPBE_eMuVMeDDG8R_2eu2M9Sknqr6Cii8nX7iCblv2j0mzsJ86DvE6Xf4N3naLc2AAZOuPbNPB5Qd4JicXJO5XfHs-2eTMYZwSkU-ZOkaBzCedVKgQCqH_LOrFICe-5Q/s320/ff49.jpg" width="218" /></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Kirby was brought into my life one sunny summer afternoon, shortly after I met the </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">new kid in the neighborhood,</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> moved in just the other side of the playground (one of the cool ones, who shall remain nameless—for reasons that will become obvious). He was “into comics” like myself, was trying to draw from them, like myself, and he knew all about comics (not like myself). And to keep the friendship alive, we began trading comics.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKdyaCZLrpSB8UP3hpWcsgdidlCX8bQbdtL4QJtw-nU7N-7dng8ljusTr4RkijI1i_XOEKLic1n1YbQTYC0n92pbDYhLeknL4Mw7H2gIDx7DNNmm0GNXZ0VgebgFOIHmyMZu10UEQfzeI/s1600/echh1teaser-big.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><img border="0" height="293" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKdyaCZLrpSB8UP3hpWcsgdidlCX8bQbdtL4QJtw-nU7N-7dng8ljusTr4RkijI1i_XOEKLic1n1YbQTYC0n92pbDYhLeknL4Mw7H2gIDx7DNNmm0GNXZ0VgebgFOIHmyMZu10UEQfzeI/s320/echh1teaser-big.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Then, even to my struggling ten-year-old intellect (as opposed to my struggling old-man intellect), I began noticing a pattern to his trading practices. He was turning down some of my occasional offerings for trade. Why, you may ask. I wish I had asked that about six months earlier than I did. Then the reasoning came slowly to light as he explained to me one day the logic of </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">why</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> I should trade him two of my reasonably fine 10c’ers for just one of his. He told me his was worth more to him. And then he talked me into trading my reasonably fine (if drawn upon on page twelve, which I’m sure he didn’t see at the time), for a Marvel comic book that was indeed, and obviously, coverless. He said, “Just look through it.” I did—and I made the trade.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR-Iq3CJUlRvHaOUBowIjDLCESurofeiY9cmbiWLE5zn14zqvnsAgOy0RbRofZe4f0Q5ZwxOs__6XcU-fGOINhM7VRrEaQuUoG38V5bGTO9QD3RaHDQGwy2ACdLP8Svzx52T1N-TaMVnM/s1600/journeyintomystery-83.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR-Iq3CJUlRvHaOUBowIjDLCESurofeiY9cmbiWLE5zn14zqvnsAgOy0RbRofZe4f0Q5ZwxOs__6XcU-fGOINhM7VRrEaQuUoG38V5bGTO9QD3RaHDQGwy2ACdLP8Svzx52T1N-TaMVnM/s320/journeyintomystery-83.jpg" width="206" /></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">That coverless comic book was Journey into Mystery #83, Thor, drawn by Jack Kirby, and I believe my tongue actually fell from my mouth.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I stared at the first, coverless, page for at least fifteen minutes before I left his doorstep for home. I believe I also stopped at the corner streetlight for another fifteen. Then I went into my room and spent the remainder of the day, until mom called for dinner, and then went back after dinner. I believe she thought I was sick. I guess I was. Heartsick, as in love.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQNDMm5QnPhCS7PAxIcY4rPDwPbe4uwqfmsjP-I7vUMkP_P24BdvlUIrcqR6tRo__2YO2LNmBqFPX7mZ22gK21X7RWGaTJguBCewpKgNmjZvVPbsoW5K7PRXLFba03cCvGuct9wkruxgg/s1600/048-jack-kirby.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQNDMm5QnPhCS7PAxIcY4rPDwPbe4uwqfmsjP-I7vUMkP_P24BdvlUIrcqR6tRo__2YO2LNmBqFPX7mZ22gK21X7RWGaTJguBCewpKgNmjZvVPbsoW5K7PRXLFba03cCvGuct9wkruxgg/s320/048-jack-kirby.jpg" width="211" /></span></a></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOQXhE-4p7vCvJcRaaomsaqYRVZ5y19VYSXPBZ7sp-9K2uxuTufraCzX0DDGGciBFKVCQq213inwscGfXyouG1va0jTs5OIe06LZxlpGV3GijQnS8CaFCPqj9O-fCyuxhPHS3ksy9Cn9A/s1600/AmazingFantasy15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOQXhE-4p7vCvJcRaaomsaqYRVZ5y19VYSXPBZ7sp-9K2uxuTufraCzX0DDGGciBFKVCQq213inwscGfXyouG1va0jTs5OIe06LZxlpGV3GijQnS8CaFCPqj9O-fCyuxhPHS3ksy9Cn9A/s320/AmazingFantasy15.jpg" width="210" /></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOQXhE-4p7vCvJcRaaomsaqYRVZ5y19VYSXPBZ7sp-9K2uxuTufraCzX0DDGGciBFKVCQq213inwscGfXyouG1va0jTs5OIe06LZxlpGV3GijQnS8CaFCPqj9O-fCyuxhPHS3ksy9Cn9A/s1600/AmazingFantasy15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a> <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicXFESqQl9ZHJJcOMKyepeS0QWHSCkEuTdaCML0a3NN19RpTBfHQvgJLS6EnOMmzLlqKcRZjxmUb-RJMUcQAutvtVTooeitdxvYE2yt-zxt9r2KMUyhU7-AJpZDbgvcYNMuQR-xWgpQUw/s1600/178710-19069-113849-1-journey-into-mystery_super.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicXFESqQl9ZHJJcOMKyepeS0QWHSCkEuTdaCML0a3NN19RpTBfHQvgJLS6EnOMmzLlqKcRZjxmUb-RJMUcQAutvtVTooeitdxvYE2yt-zxt9r2KMUyhU7-AJpZDbgvcYNMuQR-xWgpQUw/s320/178710-19069-113849-1-journey-into-mystery_super.jpg" width="209" /></span></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5zm62qET6j8WoVEEOGTTyzuzOLHqAcaCU2ap8nAeEKsCIxTNSAwaU3phaHAUjbEZLxd2XjOfviG-6XsXLQ5LbOagnqRsHzotezdDlUJqGkzGiALBPHdQlcoJ1Ra1znPlTVn5aFyNioI4/s1600/FantasticFourAnnual01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5zm62qET6j8WoVEEOGTTyzuzOLHqAcaCU2ap8nAeEKsCIxTNSAwaU3phaHAUjbEZLxd2XjOfviG-6XsXLQ5LbOagnqRsHzotezdDlUJqGkzGiALBPHdQlcoJ1Ra1znPlTVn5aFyNioI4/s320/FantasticFourAnnual01.jpg" width="210" /></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">I went into a comic buying frenzy, sometimes three to four 10c’ers a month. Always looking for Kirby. I was still trading, because I could not possibly get to see the glut of titles that hit the drug store each month without giving up those I had purchased, but hey, I’d already exhausted those, hadn't I. Time for new ones. Even when devastated by the incredible price increase to 12c. Then Annuals and "King Sized Specials..." Awww—c'mon!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIGo7AlAlitHUKzanZQ_njgDE_39t_bgRcUe2eA1gnieGLllhyx5sKkHgNHIP8qQXm9tlZ0BrJxqVIAIYebH5sgl3_T97kdOog86yR51Yqds1u9j8aZkVfX3C5qoK_8080RmA4meUjXyo/s1600/maximus-is-pleased-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIGo7AlAlitHUKzanZQ_njgDE_39t_bgRcUe2eA1gnieGLllhyx5sKkHgNHIP8qQXm9tlZ0BrJxqVIAIYebH5sgl3_T97kdOog86yR51Yqds1u9j8aZkVfX3C5qoK_8080RmA4meUjXyo/s320/maximus-is-pleased-1.jpg" width="200" /></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And my “new best friend,” the cool kid who turned me on to Thor, Spiderman, The Hulk (who is still remaining nameless), was diligently watching me, trading me, strategically, getting those books for himself that he needed…<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy5kzTY-AHGGfeZwQa7PChqU9ss71dtWpe_sUQuKFSOYODmQpkvG02zzsINzmcvhEt5a5uSDjJaPKx_gt89TTp99qkQpvR53-WzTnK-TwrkE1o26BpY1Cuivmn0NhyphenhyphenL7bkk5YAQlkbWhE/s1600/jack-kirby-fantastic-four1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy5kzTY-AHGGfeZwQa7PChqU9ss71dtWpe_sUQuKFSOYODmQpkvG02zzsINzmcvhEt5a5uSDjJaPKx_gt89TTp99qkQpvR53-WzTnK-TwrkE1o26BpY1Cuivmn0NhyphenhyphenL7bkk5YAQlkbWhE/s320/jack-kirby-fantastic-four1.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">…until that fateful day, about a year later, when I (in all my newfound comic coolness and wisdom) discovered his method-without-madness. He invited me into his basement to see his </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“collection.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEighcLhJF7w9QaKPjgTIPN3iRQHQT66rL420FJ_lScgITuD9uYUu_oN3JgxAgbqQQ1mqsT2pUtxJ5nsUkaUWny2ITyBMmhi43gT61nQxIOZO1E0xrLnsV1nyqfuSOaiKFO6nvrixESYSrU/s1600/kirbyEternals10pgs2%25263dpsSCAN.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><img border="0" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEighcLhJF7w9QaKPjgTIPN3iRQHQT66rL420FJ_lScgITuD9uYUu_oN3JgxAgbqQQ1mqsT2pUtxJ5nsUkaUWny2ITyBMmhi43gT61nQxIOZO1E0xrLnsV1nyqfuSOaiKFO6nvrixESYSrU/s320/kirbyEternals10pgs2%25263dpsSCAN.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">There, on the floor, along the basement outer walls, was stacked the greatest accumulation of comic books I had ever beheld. All Marvels. All separated into tidy stacks according to title. I felt the growing lump in my throat (no, not a tumor), the lump of regret. Why had I not been in on this? How did I not understand—this is what comics was for?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin-left: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWaAiOkeiJSADR7GDCfx_nY4W00GtG6ccxQ1MIWQO1cVXmmjFcNXPKQN6mPvIoM8_y3dz845El8RXyi-mdLvePkh8wREWrCGo_0D257XQHg9otFPiOEFTPcg7cSsH1RH9VPyYTnUlWLBM/s1600/modok.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><img border="0" height="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWaAiOkeiJSADR7GDCfx_nY4W00GtG6ccxQ1MIWQO1cVXmmjFcNXPKQN6mPvIoM8_y3dz845El8RXyi-mdLvePkh8wREWrCGo_0D257XQHg9otFPiOEFTPcg7cSsH1RH9VPyYTnUlWLBM/s320/modok.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRrdPdByFokoXuVBoQ3FfJo622sozXidji8eyUu9gFyCHonZ3kiznn-tg4JmabFynBnb3X4ZuNgeyniX7C6VZZ8mq3xTtwQsIjRarTZgZIQKsYDlaPJ0MAOndROOx87xq9sm5poaoifAw/s1600/kamandi_panel_420.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRrdPdByFokoXuVBoQ3FfJo622sozXidji8eyUu9gFyCHonZ3kiznn-tg4JmabFynBnb3X4ZuNgeyniX7C6VZZ8mq3xTtwQsIjRarTZgZIQKsYDlaPJ0MAOndROOx87xq9sm5poaoifAw/s320/kamandi_panel_420.jpg" width="294" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">He held some up for me to behold. “No, don’t open them, I want to keep them in good condition.” Some of them were books I had traded to him almost a year before. And those books were </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">still cool.</span></span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> And they were tidy. </span></span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And </span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I WANTED THEM BACK.</span></span></b></span></div><div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg63IziJ1Z8clzs5UcZzycRnAiCCBWyTB_h6mY7lVOWGd9XChWKb8xfgH8uLPwigAfMx9HCfEKtlXDVG5aE3IXGfFSrPES98kY4bg31o1zkg8Vd0uGRk32mFTLqYHU6T7Pbl-bh50ZoSIw/s1600/odin+by+kirby.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg63IziJ1Z8clzs5UcZzycRnAiCCBWyTB_h6mY7lVOWGd9XChWKb8xfgH8uLPwigAfMx9HCfEKtlXDVG5aE3IXGfFSrPES98kY4bg31o1zkg8Vd0uGRk32mFTLqYHU6T7Pbl-bh50ZoSIw/s320/odin+by+kirby.jpg" width="214" /></span></a></div><div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span></span></b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Of course I never said that to him. Even then I understood the protocol of </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">finders-keepers, and you gave it up, it’s mine now.</span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWoQWyC5eb8cyZ71XTmcWu54KpMoFEbg7gKB3y9yBKr3chYNE9LClLAmpIdD9YpkvFMpER5yW12guQmVT6-Dqv0lgfj6fPMCGUOKCwfuToBrNUE4ptt94Fzhdz1hMcHA9rSBoqQOcaT8g/s1600/jack+kirby.+the+fantastic+four.+this+man.+.+.this+monster.+splash.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWoQWyC5eb8cyZ71XTmcWu54KpMoFEbg7gKB3y9yBKr3chYNE9LClLAmpIdD9YpkvFMpER5yW12guQmVT6-Dqv0lgfj6fPMCGUOKCwfuToBrNUE4ptt94Fzhdz1hMcHA9rSBoqQOcaT8g/s320/jack+kirby.+the+fantastic+four.+this+man.+.+.this+monster.+splash.jpg" width="220" /></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I went home. Revelation. End of the world kind of revelation: I was ten years old, and </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I was the stupid kid.</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> I had been betrayed. Sure every kid experiences the betrayal by a friend many times before he learns to become a jaded adult, but this was different. I didn’t just collect comics. I loved them. I studied them, every line, every inch, every panel, not just for the superheroes pummeling themselves month after month, but for the art. </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I should have saved the art.</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> I sunk into one of my deepest depressions. I was almost twelve.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6OHOwMxFr_XA7XeCoC-El4u2Wgg6-7NBfDJFT4in3eNEusyEls91OmKT4n1mMchutNVZiiQqWpUMEnPCBgBUuAYo22D7MbBA7ARLK1tkzjVK7cajMsZ2zZUwNirO24aJ76hf8092Ty4o/s1600/2782814720104130342S500x500Q85.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6OHOwMxFr_XA7XeCoC-El4u2Wgg6-7NBfDJFT4in3eNEusyEls91OmKT4n1mMchutNVZiiQqWpUMEnPCBgBUuAYo22D7MbBA7ARLK1tkzjVK7cajMsZ2zZUwNirO24aJ76hf8092Ty4o/s320/2782814720104130342S500x500Q85.jpg" width="213" /></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Slowly I came back. I bought a few more comics, what I could afford, still looking for Kirby.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjchXAU82ul09VRTkdPlfKZNpgkJFqckblGcMPMw5uPZmKpgNbChWfwcUmEgXQ5j1dLS1nc-pX8syIPW8JVG7xjGeKEPN3VlNPIyiwACJ1bWzEkl0Hxt3B7WLOkbebwdMJgYu5-WJPUe0c/s1600/tales-of-suspense-ultimate-comics-on-dvd-65787.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjchXAU82ul09VRTkdPlfKZNpgkJFqckblGcMPMw5uPZmKpgNbChWfwcUmEgXQ5j1dLS1nc-pX8syIPW8JVG7xjGeKEPN3VlNPIyiwACJ1bWzEkl0Hxt3B7WLOkbebwdMJgYu5-WJPUe0c/s320/tales-of-suspense-ultimate-comics-on-dvd-65787.jpg" width="215" /></span></a></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwfMUZ409eVUADnQ03XHcbMUdeIBJJ7wo_HtWeM0SbO4OCU6TeGwNvtjb0Zzky-42KwikxGZMzdbx-UHG8n86a9rA7px9vVOsA3HvQNiyn3xiZOmIcATT3kWcQOzc9DjlKAKM8pVeRhRE/s1600/avengers-the_super.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwfMUZ409eVUADnQ03XHcbMUdeIBJJ7wo_HtWeM0SbO4OCU6TeGwNvtjb0Zzky-42KwikxGZMzdbx-UHG8n86a9rA7px9vVOsA3HvQNiyn3xiZOmIcATT3kWcQOzc9DjlKAKM8pVeRhRE/s320/avengers-the_super.jpg" width="211" /></span></a><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6en2iabjsNbo7GbbqH84wtSvdFpTzxCzDZVlnxPbpkHU1Wv3NY2HDGt53_R9im55Y68b8UXuTGRJlqpzuM7mpNB4Wl370E0t7EthSxGBIh8LP_SkWrPdg8fMJM-oPI08DOG12iuPaKjc/s1600/4+avengers-the_super.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6en2iabjsNbo7GbbqH84wtSvdFpTzxCzDZVlnxPbpkHU1Wv3NY2HDGt53_R9im55Y68b8UXuTGRJlqpzuM7mpNB4Wl370E0t7EthSxGBIh8LP_SkWrPdg8fMJM-oPI08DOG12iuPaKjc/s320/4+avengers-the_super.jpg" width="212" /></span></a></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD-Fe88V92jiRTK0E83mcQxXxPhobXAL_xntBcHSoGybGJ4bghBYE2K-5-QJ3IQRAgRVozquoNM7PytS-AIKOUdMxBw9mw_BeayBogBHkoZhqgmSRVNVVmui3nrLRLgLNIGnwQ-izkHO0/s1600/1sgt-fury_super.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD-Fe88V92jiRTK0E83mcQxXxPhobXAL_xntBcHSoGybGJ4bghBYE2K-5-QJ3IQRAgRVozquoNM7PytS-AIKOUdMxBw9mw_BeayBogBHkoZhqgmSRVNVVmui3nrLRLgLNIGnwQ-izkHO0/s320/1sgt-fury_super.jpg" width="213" /></span></a><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD-Fe88V92jiRTK0E83mcQxXxPhobXAL_xntBcHSoGybGJ4bghBYE2K-5-QJ3IQRAgRVozquoNM7PytS-AIKOUdMxBw9mw_BeayBogBHkoZhqgmSRVNVVmui3nrLRLgLNIGnwQ-izkHO0/s1600/1sgt-fury_super.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><br />
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</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And month after month, I laid on my bedroom floor, still tracing the drawings of Thor, The Hulk, the FF, then he gave me Captain America (the greatest hero the world had ever seen), Sgt. Fury and the Howling Commandos, and then even more, The Avengers! OMG! (even though it would be forty years before I knew what OMG meant) and I was drawing (copying) on my own, not well, but focusing, struggling to get better, to be like </span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Jack Kirby.<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7chE973hkYxtjR_0rROyhjYrWk9yYaePhlvvcqUUcLoGpQOMTjxiwQYaSoA9fmnT-NN2r2MQL0RTdNe1at1CxgcMuVSd6a0xfrVTNHOjxdNQenaRKPYdzAmDB5rz4q8LzeW1DwWwdzcs/s1600/Sgt+Fury+And+His+Howling+Commandos+013+-+00+-+FC.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7chE973hkYxtjR_0rROyhjYrWk9yYaePhlvvcqUUcLoGpQOMTjxiwQYaSoA9fmnT-NN2r2MQL0RTdNe1at1CxgcMuVSd6a0xfrVTNHOjxdNQenaRKPYdzAmDB5rz4q8LzeW1DwWwdzcs/s320/Sgt+Fury+And+His+Howling+Commandos+013+-+00+-+FC.jpg" width="213" /></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I don’t understand. It looks easy. Nothing complicated. The muscles are round. The speed lines showed Thor falling. The buildings are blocks in perspective (I learned about perspective from Jon Gnagy, after all). But I don’t understand—why can’t I make it look like Jack Kirby? Try again. </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Fail</span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. Try again.</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Sometimes the same picture over and over. Always a </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">fail. Try the next panel. Try the next.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi73DleviEv2RRpzPU1wQDPNHWtn3N13qxVWjzrhg9pbqIxF96F325LBiW47y6mLO9QcgLSEs6YBtfmXHFUtvznZbq7UyKOsS_TfMCsFky4JEYdS8EPoOPyMj6AJh1HzwqIrAxTuVxiKLE/s1600/jack-kirby-captain-america-vs-red-skull.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><img border="0" height="170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi73DleviEv2RRpzPU1wQDPNHWtn3N13qxVWjzrhg9pbqIxF96F325LBiW47y6mLO9QcgLSEs6YBtfmXHFUtvznZbq7UyKOsS_TfMCsFky4JEYdS8EPoOPyMj6AJh1HzwqIrAxTuVxiKLE/s320/jack-kirby-captain-america-vs-red-skull.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i><br />
</i></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRtJn2XHqMTJwMR8XaqfFNsW6ltIQIwXsK7mQJIJPXBHVcZ5uDoug12hqxSP0UwUBfC7W5BYLJPtxElQQLP-WRdctS7QVuk1CmKy8o-lYLyi3d91_hgME_YDj8-Z_gD7Y7dbC4jkmp300/s1600/captain-america-vol-1-%2523103.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><img border="0" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRtJn2XHqMTJwMR8XaqfFNsW6ltIQIwXsK7mQJIJPXBHVcZ5uDoug12hqxSP0UwUBfC7W5BYLJPtxElQQLP-WRdctS7QVuk1CmKy8o-lYLyi3d91_hgME_YDj8-Z_gD7Y7dbC4jkmp300/s320/captain-america-vol-1-%2523103.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Some might say obsession. Okay, I’ll be the first. Obsession. (There, happy?) <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_qo0bp_wbxqiDhQ6ZLtO99ok1gSUWfu_s-SIHd6BSQO9pCUb2hHpYxYerauqW6kK8907CSmMnkvBdyRCE_Vs2V8jk_zH8HXYE8RR0MxxtYBvJB1HMlriXyPhdzD66tEGAzcaB_Z_zH1c/s1600/vy60ep.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_qo0bp_wbxqiDhQ6ZLtO99ok1gSUWfu_s-SIHd6BSQO9pCUb2hHpYxYerauqW6kK8907CSmMnkvBdyRCE_Vs2V8jk_zH8HXYE8RR0MxxtYBvJB1HMlriXyPhdzD66tEGAzcaB_Z_zH1c/s320/vy60ep.jpg" width="223" /></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But it was all because of Kirby.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Sure I found others—who could not fall in love with Spiderman (Ditko) (whether I understood the attraction to the quirk(ier) line-work or not) or Iron Man or Daredevil or Sub-Mariner (Don Heck, John Romita, Gene Colan)—and each new Marvel artist was a revelation (the good kind), and each stylistically unique, but each and every artist was wonderful to this struggling wanna-be. And the artists, one after the other, started flying off the stands at me like…like Jack Kirby superheroes. I needed more. I wanted to understand the </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">how</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> and </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">why</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> of the lines. No matter the style. How did this one work, even though different from the others?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF1eykgaYcKziA9byY_6sDnofA91N7rNWAI4OCvRd5k5oOXaOsPmd5oCIIS291EWKeZvbfHriReLT5THUPtEdvdetX-gU1p8rQgbvBCt16uhls1luLcTPK5Y144Mt5c6pVkV_boGHciyk/s1600/kamandi-_1-1972.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF1eykgaYcKziA9byY_6sDnofA91N7rNWAI4OCvRd5k5oOXaOsPmd5oCIIS291EWKeZvbfHriReLT5THUPtEdvdetX-gU1p8rQgbvBCt16uhls1luLcTPK5Y144Mt5c6pVkV_boGHciyk/s320/kamandi-_1-1972.jpg" width="215" /></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I was unknowingly developing the Genesis (word one, page one) of my own style by the mere exposure to so many disparate, great styles. I was no longer just trying to draw like Jack Kirby, but some immature, unhappy amalgam of all of the above and more. Learning by inches. Then I discovered John Buscema, and I reached for the next rung in the developmental ladder, but whenever I began to feel the slightest bit insecure about my own drawing, got frustrated with my inabilities to capture correctly what my mind was seeing…<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPo73eswXeFnmaucubjAFB4St7_x0jMvjijgm0oG4jEkvw1SpD0p9yDBzCGue-8L5a6QfYvni63pkD4Msv-_Zto9JyAXdqzbAKcFbEJDE9b2lBH-CXIA1PwXCDDlmZPxpEkP3ktw7j4P4/s1600/thor2014420jack20kirby20pencil20page%255B1%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPo73eswXeFnmaucubjAFB4St7_x0jMvjijgm0oG4jEkvw1SpD0p9yDBzCGue-8L5a6QfYvni63pkD4Msv-_Zto9JyAXdqzbAKcFbEJDE9b2lBH-CXIA1PwXCDDlmZPxpEkP3ktw7j4P4/s320/thor2014420jack20kirby20pencil20page%255B1%255D.jpg" width="210" /></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">…I always went back to Kirby. Like the old headmaster of legend, waiting for me to fall down so he could step in quietly and whisper, </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Remember your origins. Remember why you fell in love. It’s all right here in my lines, my figures, my simple (yet not simple) compositions. Open up the old comics. Understand the fun you had. The power I gave you.</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> The essential, enigmatic something in the way he threw his lines onto a page, that brought his heroes and villains…off that page.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOxTFizNPh-QKTjRFt_W9JRlNIvLwXz7gg8fLASubCGJ8g4GnseOegwfhaWteEHkVSFVGXZ1SWpR6bXt8zDC_Wf-ZtB5tOQC9NSXRBg1UqiIb75v4z8LyNn7O2gIczn6MzGfAy_g1W2Ww/s1600/Tales_of_Suspense_Vol_1_86.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOxTFizNPh-QKTjRFt_W9JRlNIvLwXz7gg8fLASubCGJ8g4GnseOegwfhaWteEHkVSFVGXZ1SWpR6bXt8zDC_Wf-ZtB5tOQC9NSXRBg1UqiIb75v4z8LyNn7O2gIczn6MzGfAy_g1W2Ww/s320/Tales_of_Suspense_Vol_1_86.jpg" width="213" /></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Afterward:<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I had been working as a comic book artist for quite a few years, I had just recently moved to the north Valley of L.A. because I wanted to move on and into the film business, when I read of Jack’s passing. The news struck me like Thor’s hammer. My greatest hero was gone from the earth. I had never met the man. Never spoken on the phone. Never got to tell him of his influence in my life. How he was responsible for so much of the “good stuff” that was a part of me. (And that maybe I would be better if I had only followed his cues a bit more closely.) But he was gone. The opportunity was gone. I didn’t know his family, but I stood at the back of the modest hall at his funeral, listened to others who knew him better, could put into words the many things I knew about him, and more, about the man, his legacy. I didn’t cry, but my heart ached at the loss of him. I went home and surrounded myself with his comics, poured over them once more, this time not to learn anything new, but simply to remember. My childhood washed over me.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Jack Kirby, while my work eventually deviated greatly from his influential hand, he was my greatest teacher. The single most powerful voice in who I became, professionally speaking. Had I ever met the man, any words would have been insufficient—save these: </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Thank you.</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Love you, Jack.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">J<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div>Binghamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02933081835531209360noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4797638951278756897.post-33766994701936000452011-08-11T17:55:00.000-07:002011-08-11T17:55:04.967-07:00Get Uncomfortable, Damnit!<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">The schooling that never ends.</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCysIyk0uRDIFJzSq2dCttGkCILad-CMfwIxtdjMbLGFMGuI34VpUYQAQJvUSDctxYQQcwo4TwmT1v8r9gUh1r2cdUrxhnuXvscW-XDthzKPQ8fiJ48hayip_QmEEDQtnUxcvan-2QoP4/s1600/DC_RETRO_BM80_Cv1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCysIyk0uRDIFJzSq2dCttGkCILad-CMfwIxtdjMbLGFMGuI34VpUYQAQJvUSDctxYQQcwo4TwmT1v8r9gUh1r2cdUrxhnuXvscW-XDthzKPQ8fiJ48hayip_QmEEDQtnUxcvan-2QoP4/s320/DC_RETRO_BM80_Cv1.jpg" width="210" /></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">The ever-hungry artist is constantly searching, never fully satiated.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">In the beginning we struggle to grow. We are infants trying to walk. Trying to speak. But our minds are wide and feasting minute-by-minute on the constant input from those around us. It is why psychologists say ages 2 to 7 are the optimum years to learn a second language or even a third. They call it the </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">“critical period hypothesis.”</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF_WRmBsrfxIt9lsYaZ2yv-IDfHwPQ8_UOuFTVMA6MB9lpgpyilNeKbDW-vR0foY1Ua7tmA7T89r7cPMs16VAIVEzaWSF04IK25qv1GSVh3e5ofLEAYNOIY4cqRA9DPftWv55W737wBqI/s1600/BMCON+F.16r+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="139" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF_WRmBsrfxIt9lsYaZ2yv-IDfHwPQ8_UOuFTVMA6MB9lpgpyilNeKbDW-vR0foY1Ua7tmA7T89r7cPMs16VAIVEzaWSF04IK25qv1GSVh3e5ofLEAYNOIY4cqRA9DPftWv55W737wBqI/s320/BMCON+F.16r+copy.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Then something happens within the brain that closes down these base receptors, focuses our learning on other, more advanced, skills. It is why adults who have never known more than one language have the most difficulty learning a second, while those who’ve grown up with more than one language easily adapt to a third or more. It is why this new generation, having grown up with computers, seems to adapt more readily to the ever-changing techno-environment than, say, us old fogies who grew up with high-tech gadgets like the butter churn. We turn pale at the thought of a smart phone smarter than ourselves.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyyjcPo2hB-saR3EWgn9fOFWnYx5G5YW-bVaY3VBlRQg2I8YU7nze0F9Wkn-PPwY7MHlibeoCrFc72mlfFfIeXVsOPTyAU-NhAIa9GHli7LQ6Qo-hFniMiU0L5fZsrjfp64IRfZxOHC5k/s1600/BMCON+F.13r+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="148" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyyjcPo2hB-saR3EWgn9fOFWnYx5G5YW-bVaY3VBlRQg2I8YU7nze0F9Wkn-PPwY7MHlibeoCrFc72mlfFfIeXVsOPTyAU-NhAIa9GHli7LQ6Qo-hFniMiU0L5fZsrjfp64IRfZxOHC5k/s320/BMCON+F.13r+copy.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">I believe this is the way with Art as well. I believe a young person who focuses on a particular artistic skill, to the exclusion of all others, inhibits his ability to learn multiple skills later in life—or at least makes the process of acquiring new skills a more difficult task for him/herself. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Again, I blame my mother. I believe I was a fortunate child. She held that, now famous, pencil in my hand. She bought the Learn to Draw set. I watched her paint. She gave me books she knew I would enjoy reading. I was exposed to comic books. Art books. She took me to “grown-up” movies at a very early age, and yes, animated films, then bought those movie soundtrack albums festooned with the great movie poster art of the day. This was my earliest schooling. </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Everything.</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP66-8UsIR38RhuZPR-CXrNnoOJ189HGLyG6B9YLh4HIvKaIXQ2SLjGOPsHIIKJapyqnEe1lf6DLFppY7mWHABE1pGftBhOseNvSK3TAvk8QxkhdmjXHc3Apzv52V7D7l3535V1zjWWUo/s1600/BMCON+E.15_crop_sm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP66-8UsIR38RhuZPR-CXrNnoOJ189HGLyG6B9YLh4HIvKaIXQ2SLjGOPsHIIKJapyqnEe1lf6DLFppY7mWHABE1pGftBhOseNvSK3TAvk8QxkhdmjXHc3Apzv52V7D7l3535V1zjWWUo/s320/BMCON+E.15_crop_sm.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">It is why I searched for the perfect clover in the lawn. Why I wasted so many hours creating stories for the creatures I created out of clouds. Why I became fascinated with, and tried so hard to draw/paint, the beauty in animals before I knew how paint actually worked. And so maybe I grew up a bit more versatile in my </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">artistic desires.</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilmxwXWXByETa6uZUBlpr4xVfGtTySjmz33GW9LDEFiYvsvVSpUA7NSoMsbRVwLJ6A1-oPlBGYHcJBRYzLvBoIJaKyLetrZt17_hxqP_PlDE2vkngGhOMPhRFLes_XqUMDRHDp5QIKsLE/s1600/bat_con_cover53sm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilmxwXWXByETa6uZUBlpr4xVfGtTySjmz33GW9LDEFiYvsvVSpUA7NSoMsbRVwLJ6A1-oPlBGYHcJBRYzLvBoIJaKyLetrZt17_hxqP_PlDE2vkngGhOMPhRFLes_XqUMDRHDp5QIKsLE/s320/bat_con_cover53sm.jpg" width="218" /></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Don’t read me wrong here. I didn’t say that I grew up better, or became a better artist than anyone else. I believe having too many directions in life may have actually held me back in any single area of learning. An artist who only sculpts will learn to sculpt much faster. A painter will learn to paint much faster. A comic book illustrator will learn to draw comics much faster…if that is all they do. But eventually, that moment in life comes along when the artist says, “I wish I could (sculpt, paint, draw comics, whatever that skill was they never focused on)…” and acquiring that next skill is now more of a struggle. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiujHcTN06IbKVyJZSykhtStJN2mW69LkG3O7Sqx9xJjwoKonuq-YSIyE1A9x2W82zQtkomG3m7X-6vI69V6YPW9aX9iWxTckv2BAGtRhWOo9POxCMyLzvfeSymWpF_cE3F2a1sy5tBp6I/s1600/retro_btmn_80s_14sm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiujHcTN06IbKVyJZSykhtStJN2mW69LkG3O7Sqx9xJjwoKonuq-YSIyE1A9x2W82zQtkomG3m7X-6vI69V6YPW9aX9iWxTckv2BAGtRhWOo9POxCMyLzvfeSymWpF_cE3F2a1sy5tBp6I/s320/retro_btmn_80s_14sm.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">I’ve seen extremely talented artists go white when forced to try something new. It’s the animal that has been caged all its life and finally finds the door open, then stands there unable to move, keeps returning to lie down in front of that same cage door.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">And this is why, when I teach to the younger artists, I insist that they look beyond their present medium of choice. Get uncomfortable, damnit!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRAibTQlQelFaxGUCuHIlyCr3vlQV_qHZ8vU_9vngNZ6GTksxOunJ_j5VC0z4iUQFKlSavXYa067i-p0_H2vwKFs4kDf772yArW5AiIvQGxwAWakyY06J3i_Z5WKy4nd9ysP-w4dUKF30/s1600/BMCON_52_cover2+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRAibTQlQelFaxGUCuHIlyCr3vlQV_qHZ8vU_9vngNZ6GTksxOunJ_j5VC0z4iUQFKlSavXYa067i-p0_H2vwKFs4kDf772yArW5AiIvQGxwAWakyY06J3i_Z5WKy4nd9ysP-w4dUKF30/s320/BMCON_52_cover2+copy.jpg" width="210" /></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">If all you want to do is draw comic books—this is your goal in life and if you can make a living drawing comics for the rest of your life you will die happy in your senility—then study the masters, the great painters, study black & white photography, study animation, sculpture! All these things will make you a better comic book illustrator. I insist.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">I use myself and my experience not in a boastful or self-aggrandizing way, but as an acute lesson to make as strong a point as I can for versatility of training.</span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">When I first started out in my chosen profession—comic books—I was struggling terribly. Yeah, I had worked at it all my young life. I grew up in love with comics and now here I was “living the dream.” But I was far from where I needed to be, I am sure to other accomplished professionals, but also to myself. I could see my faults, and Lo! They were innumerable. I had difficulty getting my assignments out the door because I would erase whole pages of art in my insecurity…but…<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzxWnkbhS_vxUbTMvObDCiSEta7MDhfkmXKWNmsb3e606VMqE55NAJHzPWQae6HdAufeQnjPWxiwtaLUgMXi6PCxog9K5ygDyAuErcRAaBcONJvOws8_XG4PixXPBZYAX7EpVzlPrleho/s1600/BMCON_52_coversketch+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzxWnkbhS_vxUbTMvObDCiSEta7MDhfkmXKWNmsb3e606VMqE55NAJHzPWQae6HdAufeQnjPWxiwtaLUgMXi6PCxog9K5ygDyAuErcRAaBcONJvOws8_XG4PixXPBZYAX7EpVzlPrleho/s320/BMCON_52_coversketch+copy.jpg" width="210" /></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">…I could see my faults.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">I could see them because with all I had studied and continued to study throughout my young life, I knew, or at least I had an inkling of what real </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">greatness</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> could look like.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJSSldrobKkqflb73XkhLofGY8jtaZWsUs0-Wz4lkW4h18Y4_LyDLW9StpLtITkwnk4K-WIVMxOG_74_fjotnZ-qCXfmiIyY5_7xwZN8HP0IQvuLczRTd-Whc_cS3TrQ7s2-NF1NcCtYs/s1600/retro_btmn_80s_02s+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJSSldrobKkqflb73XkhLofGY8jtaZWsUs0-Wz4lkW4h18Y4_LyDLW9StpLtITkwnk4K-WIVMxOG_74_fjotnZ-qCXfmiIyY5_7xwZN8HP0IQvuLczRTd-Whc_cS3TrQ7s2-NF1NcCtYs/s320/retro_btmn_80s_02s+copy.jpg" width="166" /></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Like so many other fledgling comic book illustrators, I had my comic book influences. Starting with the king, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko…then Big John Buscema came along and changed everything for me. But I had also been impressed by Stan Lynde, Alex Raymond, Hal Foster—from the Sunday papers. Then there were Gene Colan, John Romita, Neal Adams, and about twenty or fifty others. I began pinball-bouncing from one to the other, trying to copy, trying to understand what they were doing that made them each one unique and yet each one great.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcjYwU14Jz_FtGYr_x3jHRA6jI6O_9F45a_pMYfeiT6VchSgsCYJpcpD0kS0T8853P_12EEzTKShIhii_k_6amRDfOlAJ5ooFZzpUTxOmrvowud5An6SOlxoAq_SYMhi96yVd9FL_39S0/s1600/BMCON+C.10r_sm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcjYwU14Jz_FtGYr_x3jHRA6jI6O_9F45a_pMYfeiT6VchSgsCYJpcpD0kS0T8853P_12EEzTKShIhii_k_6amRDfOlAJ5ooFZzpUTxOmrvowud5An6SOlxoAq_SYMhi96yVd9FL_39S0/s320/BMCON+C.10r_sm.jpg" width="216" /></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Then I watched as the next generation of comic artists came into my radar just as I was discovering painters like Frank Frazetta, Howard Terpning, John Berkey.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">As I was “playing” at being a painter, looking over my shoulder, I noticed a peculiarity in comics. Many of the new </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">professional</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> illustrators were not only mimicking their teachers (as I—the not-yet-professional—was doing), some were copying one favored style. While all those greats I mentioned earlier had been so varied in their abilities, neither of those names can be confused with the others; they were individuals—stylistically, ARTISTICALLY. This new batch was beginning to resemble each other.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAvJjnLFZjANAiXGDOI6CDUOIXEywaeqtqBqGanNJq1q7qR1sq7tdhMGaOtjSnEysekzLHB3RikV8P633zvZqcyFJNgq8NKfMYo769YLxlUaJxA21Mphp576r6cshfuaWcKdqMIAPyD-U/s1600/burning_angels_p048+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAvJjnLFZjANAiXGDOI6CDUOIXEywaeqtqBqGanNJq1q7qR1sq7tdhMGaOtjSnEysekzLHB3RikV8P633zvZqcyFJNgq8NKfMYo769YLxlUaJxA21Mphp576r6cshfuaWcKdqMIAPyD-U/s320/burning_angels_p048+copy.jpg" width="210" /></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">And there was something else. While no artist is perfect—paraphrasing Rockwell: </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">style</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> is merely an accumulation of our imperfections—while I could see much of the good stuff these young illustrators brought forward from their predecessors, I began recognizing drawing problems that separated these young bucks from their idols. Then one day, I saw an even younger artist who had idolized one of these imitators and my own young light bulb clicked on. Drawing problems, it seemed, were inherited and compounded by the newcomer.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span> </i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-style: normal;"></span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">The narrower the scope of the artist, unless each artist is willing to reach beyond the bounds, limitations, set by his predecessors, the art form deteriorates. Each new generation becomes less than what had come before. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheZyj6yawnIHS-laE0tgvj2DDv2HAzu-I7d_2CkCyZaiv4EMYJGRSP5ZufpfXoCUfa-p_Z5yi2RjmmYSpoBMSjFsRnaUzvzoXZbZa8uKhPbs6OEdvNzuhONq_Zaa6rjIpfo0WbZ1ZTkME/s1600/burning_angels_p063+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheZyj6yawnIHS-laE0tgvj2DDv2HAzu-I7d_2CkCyZaiv4EMYJGRSP5ZufpfXoCUfa-p_Z5yi2RjmmYSpoBMSjFsRnaUzvzoXZbZa8uKhPbs6OEdvNzuhONq_Zaa6rjIpfo0WbZ1ZTkME/s320/burning_angels_p063+copy.jpg" width="210" /></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span> </i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">And the comic book companies themselves seemed to foster this break-down. I learned that the editors and art directors were trying to get these new young bucks to emulate those illustrators who had drawn the more successful books. They were in effect creating “house styles,” based on a few popular illustrators’ styles, regardless of the new one’s ability to draw or tell a story, or…</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">become an individual who might even surpass his forerunners.</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> If the style was close enough, who cares if he can only draw hands balled into fists, or he hides the subject’s feet in tall grass…? Few people cared if each minor flaw merely added to the collection of flaws from the others. Few noticed, as most of those in position to make the critical decisions were not artists.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9osVV-gSjlpa_r4UdZyPY57eqKcfD_71QyqikDYFBVTLm965NffRepM2MqgZD4J-Nb_zTHHyx-4lxH86sQsNPT-nlp6vNU0VXv-lqK85sgaij_qoYs-SUiyWwFUnSnStJwEm5AO2bJ4Q/s1600/burning_angels_p071+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9osVV-gSjlpa_r4UdZyPY57eqKcfD_71QyqikDYFBVTLm965NffRepM2MqgZD4J-Nb_zTHHyx-4lxH86sQsNPT-nlp6vNU0VXv-lqK85sgaij_qoYs-SUiyWwFUnSnStJwEm5AO2bJ4Q/s320/burning_angels_p071+copy.jpg" width="210" /></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">But then, if great artists had been making the hiring decisions, I might not have landed my first jobs in the comics field. When I started calling myself a “professional,” my work sucked too. Big time. But I was trying my ass off…and erasing a lot.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5EL9UFW099aSvt2WMOVDNyFcHZvVoV34TSaSk4o2uQQHBilrqKzRMzyaoYK_BEFV1WDL6B5j3obvhZ7mwrmzs1V9meJlwcexEJqj5JvEOjRzBMF3qTBryNRmEcd1w8i1HgxJLrNbfT4I/s1600/strange_orb_sml.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5EL9UFW099aSvt2WMOVDNyFcHZvVoV34TSaSk4o2uQQHBilrqKzRMzyaoYK_BEFV1WDL6B5j3obvhZ7mwrmzs1V9meJlwcexEJqj5JvEOjRzBMF3qTBryNRmEcd1w8i1HgxJLrNbfT4I/s320/strange_orb_sml.jpg" width="209" /></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">And then I remember being astounded when I first connected with others in the comic art community, I met some artists in the office or at conventions and, while a number of them were actually deserving of pride in their work, some of them trumpeted their skills like bull elephants in a large herd. (These were invariably not the most talented of the clique.) Some would bash another’s reputation or demean another’s ability, and I would quietly think, does this person know where he stands in the universe? Had he never seen Michelangelo’s sketchbooks? Rockwell’s magazine covers? Bob Peak, J.C. Leyendecker, N.C. Wyeth, and on and on….? Comics is a very small pond, there are extremely talented, good, hard working comic book illustrators, but the largest fish is still just a carp.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5JuPQiKHoB83uNpGaI4jCZ1ozKMof-Lv81leXvTaTuPdL6dl-grrVdnady5q7deeiQggmPCyU6Ewag5pBbV9Zx5zxrBY0uyioFsiy24lK_sKbX4eZ7zaNI9FZW4zbOfgKoR-ZD9Ix1PU/s1600/strange_cover+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5JuPQiKHoB83uNpGaI4jCZ1ozKMof-Lv81leXvTaTuPdL6dl-grrVdnady5q7deeiQggmPCyU6Ewag5pBbV9Zx5zxrBY0uyioFsiy24lK_sKbX4eZ7zaNI9FZW4zbOfgKoR-ZD9Ix1PU/s320/strange_cover+copy.jpg" width="215" /></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Then I would go home to my drawing board and draw-erase, draw-erase. But I continued to study. </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Everything.</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> I was teaching myself to paint, photographing models, and learning a whole new set of frustrations, but found myself using a few things I had learned there, like light and form, to improve my comic book illustrations. And it took forever to improve. I thought I never would. Then a year would lapse, and I was forced to look at work I had done the year before and, Lo again! I thanked the art gods I had gotten a little better.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTxDFWQqoff6MB3bpNSRsBQhAVIaZ6A3yPNKZwXT_787UghGR5RlGGa-IIUbIw8xrXBc_jx9HtRE7uvNlN-z7hOATJP1NDquSGulkpV5urRHqUhQsaMBykC__SrQN7nZmHkR1KyjGJ_n4/s1600/bat_confidential_cover50sm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTxDFWQqoff6MB3bpNSRsBQhAVIaZ6A3yPNKZwXT_787UghGR5RlGGa-IIUbIw8xrXBc_jx9HtRE7uvNlN-z7hOATJP1NDquSGulkpV5urRHqUhQsaMBykC__SrQN7nZmHkR1KyjGJ_n4/s320/bat_confidential_cover50sm.jpg" width="217" /></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">And then, years later, when the comic book gods began turning off the spigot of work for yours truly, I was painting almost full time. For myself, for publishers.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Then I moved to Los Angeles to get into the film industry and though I had never drawn a story board, I took the job anyway, sat in Barnes & Noble for a weekend to read and learn just what a story board artist did, so that come monday, I was working on Ang Lee's, The Hulk. I designed for Wes Craven.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTpX4RekdruzfoaSUmuQSHa-cQZ0vCJHo1akQdcdHelf03v78mgYrcCl4C2kfK5-B7KGNLwydxp4cxEL93MRCNLPUdCRZbSTS92MJJx2YsYgZr0xetoXtD9lJpI0Qi-ol6g4hXGqYIe4M/s1600/vamp1_sm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTpX4RekdruzfoaSUmuQSHa-cQZ0vCJHo1akQdcdHelf03v78mgYrcCl4C2kfK5-B7KGNLwydxp4cxEL93MRCNLPUdCRZbSTS92MJJx2YsYgZr0xetoXtD9lJpI0Qi-ol6g4hXGqYIe4M/s320/vamp1_sm.jpg" width="235" /></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">An lovely acting teacher had once told me, if a director asks if you can ride a horse, say yes, then go out and learn how to ride a horse.</span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Then when I learned that Walt Disney Imagineering needed an artist to design a ride for their new theme park, I had no idea how to design a ride, but went in and took over the art chores. Then, overhearing from the next cubicle how the producers had no idea what the other attractions should look like, I went home, and over a weekend, painted an acrylic painting (which I had never done before) of an alien invasion and that next monday was asked to become their art director of attractions. I found myself designing 28 different attractions simultaneously, directing a handful of artists to fill in where I needed and...</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaGnMKt6EkIVSAD6yeG_aJLv7GqhQP0FEHpjMdeNho8ksLkgOO59DKsT4quR68EXYtqjr7eA2CvCLgTn047GB3xdLTmdCzUcw0Q0q0YVNar7ZmN1mqN_rF1cTL7RhYO-tXC_OFVGbiM84/s1600/brontoride+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaGnMKt6EkIVSAD6yeG_aJLv7GqhQP0FEHpjMdeNho8ksLkgOO59DKsT4quR68EXYtqjr7eA2CvCLgTn047GB3xdLTmdCzUcw0Q0q0YVNar7ZmN1mqN_rF1cTL7RhYO-tXC_OFVGbiM84/s320/brontoride+copy.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR6D0v4VCTxpPI_plIhHKMYKZuP-wKVRpWCjOQLfYqnLxMmx6ej0Su9Hc68_6TodTXpkEUqkMxmBV3JNF8CWWPu894KuotRbDZtNbge7bLWpzR1znqvPGEgzBH41umTej_VOQsES3tw9w/s1600/D-Rafting+copy+2" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR6D0v4VCTxpPI_plIhHKMYKZuP-wKVRpWCjOQLfYqnLxMmx6ej0Su9Hc68_6TodTXpkEUqkMxmBV3JNF8CWWPu894KuotRbDZtNbge7bLWpzR1znqvPGEgzBH41umTej_VOQsES3tw9w/s320/D-Rafting+copy+2" width="320" /></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">...two years later, when the head of development asked me if I could read blue prints (because they had three floors of the facility being designed by world-class designers, but they had no one to design the fourth) on my way home, I stopped at the drafting store, bought a drafting ruler, went to work early the next day and asked one of the architects to show me how to read a friggin' blueprint. I spent the subsequent year designing that floor, from carpet patterns to portals to slides, sculptures, bumper cars, and wall murals.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">And it’s been that way for thirty-plus professional years. And I am still hungry, thanks to mom. And I am still learning, because that’s the best my art has given me, the drive to learn. And I fight to improve. Fight to be great. Know that I never will be great, not in my eyes. I believe it is the true artist’s blessing and curse. The struggle for perfection, yet the knowledge that you will never achieve it.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCxO3CfDRbixqvzTOKif0L43UCWbY6SOtZNhynK3PV1sNY4bLKma_a2JfkkiGDWobAHvAduK17ojghC-WQAaAmVa73YGCF7VbJuZuhuRpC3vddqhKbu9pjswNbaPxfCEp3nJ5a9BXABnA/s1600/bat_con_cover54sm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCxO3CfDRbixqvzTOKif0L43UCWbY6SOtZNhynK3PV1sNY4bLKma_a2JfkkiGDWobAHvAduK17ojghC-WQAaAmVa73YGCF7VbJuZuhuRpC3vddqhKbu9pjswNbaPxfCEp3nJ5a9BXABnA/s320/bat_con_cover54sm.jpg" width="218" /></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">At this point, with this sad spear of knowledge poking me every step of my journey, the best I can hope for is to leave some sort of lasting mark. For someone to say, “Hey, this guy was pretty good,” and to understand the thought process behind the artist’s decision-making at the time; for them to understand the struggle that brought me here and appreciate all the hard work….<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">That would be pretty cool.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">J.</span></div>Binghamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02933081835531209360noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4797638951278756897.post-75290802282231161292011-07-15T07:15:00.000-07:002011-07-15T13:10:18.227-07:00Famous<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #262626;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Teachers: Norman Rockwell, Al Parker, Jon Whitcomb, Ben Stahl, Stevan Dohanos, </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Robert Fawcett, Harold von Schmidt, Peter Helck, Austin Briggs, John Atherton, Fred Ludekens, Albert Dorne…</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"></span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Famous Artists Course.</span></span></b><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs5-TOyP8Ow714psVn3lG3EYTP-P1EGnFvXHLepdzwrJm4dgTDradAp44ITBtRUOOOyLuSsWselHit_HVmZIJSWiq8ZxV__ATpqeTWBx4Ps9mCWUxkRim_hdYLenoIASVkzzEbmRgo_o0/s1600/rockwell.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="249" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs5-TOyP8Ow714psVn3lG3EYTP-P1EGnFvXHLepdzwrJm4dgTDradAp44ITBtRUOOOyLuSsWselHit_HVmZIJSWiq8ZxV__ATpqeTWBx4Ps9mCWUxkRim_hdYLenoIASVkzzEbmRgo_o0/s320/rockwell.jpg" width="320" /></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“You can be a successful Artist!”</span></span></b><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> —with a large exclamation point, screamed out from the inside back cover, sometimes the back cover, of my comic books month after month. So for a kid who had already spent a good number of years isolated in his room while his friends were outside wasting time on such mundane pursuits as catch baseball, riding bikes, sledding or ice skating in the winter (my fingers nearly fell off at forty degrees, forget that!), lying on the floor gouging pencil into paper, trying desperately to copy those incredible, action-packed interior pages rendered by the mysterious and elusive Golden Ink-Pen of the Gods, as a boy of twelve with the beginnings of what would be my own personal Devil’s Tower built entirely out of sketchbooks and any loose scrap of paper I thought to draw on and save, I was ready, damn-it! I knew how to draw, damn-it! And yes, I knew how to swear at twelve…damn-it!<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJXNmnoKSrCb6sq-A0BuZ389r97sNft09nD2ktRXgH0S9kejczA9_5XmGVt5ygOePZJ4GuwVMLIhPOzn3R8ImDaoPsIyUYN0wF84SUvUR6_Cj_1Bd1AXehQot8pKkFcNfiQNiIAJci_t0/s1600/405747995_00545a406d_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJXNmnoKSrCb6sq-A0BuZ389r97sNft09nD2ktRXgH0S9kejczA9_5XmGVt5ygOePZJ4GuwVMLIhPOzn3R8ImDaoPsIyUYN0wF84SUvUR6_Cj_1Bd1AXehQot8pKkFcNfiQNiIAJci_t0/s320/405747995_00545a406d_b.jpg" width="249" /></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So I found mom’s scissors and carefully disfigured one of my treasured twelve cent comic books to get that intriguing coupon promising FREE something-or-other from the “Institute of Commercial Art, Inc.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtZTpJGGz7VSkTjcIX29JR7UNBKcnE593Mc7VgoYWX3eBtPsEr4CNtmeVf4tHiAddrqtPf9QMipSymuIgT5CRxEsm7ytLKoiVV1Lb91JgYxw7fGS2gFeJ529sVAZzhQBbWYrFAo6MKfl8/s1600/Robertfawcett59.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtZTpJGGz7VSkTjcIX29JR7UNBKcnE593Mc7VgoYWX3eBtPsEr4CNtmeVf4tHiAddrqtPf9QMipSymuIgT5CRxEsm7ytLKoiVV1Lb91JgYxw7fGS2gFeJ529sVAZzhQBbWYrFAo6MKfl8/s320/Robertfawcett59.jpg" width="236" /></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I filled in my name, thought for a moment before crossing out the “Mrs., Miss” in front of the name line. I begged mom for an envelope and stamp. And after a lengthy discussion and much enthusiasm in showing her the advertisement with the now missing coupon, listening to her well-played argument about five-cent stamps not being free, but knowing she would eventually give-in because that was Norman Rockwell in the picture selling this FREE thing and she loved Norman Rockwell—she had shown me the magazines when they came in with his unbelievable paintings on the covers and I could tell by the joy on her face she admired this man.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEix5LBvNTxRRfJAVvFHoDgEZXI7mrY3pO5IQYVB1hCQKupeFJvm0jQvf9Lq3tcu6g1grXVK3Q4WP-tO_R6OKfFm4zhMNRFp9DrSTjf5Zkv1PIQI0Og2u4KEk2aQc0LKxV8SbzwjrH5lX7I/s1600/rockwell+trooper+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEix5LBvNTxRRfJAVvFHoDgEZXI7mrY3pO5IQYVB1hCQKupeFJvm0jQvf9Lq3tcu6g1grXVK3Q4WP-tO_R6OKfFm4zhMNRFp9DrSTjf5Zkv1PIQI0Og2u4KEk2aQc0LKxV8SbzwjrH5lX7I/s320/rockwell+trooper+2.jpg" width="239" /></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">She was also almost solely responsible for my art addiction from an early age (I’ve already told the gripping tale about her drawing happy faces for me as a two-year-old). At five I would kneel on the chair at the dining room table while she painted masterpieces of Alice in Wonderland and South American parrots just by staying in the lines and following some bizarre numbering system for her paints. For my tenth birthday she bought me Jon Gnagy’s Learn to Draw Set and I copied boxes in perspective, telephone poles and railroad tracks in perspective, and apples not in perspective without knowing what perspective meant, and I dirtied my hands, elbows, and everything within reach, in my first experiences with the raw charcoal stick. Now she just HAD TO LET ME GET THIS FREE, I repeat, FREE PROMISE FROM NORMAN ROCKWELL!</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG78J9knrDbYSjpJ1ePhyphenhyphenyUWDAawmEdVWgdiHhDu6KyQZH9pB6z13tG5jZ9x0GVM1mDfvrHkvzulscP_aFvhj_iw2cxiOIScJ1JgyRc4O_mmUbJsrpquXFzxVCpDLnR-xBp9to8bG2Pcg/s1600/4190838800_73fc3260e6_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG78J9knrDbYSjpJ1ePhyphenhyphenyUWDAawmEdVWgdiHhDu6KyQZH9pB6z13tG5jZ9x0GVM1mDfvrHkvzulscP_aFvhj_iw2cxiOIScJ1JgyRc4O_mmUbJsrpquXFzxVCpDLnR-xBp9to8bG2Pcg/s320/4190838800_73fc3260e6_o.jpg" width="230" /></span></span></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihOnnC8yGAHz1Sn6cltxSNcWjM9NFQ7XY_TAUjZVr6tQ3KbfP4BTOP1tj-jeu4f7jGE24QPG232BaExcdanZtLeOT9_jTyUE7t_mDwPnt-rqk6ZzbkgzrWZFqVp_KUO4-xWHsz6eo8sKo/s1600/Picture+119.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihOnnC8yGAHz1Sn6cltxSNcWjM9NFQ7XY_TAUjZVr6tQ3KbfP4BTOP1tj-jeu4f7jGE24QPG232BaExcdanZtLeOT9_jTyUE7t_mDwPnt-rqk6ZzbkgzrWZFqVp_KUO4-xWHsz6eo8sKo/s320/Picture+119.jpg" width="233" /></span></span></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I had found my calling and all it needed was a stamp to shift into overdrive…well, at that age the analogy might have been akin to pedaling downhill to my destiny.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik1x3e3DL8g2ECXniNoHcSyN27adBaPh4s0uS27d2Zb4Gnoseps-VmZKUz9cQg9ngi88C-Ppcxb-ao9Su5GhWCPzg2ZKDFnX-JGfDoJ1G56OseObFaVVbVfGIxofYamuZQkfZNRMs8vQA/s1600/1944-09-23LG+Penny+Candy+-+Stevan+Dohanos.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik1x3e3DL8g2ECXniNoHcSyN27adBaPh4s0uS27d2Zb4Gnoseps-VmZKUz9cQg9ngi88C-Ppcxb-ao9Su5GhWCPzg2ZKDFnX-JGfDoJ1G56OseObFaVVbVfGIxofYamuZQkfZNRMs8vQA/s320/1944-09-23LG+Penny+Candy+-+Stevan+Dohanos.jpg" width="265" /></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div><div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The mailman took the envelope—I know, I watched him—then I waited. Then I forgot about it until I could save another twelve cents for a trip to the drug store to chose my one comic. There was that glaring Norman Rockwell month after month with his paintbrush in hand and an expectant look that said, “So you gonna draw, or what?”</span></span></div><div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB1efksUm40B3P7FPnUeUOG1RF1_FQjbujfNJ0CV25sIiZpC4TQ87_qxMoCK2lvTihkmYMjLNe28MrzeW9eRsp6bYWrJxwFZQCYPJ3EEQftRYnv5AR1l1IMdN5rGDHaZt2SBVfK6K2umA/s1600/Pg23.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB1efksUm40B3P7FPnUeUOG1RF1_FQjbujfNJ0CV25sIiZpC4TQ87_qxMoCK2lvTihkmYMjLNe28MrzeW9eRsp6bYWrJxwFZQCYPJ3EEQftRYnv5AR1l1IMdN5rGDHaZt2SBVfK6K2umA/s320/Pg23.jpg" width="237" /></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt3wMORTHoK35d3s7Ka4J1lhf3bFbBGgCsUK5VnXxNajEW16WQHrlxqzTDPEb57QYFmZG2cJR468E-h8AZbApVI-mf0DMDmCEDg77Zbib_RQtWbUneJCZBisY_RAMEzHszVptQf3kdTOE/s1600/Al+Dorne+018.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="315" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt3wMORTHoK35d3s7Ka4J1lhf3bFbBGgCsUK5VnXxNajEW16WQHrlxqzTDPEb57QYFmZG2cJR468E-h8AZbApVI-mf0DMDmCEDg77Zbib_RQtWbUneJCZBisY_RAMEzHszVptQf3kdTOE/s320/Al+Dorne+018.jpg" width="320" /></span></span></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFoOfX87ousyQfJZ9XboPn_RNub7b9pC3fAOMVSMGVDIZ9P0r-I0bv_9BI6d9gJIXYe70_-klWrWpXRNQhHiv-MlVIaozX5n-Ul1arqPlkGa3jpTW-bV7mbR2NaZogYSTMnSPDIRRXUTo/s1600/Dorne_Folds.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFoOfX87ousyQfJZ9XboPn_RNub7b9pC3fAOMVSMGVDIZ9P0r-I0bv_9BI6d9gJIXYe70_-klWrWpXRNQhHiv-MlVIaozX5n-Ul1arqPlkGa3jpTW-bV7mbR2NaZogYSTMnSPDIRRXUTo/s320/Dorne_Folds.jpg" width="230" /></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div><div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sometimes it was Albert Dorne selling pretty much the same thing with the same promise, but I didn’t know who he was and his eyebrows sort of intimidated me at the time.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmRLVv-Mf-u9Wy_Jua5wjwerDsgcmL_bXoiUQx0IEpI5awdnuFf5LXFMLVtSLASH1JMI-7AHNTBKqGTb_7La67djH0KmiCuQAFcA3fvM4T0bMeKLr0v28mzS24AeG8CwKvv-MpwFT_Qow/s1600/Albert+Dorne%252520003.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="261" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmRLVv-Mf-u9Wy_Jua5wjwerDsgcmL_bXoiUQx0IEpI5awdnuFf5LXFMLVtSLASH1JMI-7AHNTBKqGTb_7La67djH0KmiCuQAFcA3fvM4T0bMeKLr0v28mzS24AeG8CwKvv-MpwFT_Qow/s320/Albert+Dorne%252520003.jpg" width="320" /></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div><div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Eventually that day came. I had long given up hope of ever fulfilling my destiny due to a coupon wasting away in the dead letter office behind some postman’s wayward bag, with my mom’s five-cent stamp and her generosity wasted. I went on with my life as before diligently scribbling away, frustrated at not getting those Jack “King” Kirby characters to look the way the King drew them, but persevering nonetheless—I had inherited my father’s stubborn Irishness if little else.</span></span></div><div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div><div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I remember lying, my head and arms dangling over the side of my bed so I could draw on the floor, my head filled with blood and gravity and my fingers and arms about numb from the same, when mom came in and dropped the envelope on my bed. She smiled.</span></span></div><div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpnbqb7txA9ikQjfnBIN1Z8s6ivmmYux0ocScL1XKk89mC4aeDH4P0O-2zS2mY3_-UMl6MNA8BvGoIkGLWyBw56UKj4kH2QzgYwpoLWK0_FONARn2cqUUaJe2YKDKj9ryDIEz0uHfcc8g/s1600/harold-von-schmidt-gun-runners-original-size-30x40.jpg.png.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpnbqb7txA9ikQjfnBIN1Z8s6ivmmYux0ocScL1XKk89mC4aeDH4P0O-2zS2mY3_-UMl6MNA8BvGoIkGLWyBw56UKj4kH2QzgYwpoLWK0_FONARn2cqUUaJe2YKDKj9ryDIEz0uHfcc8g/s320/harold-von-schmidt-gun-runners-original-size-30x40.jpg.png.jpeg" width="320" /></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div><div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I immediately forgot whatever great new comic book character I was in the process of creating, tore open the envelope to find that my FREE destiny was a thin catalogue describing…<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuGz1wyHPhyphenhyphenFPobaNaspsuDjO0s5UZ4cJdO2df0poUAcHULPToiHYvJ2S7fgy-l1VNozb_IQmLFuysjjcZFsuG-sxnc9_lkPLNTt1I1vnpCi1C5ND0E-KQAdgtaEPXjt75-xUiJzjYPtI/s1600/AlbertDorne.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="217" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuGz1wyHPhyphenhyphenFPobaNaspsuDjO0s5UZ4cJdO2df0poUAcHULPToiHYvJ2S7fgy-l1VNozb_IQmLFuysjjcZFsuG-sxnc9_lkPLNTt1I1vnpCi1C5ND0E-KQAdgtaEPXjt75-xUiJzjYPtI/s320/AlbertDorne.jpg" width="320" /></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoqjUvNYBkUzwxAOGFD3iiaS7ARN7n5q1tc6IpuVZM2bI_DsRGjMGAWhClLdkiTbbpKqQ7Dlj0QBfHysAhjWqqF4vgyeZVJ0R1gDcaUnWHNKwhk4d2OhtIN7MIhVHasFFUPJQyNKfDp9A/s1600/Dorne_Folds.2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoqjUvNYBkUzwxAOGFD3iiaS7ARN7n5q1tc6IpuVZM2bI_DsRGjMGAWhClLdkiTbbpKqQ7Dlj0QBfHysAhjWqqF4vgyeZVJ0R1gDcaUnWHNKwhk4d2OhtIN7MIhVHasFFUPJQyNKfDp9A/s320/Dorne_Folds.2.jpg" width="320" /></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">…the not-so-free, several hundred dollars paid in monthly installments plus the opportunity to buy their preferred oil painting supplies, correspondence course.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxXnI-rO78XgxVDNW3VbGEmtSWeQdGRsMNstNz-N5JV3rk1zoTpEnv-0Xt8VcIcXzr27Y4HcaC7hALbj2qX1rzUL2qMe1dWUn_YCsAWCaWRqb93gQEAo-QEea-cXGnwMCqcuYmLbh4-74/s1600/HVS04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="252" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxXnI-rO78XgxVDNW3VbGEmtSWeQdGRsMNstNz-N5JV3rk1zoTpEnv-0Xt8VcIcXzr27Y4HcaC7hALbj2qX1rzUL2qMe1dWUn_YCsAWCaWRqb93gQEAo-QEea-cXGnwMCqcuYmLbh4-74/s320/HVS04.jpg" width="320" /></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div><div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I didn’t bother to ask mom. Her smile tilted as she reminded me for about the thousandth time, “See, dear? Nothing’s free in this world,” and “You’re a wonderful artist anyway.” That's mom.</span></span></div><div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5vtXs5BswIw2_xT5XgRClCfIoxcImpVdyQUvH4_XayldzSMEmBVGPH9vg43aJKf3pSshuz_-idYDkNTGvc-Qc8AFW_3L7Ikn7eemD0-s6Zu8oFkHwU73um7Jax-pVxPzlEqQtWgj9DnU/s1600/2753991162_14960fa626.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5vtXs5BswIw2_xT5XgRClCfIoxcImpVdyQUvH4_XayldzSMEmBVGPH9vg43aJKf3pSshuz_-idYDkNTGvc-Qc8AFW_3L7Ikn7eemD0-s6Zu8oFkHwU73um7Jax-pVxPzlEqQtWgj9DnU/s320/2753991162_14960fa626.jpg" width="313" /></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I would never ask her. Several hundred dollars to a working class family in 1965 would’ve been like me asking my parents to buy me a car at the age of twelve—that would be quite a few years later and I paid them back, because that’s how we did things back then.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAs6PHHbxGcx22D1Eu4bd1M4uj2crbrB4W2LIdsTmgjt2_zbS2HtQb6GHPVxQOmHp-WkRSYs7qFNDXuVMVBE6IRcA_niRERSdibW_p5wp4Z7uKc7p7Oj8uY147aSDEv_GK6lul8Xs0LP4/s1600/clothing+-+drape00.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAs6PHHbxGcx22D1Eu4bd1M4uj2crbrB4W2LIdsTmgjt2_zbS2HtQb6GHPVxQOmHp-WkRSYs7qFNDXuVMVBE6IRcA_niRERSdibW_p5wp4Z7uKc7p7Oj8uY147aSDEv_GK6lul8Xs0LP4/s320/clothing+-+drape00.jpg" width="240" /></span></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> </span></div><div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Five years later I would ask to go to the American Academy of Art, downtown Chicago. I spent the summer after high school graduation working on a Budweiser truck, lugging cases of beer in and out of taverns and grocery store refrigerators, building my back muscles, in order to go to that school for a year. (I wasn't "of age" and not legally able to work the truck, but dad knew a guy....) The following summer I joined the military. I missed being sent to Vietnam by about three months.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-j5xPdKRqhvtu5s1HRZupJmPZhrcchiQaL3PetGLmUpF9IIej4WVRON1RucMZwkZC-8irSqvHCYYPKm2BTHSMj3l_Fc4MzSBycZEKyirJfZnWFEyMFw0f09t5hjrQgZpnhBD39ons3AU/s1600/HVS02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="291" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-j5xPdKRqhvtu5s1HRZupJmPZhrcchiQaL3PetGLmUpF9IIej4WVRON1RucMZwkZC-8irSqvHCYYPKm2BTHSMj3l_Fc4MzSBycZEKyirJfZnWFEyMFw0f09t5hjrQgZpnhBD39ons3AU/s320/HVS02.jpg" width="320" /></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> </span></div><div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was many years later, I had finally gotten freed from the Air Force, I got my foothold into the world of drawing comic books for Marvel and DC, I had improved by leaps and bounds and was starved for knowledge. I wanted—no, I needed to be better. Not because someone told me I should be, but because that drive had been burned into my R-Complex—that reptilian brain of the basal ganglia hanging for dear life to the top of the spine. The drive had been burned there by over twenty years of struggle—and possibly reverse evolution—to improve, and now it would never relinquish me. I had too much to learn. I could see the problems with my drawing and painting and was growing but not fast enough. Never fast enough.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> </span></div><div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then it happened. Lightning.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJaw9qrDPBdcZPgAjkPTQOFJzg8V0ebWqU93nu-Hhd7VkoyF3aHTsMwKGE5ivOFXBUUn8uIT8Hi3M4JShO-53Ax_GPp174CAPXHCWtYjrltiM-MCh6rQn8SynwBrW6Qn7u8WHUJTiDSH0/s1600/harold-von-schmidt-the-white-bull-detail-original-size-30x50.jpg.png.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="282" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJaw9qrDPBdcZPgAjkPTQOFJzg8V0ebWqU93nu-Hhd7VkoyF3aHTsMwKGE5ivOFXBUUn8uIT8Hi3M4JShO-53Ax_GPp174CAPXHCWtYjrltiM-MCh6rQn8SynwBrW6Qn7u8WHUJTiDSH0/s320/harold-von-schmidt-the-white-bull-detail-original-size-30x50.jpg.png.jpeg" width="320" /></span></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> </span></div><div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was in the habit of buying anything I could find with art from the world of illustration. Bookstores became my habit. Used bookstores contained hidden treasures. The sale circulars with garage sales. I only looked for books.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy8nPFPolMFdtPxfXx25Jyrpw4BaIi2mu694XlJ82U0bbYhUDQPYZTfOnFrIvfrMQ85E2fV51kl2rHWeJnpLXvx-bDyB1L2AfOMIBmZVzRubLrlAps1T94fW3cOmOsZUyhqTeCkDXn99k/s1600/37-Fawcett.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy8nPFPolMFdtPxfXx25Jyrpw4BaIi2mu694XlJ82U0bbYhUDQPYZTfOnFrIvfrMQ85E2fV51kl2rHWeJnpLXvx-bDyB1L2AfOMIBmZVzRubLrlAps1T94fW3cOmOsZUyhqTeCkDXn99k/s320/37-Fawcett.jpg" width="319" /></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> </span></div><div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One such sale was in a literal garage. A small warehouse of a garage, gray and dark and I picked through every box of the two-hundred-some-odd boxes and I found my treasure.</span></span></div><div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv5WlRMtGBbhySPlRf_lU4yOzUP2JvEuEiWkVrW8ZKbY8IF9qQ8njD1RZ0JMN4lBEP0OOcfcTu73ixHycxc9DiV9J8JA0sDyQgb4JjKCm9OWJp5XUxek-VPy0FdM32aQfSONqHzCzzkLY/s1600/0605_fas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="158" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv5WlRMtGBbhySPlRf_lU4yOzUP2JvEuEiWkVrW8ZKbY8IF9qQ8njD1RZ0JMN4lBEP0OOcfcTu73ixHycxc9DiV9J8JA0sDyQgb4JjKCm9OWJp5XUxek-VPy0FdM32aQfSONqHzCzzkLY/s320/0605_fas.jpg" width="320" /></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div><div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Three incredibly large, incredibly heavy bound notebooks, and on the cover the words, “Famous Artist’s.” I wanted to hug them.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoH4Mcmdu9SQhfgFpwcU6go3-3RKXN2k-Zm-BpFcxigKGUI4hqP34teowLIdeKWq5txaRxpbc5tdZdJ9d-A3mEJ2Y4NxpkD3ZDMml0y582V1NBpVl4yyOTaQ1zGOKMmw66eREQ6lTtYns/s1600/jon-whitcomb-glam-illustration.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoH4Mcmdu9SQhfgFpwcU6go3-3RKXN2k-Zm-BpFcxigKGUI4hqP34teowLIdeKWq5txaRxpbc5tdZdJ9d-A3mEJ2Y4NxpkD3ZDMml0y582V1NBpVl4yyOTaQ1zGOKMmw66eREQ6lTtYns/s320/jon-whitcomb-glam-illustration.jpg" width="243" /></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> </span></div><div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I searched the darkened warehouse for the landlady, hoping she had not seen the look on my face when I found them, hoping I might be able to talk her down from whatever astronomical price she would demand for relinquishing them forever. I steeled my nerve and prepared for the worst. I formulated my debate, predicated on the decades of dust, dingy with scratches on the covers, the interiors were not pristine, she would have to take that into account. There was supposed to be a fourth notebook that was missing. I needed the full collection. I was prepared to walk away if the price was too high…no, I wasn’t.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5mKaESZsd4uRXGKczMAOha5OswMQ1cT7UDzItaWEOFGeYQOT-56cvmZ6NMqPzkgzI5JJqpXMZhHlZLB-Bdre26etzKKTlPLmPF-vcX1DHuxmc3s5662wLWWHiFjbyL1K_z9K3sbUqFRY/s1600/5552086518_0036d252f5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5mKaESZsd4uRXGKczMAOha5OswMQ1cT7UDzItaWEOFGeYQOT-56cvmZ6NMqPzkgzI5JJqpXMZhHlZLB-Bdre26etzKKTlPLmPF-vcX1DHuxmc3s5662wLWWHiFjbyL1K_z9K3sbUqFRY/s320/5552086518_0036d252f5.jpg" width="320" /></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div><div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I found the landlady standing in the doorway with her coffee and cigarette, talking on the phone to someone of absolutely no interest to me. I stood until she noticed me with my arms full of Famous Artists Course. She pulled the phone away from her ear. “Found something then?” she asked as if she didn’t know, couldn’t see the greed in my eyes, the desperation, smell my fear with all her feral instincts of the ocelot I knew her to be. A smoking, coffee-drinking ocelot.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> </span></div><div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“So,” I hid my nerves behind a professional actor’s mask, “What do you think you’d want for these here?”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> </span></div><div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“What’s that? Oh, those, I really loved those when I was younger.” I knew it! Here it comes! She knows I’m weak…. “How about forty bucks?”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> </span></div><div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Sold!” I wonder to this day if she ever got my tire marks off the curb in front of her garage.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBKcudyyi9o_qA-oE0yB3zkJ3CjTww6wGlin5amAgllZiF7qVpEsVqAvKIjKtX6DRMpPstHLimQy7sJMjSeQs_ItMgDr4Ge8g42dk3kbSif2lL8H7kvsgd4gMypsljX2U3OJYvpxmrLOg/s1600/helck09.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBKcudyyi9o_qA-oE0yB3zkJ3CjTww6wGlin5amAgllZiF7qVpEsVqAvKIjKtX6DRMpPstHLimQy7sJMjSeQs_ItMgDr4Ge8g42dk3kbSif2lL8H7kvsgd4gMypsljX2U3OJYvpxmrLOg/s320/helck09.jpg" width="320" /></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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</span> </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLwNJiykgY5P0CPPcL-3NawGLtcg_ns3ehM6Cm3ub8F4L2Zd-T9U3ARLoxJ7FJAIhD-s0URtXiueYJm3OEceRBqblu6ZXLcWqsiN1TwiN6tnY2mywBfI50HGLKHWMkZRTQ6ZNf9msO8nw/s1600/2157884187_8b5bcdb06e.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLwNJiykgY5P0CPPcL-3NawGLtcg_ns3ehM6Cm3ub8F4L2Zd-T9U3ARLoxJ7FJAIhD-s0URtXiueYJm3OEceRBqblu6ZXLcWqsiN1TwiN6tnY2mywBfI50HGLKHWMkZRTQ6ZNf9msO8nw/s320/2157884187_8b5bcdb06e.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLwNJiykgY5P0CPPcL-3NawGLtcg_ns3ehM6Cm3ub8F4L2Zd-T9U3ARLoxJ7FJAIhD-s0URtXiueYJm3OEceRBqblu6ZXLcWqsiN1TwiN6tnY2mywBfI50HGLKHWMkZRTQ6ZNf9msO8nw/s1600/2157884187_8b5bcdb06e.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></span></a><br />
<div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div><div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I still consider it the greatest buy of my life. All those names I mentioned in the opening, the greatest of the illustrators using examples from preliminary sketches and detailed drawings, giving me a peek into their “process.” Those books did what no other book in my large collection ever did. They taught me how to think like an artist. Hundreds of pages of not just how they painted, but the decisions they made before painting, why they made them and made the alterations to otherwise fine drawings and illustrations. Thousands of decisions and answers. Not merely a peek under the magician’s cloak, a month spent living in his closet studying his playbook, and him taking my hands to help move the magic through my fingers.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyGyY-GqQJUc74j-ibwHaRgopZyitdSe6CP5uo0DfRUqL_YUUtBPJLt5z3LBDL2zONPPjWShpwYszUUbjn5ZXPRkd0RBXoKLDz2O0k6RK0f9cgUkWeE08BUbVwdvqtcnHfaWrUkNu_GFo/s1600/60sart.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyGyY-GqQJUc74j-ibwHaRgopZyitdSe6CP5uo0DfRUqL_YUUtBPJLt5z3LBDL2zONPPjWShpwYszUUbjn5ZXPRkd0RBXoKLDz2O0k6RK0f9cgUkWeE08BUbVwdvqtcnHfaWrUkNu_GFo/s320/60sart.jpg" width="237" /></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> </span></div><div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was lightning and I’m still smoldering from the aftermath. I need to revisit those books every few years, reread, try to remember all because there is just so much stinkin’ information between those spines. But I am glad every time I do. And I'm still grateful for those original masters, Albert Dorne and Norman Rockwell who decided over a telephone conversation back in 1948 to take the time out of their busy schedules to create a teaching resource of this magnitude.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCWga6iUfu_vlkE3anCVxsrSQOUF3xfHlysWgoSQIYgcUTBs2Z1gAJGu7IEVmd0mLfHZyARZLgf87t00dxoOzB7pywXn7Wyn_bE4HGl-6HDx75pT0yy1asVhiqD_9dQC3FBum2r8mdWQU/s1600/009_575-010norman-rockwell-triple-self-portrait-posters.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCWga6iUfu_vlkE3anCVxsrSQOUF3xfHlysWgoSQIYgcUTBs2Z1gAJGu7IEVmd0mLfHZyARZLgf87t00dxoOzB7pywXn7Wyn_bE4HGl-6HDx75pT0yy1asVhiqD_9dQC3FBum2r8mdWQU/s320/009_575-010norman-rockwell-triple-self-portrait-posters.jpg" width="252" /></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div><div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you ever find this dusty lightning for yourself, grab it.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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</div>Binghamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02933081835531209360noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4797638951278756897.post-58996444246332636342011-07-12T13:31:00.000-07:002011-07-13T11:01:09.176-07:00The Transference of Emotion<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Ah, making the intangible tangible. Emotion in paint is more than a reflection of ourselves in the faces of the actors, it works on our subconscious as well as our immediate understanding of mood and tone. It's an artist saying, come play with me.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">If I can get you to think "inside" the box for a bit...</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">(For those unfamiliar, you'll find I use a lot of bad jokes, worse puns, mixed messages and typos to keep you on your toes, so don't say I didn't warn you. But I'll work on playing this one pretty straight.)</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Sober values—bright or dark, pure or muddy colors. The heaviness or lightness of an object and how much of the painting the object takes up. Line—the hunched spine, the proud up-angle, a triangle created by glow or shadow, the completion of a circle or triangle. Composition. Telling us where to look, when to linger, how we should be thinking about what we are seeing.</span><br />
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</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFxKd825igqZWfMgCx1TeOA3h3jWRnWVPCvC3PCfE7caxg15cDnsn-BPYmR69hyH4_JA7vy9a67ohDBn-6AjyD3SGJois-sOH3nnSGx9dIvdgNDq0obO73PRIT6Yq1E6FJZo-U9K5jMfs/s1600/rockwell_writer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFxKd825igqZWfMgCx1TeOA3h3jWRnWVPCvC3PCfE7caxg15cDnsn-BPYmR69hyH4_JA7vy9a67ohDBn-6AjyD3SGJois-sOH3nnSGx9dIvdgNDq0obO73PRIT6Yq1E6FJZo-U9K5jMfs/s320/rockwell_writer.jpg" width="241" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">There are literally hundreds of decisions that can be made in the construction of a single painting. Decisions made before paint ever touches the canvas. They are not random elements strewn for the sake of a pretty basket or an important newspaper headline. Every element contributes to the whole work. The collection of parts arranged, not only to tell the story, but for the sake of the composition. </span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimYhmKBJ1rwDypqWPiZZOt6BZRl7KkxwtOUkM_OLUWsM5UhLjcNMdZKyKfAfpzdNp0jDO4itRKHGHuh7S5RiOXQmO1lsMYyCOX5wZ2lyXHbsZtqaQBHTsLaBjsQRme6VMp1HntmkduVjs/s1600/rockwell_fear.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimYhmKBJ1rwDypqWPiZZOt6BZRl7KkxwtOUkM_OLUWsM5UhLjcNMdZKyKfAfpzdNp0jDO4itRKHGHuh7S5RiOXQmO1lsMYyCOX5wZ2lyXHbsZtqaQBHTsLaBjsQRme6VMp1HntmkduVjs/s320/rockwell_fear.jpg" width="245" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">A near invisible circle to contain the eye, or an "X"—two diagonals whose purpose is force the eye to a particular moment of importance. In a complex composition where the viewer's attention is made to roam, the area of lightest light placed against the darkest dark will always pull the viewer back. The seemingly casual insertion of a child's doll may be placed in a way that pulls the eye into the composition like a river into a landscape.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaUd1t8RlpsroXceln4Q02rSDjXEnxvLB02Nc0eFGTglDK7qBo2Pq9L6udVH0qz6dDZqCPQdaW-frDx5w3Z3IAn5xEyqQ2DE9eCRggXGIOn7_8ipTdD_FW1Wb75f5nGs3ef2mGUBw3Ajw/s1600/rockwell_speech.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaUd1t8RlpsroXceln4Q02rSDjXEnxvLB02Nc0eFGTglDK7qBo2Pq9L6udVH0qz6dDZqCPQdaW-frDx5w3Z3IAn5xEyqQ2DE9eCRggXGIOn7_8ipTdD_FW1Wb75f5nGs3ef2mGUBw3Ajw/s320/rockwell_speech.jpg" width="248" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">The strategic use of negative space—one of the most important elements to any composition is a non-element. The eye needs a place to rest or we experience the uneasiness of claustrophobia. We will tire of the experience.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqjLV0-arpfLWlbkJCC_4xC8yDbQK8LFkVfTLYs1uivb9x4v9Q5x_X0GYrci0Z8WLx2krNkReQ3V_lYRHI3f3l7gn6L7sInwycWi9imbXUk7Iszm57ZLTnkU2bC4MGHDyj2fc8RCNc3UE/s1600/rockwell_blackeye.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqjLV0-arpfLWlbkJCC_4xC8yDbQK8LFkVfTLYs1uivb9x4v9Q5x_X0GYrci0Z8WLx2krNkReQ3V_lYRHI3f3l7gn6L7sInwycWi9imbXUk7Iszm57ZLTnkU2bC4MGHDyj2fc8RCNc3UE/s320/rockwell_blackeye.jpg" width="314" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">A large empty space on an otherwise cluttered wall helping to lift the mood of the viewer. Or a thin vertical element falling from that clutter, completing a square, containing the moment of importance and forbidding the eye to follow that corner clutter up off the painting.</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqPneCR1vHq1wPQl327AZu425w6DhZIAnshArwXDrBIt1PfDy587YZrfKkCeqUDW74fwbcOc7Cb0NA-jDAk8fjNT_eZHvfEfDjwI3d7Gmo7jPXttfoLtxAaV5NJLN6IBt1trnLxs_svsU/s1600/rockwell_examination.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="196" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqPneCR1vHq1wPQl327AZu425w6DhZIAnshArwXDrBIt1PfDy587YZrfKkCeqUDW74fwbcOc7Cb0NA-jDAk8fjNT_eZHvfEfDjwI3d7Gmo7jPXttfoLtxAaV5NJLN6IBt1trnLxs_svsU/s320/rockwell_examination.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Balance. The straight back of uncertainty mirroring the stiff lines of a wooden chair. All heads turned in his direction, eyes leveled like the horizontal lines of the flag. An otherwise casual human landscape, overcoat thrown into the foreground, the leaning chair-back to one side, dark object (umbrella) to the other, a solid ovoid working to contain the horizontal movement of the eye.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwGUkoXBF1a1N2TPmWWPIv9zqXgDtAJoO9ikdyCCcnIPlxWrcP4odsySo_GxrVZmXZj0AE0AproDILTbMNfm-JN7JsE6bjvXD63CRKYC0PsuQX28m-80XbxiHo4q-iGr1tXNhDoYQhoyY/s1600/rockwell_rosie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwGUkoXBF1a1N2TPmWWPIv9zqXgDtAJoO9ikdyCCcnIPlxWrcP4odsySo_GxrVZmXZj0AE0AproDILTbMNfm-JN7JsE6bjvXD63CRKYC0PsuQX28m-80XbxiHo4q-iGr1tXNhDoYQhoyY/s320/rockwell_rosie.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwGUkoXBF1a1N2TPmWWPIv9zqXgDtAJoO9ikdyCCcnIPlxWrcP4odsySo_GxrVZmXZj0AE0AproDILTbMNfm-JN7JsE6bjvXD63CRKYC0PsuQX28m-80XbxiHo4q-iGr1tXNhDoYQhoyY/s1600/rockwell_rosie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"></span></a><br />
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</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">The obvious strength of a solid dark vertical. A more subservient "S" that might lead the viewer astray is thwarted by a near-perfect circle formed by the pose of the arms, and yes, even the sandwich pointing to the expression the artist wants us to share.</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIQDYmrU36Zi2Wig9WnQJt0H6t8PGSWFMRhK43_mlKiQP52NSNj9mLdx5I1XUPoBIIL0jsubDVSBu0sXcM2Ozs25ZLocSGcajXoJ5PR623Unyf8dgyJjaosKqMvXlVUcw4KgNCMn4MBEY/s1600/rockwell_thanksg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIQDYmrU36Zi2Wig9WnQJt0H6t8PGSWFMRhK43_mlKiQP52NSNj9mLdx5I1XUPoBIIL0jsubDVSBu0sXcM2Ozs25ZLocSGcajXoJ5PR623Unyf8dgyJjaosKqMvXlVUcw4KgNCMn4MBEY/s320/rockwell_thanksg.jpg" width="306" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Somber colors, heavy with intent. A single white shirt for purity's sake. A tight circle of bowed heads within a rectangle (as circles tend to relax us overmuch) and a larger circle, figures cropped around the periphery for just such a purpose. Perhaps a touch of tableware, even knife handles pointing in to our moment of earnest.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9GNH4ZfFRHONQdg6WoYoxPB1rKHWkEv4w609YKXgoYCl6fI297_Rlwz6ByM-3gckHoF3BDV6aqA79pKVfgmo1c_OYBSpxtayL4Ll2QaXo8UPsG9H4NwbylYEy2G2OTTfZQPKByCLP_m4/s1600/rockwell_homecoming.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9GNH4ZfFRHONQdg6WoYoxPB1rKHWkEv4w609YKXgoYCl6fI297_Rlwz6ByM-3gckHoF3BDV6aqA79pKVfgmo1c_OYBSpxtayL4Ll2QaXo8UPsG9H4NwbylYEy2G2OTTfZQPKByCLP_m4/s320/rockwell_homecoming.jpg" width="302" /></a></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9GNH4ZfFRHONQdg6WoYoxPB1rKHWkEv4w609YKXgoYCl6fI297_Rlwz6ByM-3gckHoF3BDV6aqA79pKVfgmo1c_OYBSpxtayL4Ll2QaXo8UPsG9H4NwbylYEy2G2OTTfZQPKByCLP_m4/s1600/rockwell_homecoming.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"></span></a><br />
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</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">A circle of joy overwhelming a subject.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDGb1fRTJwdvUz0TWstXeg0349LO9OxbdPdFUbbDW4DYCCSMD8pDmy__XumjmF1cfUsLfveykPtuIBPzZyvqYCZyx9KdyPCTS9CFgzKvR0jdrrGEhjQ-IgSrtiKPWXr2A1ZJ-FgkMenLY/s1600/rockwell_machinegun.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDGb1fRTJwdvUz0TWstXeg0349LO9OxbdPdFUbbDW4DYCCSMD8pDmy__XumjmF1cfUsLfveykPtuIBPzZyvqYCZyx9KdyPCTS9CFgzKvR0jdrrGEhjQ-IgSrtiKPWXr2A1ZJ-FgkMenLY/s320/rockwell_machinegun.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Or raw, obvious emotion.</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0v6Q4jxa0y23TLBTQmFG6LemF2p489rr63ClJ7ocePtrCu9zrKsOQagiAOXe-Pq7nkSAOhrRaYkgkEFC50J5is_yqe77hQ5P6P0_jfY3VeZ-JGkAK-mieuZT8zJbZ_VIl7TZ-ReJFsd0/s1600/rockwell_mirrorgirl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0v6Q4jxa0y23TLBTQmFG6LemF2p489rr63ClJ7ocePtrCu9zrKsOQagiAOXe-Pq7nkSAOhrRaYkgkEFC50J5is_yqe77hQ5P6P0_jfY3VeZ-JGkAK-mieuZT8zJbZ_VIl7TZ-ReJFsd0/s320/rockwell_mirrorgirl.jpg" width="261" /></span></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">These, and many more, are the master artist's magic act, a slight-of-hand you may not recognize if you don't know where to look or what to look for; subtle psychological mind-strings all humans possess; needs screwed into our subconscious over thousands of years of evolution all awaiting that moment when you open your eyes in front of a real work of Art.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">No one understood and used these rules of composition better than Rockwell. He was not just copying photographs, he was composing masterpieces of emotion.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">*</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">I've barely touched the surface with my analysis here, and given time (like about two thousand pages) could lead you on a journey into and around each of these incredible paintings. But maybe I've gotten some of you interested enough for an exploration of your own. Have at it. The artist has invited you to play.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">J</span></div></div>Binghamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02933081835531209360noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4797638951278756897.post-88090483271082677712011-07-12T01:04:00.000-07:002011-07-12T01:09:44.104-07:00Art is Objective<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Just a thought I felt needed restating here on the new page. (For my FB friends who have read this a while back, bear with me as I consolidate a few of my art-ish ramblings. As always, you have no choice. This is my Blog.)</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">*</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span> </span><br />
<div class="text_exposed_root text_exposed" id="id_4e1bf6d4b4eb00038573534" style="display: inline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">“Art is Subjective” is a 20th Century construct.<br />
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Art has definition. Art has meaning. Art is communication. Art may be vague, Art may require thought to be fully understood, but Art is about heart and emotion. It is the most primitive and th</span> </span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">e most advanced form of communication. Art requires at least two participants, the creator and the viewer. And—</span></span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span data-jsid="text"></span></span></span><br />
<div class="text_exposed_root text_exposed" id="id_4e1bf6d4b4eb00038573534" style="display: inline;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">*ART IS THE TRANSFERENCE OF EMOTION*</span></b></span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span> </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span data-jsid="text"></span></span></span><br />
<div class="text_exposed_root text_exposed" id="id_4e1bf6d4b4eb00038573534" style="display: inline;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Therefore, by definition, Art is the Objective:</span></span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span data-jsid="text"></span></span></span><br />
<div class="text_exposed_root text_exposed" id="id_4e1bf6d4b4eb00038573534" style="display: inline;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">No one would read a novel if random words were strewn across a page.</span></span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span data-jsid="text"></span></span></span><br />
<div class="text_exposed_root text_exposed" id="id_4e1bf6d4b4eb00038573534" style="display: inline;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">—A book is judged on how the reader is effected and informed. Journeys we are compelled to complete. Characters we can understand and empathize with, lovers to pull at our hearts, haters to detest. We need to "care" in order to finish a novel and that is the author's primary responsibility.<br />
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No one would go to a concert where the musicians blasted out random notes under the premise of abstract musical theory and self-expression. </span> </span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">(Someone might go but they would never return.)</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">—A good concerto will make you sigh. A great Requiem will make strong men weep.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span data-jsid="text"></span></span></span><br />
<div class="text_exposed_root text_exposed" id="id_4e1bf6d4b4eb00038573534" style="display: inline;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
No one would attend a ballet where the dancers just threw their bodies across the stage.</span></span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">—We are moved not only by the story played out on stage but by the perfection of movement, choreography, acting and physical translation of the composer's intent in interpreting the music, either its theme, its tempo, its grandeur or subtleties. To be successful, dance requires the viewer's absolute attention and emotional involvement.</span></span><br />
<div class="text_exposed_root text_exposed" id="id_4e1bf6d4b4eb00038573534" style="display: inline;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> <br />
Each art form is judged by how greatly the recipients are moved, emotionally.</span></span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span data-jsid="text"></span></span></span><br />
<div class="text_exposed_root text_exposed" id="id_4e1bf6d4b4eb00038573534" style="display: inline;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">If one ascribes a value to a work of Art, that value must be drawn from the work and not from some abstract opinion of worth. If the success of a work of Art is to be measured, it must be valued on how well it achieves the above stated definition: how well it communicates emotionally. Simply stated, the more hearts a work of Art touches, the more successful the work must be valued.</span></span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
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<div class="text_exposed_root text_exposed" id="id_4e1bf6d4b4eb00038573534" style="display: inline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span data-jsid="text"></span></span></span><br />
<div class="text_exposed_root text_exposed" id="id_4e1bf6d4b4eb00038573534" style="display: inline;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">If one admits that ART is an aesthetic and all art is open to interpretation by the perceiver, one must also question the broader definition of the word.</span></span></span></div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIYGnc4KjS8Ado6GcuLRjsXZTATvNxDTWKb8aocys3QZ9f8wMq-CxzT2403j3fsOrejua0_2gW5WVpMTPGE5VXymhNJQq1VfLMnrmFkdX_kpaYmG6ACWVIf7xWzKY5cSrZD58UOfGNxM8/s1600/Rockwell_splatters.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIYGnc4KjS8Ado6GcuLRjsXZTATvNxDTWKb8aocys3QZ9f8wMq-CxzT2403j3fsOrejua0_2gW5WVpMTPGE5VXymhNJQq1VfLMnrmFkdX_kpaYmG6ACWVIf7xWzKY5cSrZD58UOfGNxM8/s320/Rockwell_splatters.jpg" width="257" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span data-jsid="text"></span></span><br />
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<div class="text_exposed_root text_exposed" id="id_4e1bf6d4b4eb00038573534" style="display: inline;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333;"><span data-jsid="text"></span></span><br />
<div class="text_exposed_root text_exposed" id="id_4e1bf6d4b4eb00038573534" style="display: inline;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The reason Rockwell was the most popular artist in the country for over forty years was because he forced us to live in the moment of each painting and he effectively touched the most hearts.</span></span></span></div><br />
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<div class="text_exposed_root text_exposed" id="id_4e1bf6d4b4eb00038573534" style="display: inline;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">J</span></span></span></div>Binghamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02933081835531209360noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4797638951278756897.post-8099136124262533282011-07-11T12:13:00.000-07:002011-07-11T12:47:40.154-07:00A Random Life in ArtAs if any of us need another forum for spouting off about things we deem important in our lives, here, I've thrown more words onto the screen.<br />
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This, the first post in my own war with words, is a perfect example of how apparently disjointed and seemingly pointless most of our thoughts are in any given direction, but you can all be guaranteed, I will do my best to describe the roadmap through the synapses, connecting the dots for you non-dot-connecting types, that lead back to the central theme of my life—Art.<br />
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(See? For anyone paying attention, you've just been given the purpose behind the title of this post.)<br />
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But in this case, "Random" is a word chosen more for my life's outward appearance, much like this Blog, than a literal description of who I am as an artist. From those earliest memories of mom holding the pencil in my tiny fist, drawing smiley faces and whispering, "Eyes, nose, mouth," to the scribbles I throw down to pay the bills today, my life/career may have split, spiraled, slalomed and surged in disparate artistic directions over time—much due to my low threshold of boredom, or a wandering heart—but my aim has always been to expose my muse to the world, surround myself with creativity, and never stop absorbing the lessons laid down by the best inventive minds I can find. We all, each of us, are on our own journeys—all roads leading toward the same destination. I have chosen mine. I am the only one responsible for how mine plays out. And I can think of no better effort. I ever seek to grow until they shut my eyes, and please put a smile on my lips...just don't make it one of those creepy clown smiles. I hate those.<br />
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JBinghamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02933081835531209360noreply@blogger.com0