Time stood still in some parts of my old neighborhood in Brooklyn. Old bars full of old drunks and Pool Rooms populated by "hitters" who never grew out of the fifties. Most of the tough guys were gofers for the local mob family, low level thugs who would get their hands dirty while the capo's sat in their social clubs sipping espresso and talking about the old days. I'd occassionally see incidents like this one, and then document them in sketches, with varying degrees of success. (detail, inks & prismacolor pencil, 1976)
4 comments:
Wow. Really fun, Vince. I love the layout. Two guys in BG framed by the windows and the angle of the pool table directing the eye to the victim. Cool!
Thanks, Hutch. This is the sort of thing I'd do to keep my hand in illustration, while working at local newspapers, commercial printers and doing freelance graphic design. I'd always loved comic books and strips, but I wasn't crazy about the monk-like existence that came with being a strip artist. So I'd toil away on pieces like this while trying to make my way into advertising. I'd never thought of becoming an illustrator, my style was very crude and there weren't many markets for that type of work in those days. I mainly created logo's and label and package designs, maybe a spot illustration or two. But the bulk of my assignments were paste-ups & mechanicals.
Two years after this piece was produced I broke into advertising, first as production artist and a year later I started doing storyboards.
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I love this. Charming characters and great storytelling. Hutch is right, the layout is very well done too. That tall guy reminds me of a buff Conan O'Brien.
Thanks, Ry. In those days storytelling was my strongest point. I could put a visual together as long as I had a theme or a gag. Composition and layout was another skill I'd developed early on, but it would take me a few more years to get my drawing up to speed.
At this point in time drawing was still a hobby to me, something I hoped to do professionally someday.
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