a work in progress...

Here's something I'm working on for the "waitress" theme currently being explored at the gum or mints blog. I'll post the progress here and the final piece there.

Old School...

This was a "dummy" of a magazine, created in May of '73 for a school assignment. At the time I was influenced by the art nouveau approach, Peter Max, Andy Warhol and everything else that floated by. And, of course The Beatles.

When I was given the assignment I immediately thought of creating a music magazine and plunged into the layout stage.

In those pre-Mac, dark days everything had to be created by hand and in position. Color prints were too costly, and color copiers didn't exist. So I worked on acetates, inking with rapidographs and painting color behind them for all of the article illustrations.

The cover was created on bond paper with rapidograph pen, color inks and Letraset rub-on type. The masthead was hand lettered.I can't remember how long this took, I'm thinking at least a week.

What I do remember is having a lot of fun producing it.

Something old, something blue...

Editorial sample, 1978. Ink, watercolor, paper & type.

Searching for a character...

There's a waitress at Billy's Deli in Glendale named Evelyn, she's amazingly funny and sweet, and she's from the Bronx. I've been trying to sketch her from memory, but it seems like the only thing I'm getting right is her dialogue.
I'll have to bring my sketchpad to Billy's and order a brisket sandwich.

Art from the Crypt...

These go way back to the early '70s. I was working a lot in pen & ink and color pencils on illustration board. I was also devouring any Will Eisner art I could find. Eisner's still a big influence on my work today.

Happy birthday, Jack "King" Kirby!

This entry was taken from a 1980 NCS Album. Jack Kirby would have been 90 years old today. I'm guessing his influence on storytelling will last for a thousand years. Maybe longer.

Fire in the Big Top...

With or without stars? I can't decide.

Film sketching...

Sometimes I like to watch a film and sketch the characters.

Cops...

This final "cops" sketch is of Sgt. Gannon of the 76th Precinct in Red Hook, Brooklyn, where I grew up. This guy fired a few shots at me and my friends one night in the late '60s. We noticed he was drunk as he tripped out of his squad car in an effort to chase us off a street corner and weren't about to wait until he approached us. So we ran away and he gave chase, firing his revolver and cursing us as we made our escape. If he had better aim that night he would have been the last cop I ever saw, so I think it's appropriate for a memory sketch of his image to close this series.





For John Quinn & Dan Thompson's character concepts club.

pencils, inks & watercolors...

pencil & ink...

I'll be adding new work, as it is created, for the month of July.
I hope you enjoy it.

"E'lera del terzo mondo--

--he's a
third
world
man."

Odd Couple...

Whuzzatt?!!

I couldn't resist.
I fear I've become
a hopeless
"blogging junkie".

Oh well,
here's some more
mediocrity
for you...

(Inspired by a panel from a Simon & Kirby comic, circa 1941)

just one more...

"Dreaming of Disneyland, Brooklyn 1959"
(ink wash & watercolors)

When I was a child growing up in Brooklyn my only connections to Disney were Dell comic books and the TV program "Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color".
Going to Disneyland was as impossible to imagine as going to the moon, in fact this visual is set ten years before the 1969 moon landing.
But for ten cents a copy, comic books could take me anywhere, and that's why I chose this situation for a Disney gallery exhibit coming up in September.
I remember dreaming of going to Disneyland and hoping to someday work at The Walt Disney Company.

I guess some dreams can come true.

more secret lives...

Luck runs out very quickly in Hollywood

color pencil / pooh & co

from "The Art of Winnie the Pooh" book, published by Disney Editions

He kept the house... she took his heart--

The Ol' Salt...

just taking some new felt pens for a test drive.

"Nostril-Dumbass Strikes Again!..."