SOME EXAGGERATED ILLUSTRATIVE INTERPRETATIONS OF REAL-LIFE CHARACTERS.
John Wayne
Ink
I like John Wayne. My father’s favorite movie star was always John Wayne. Therefore, I grew up watching Mr. Wayne’s movies with my dad, and forever the two men are linked in my memories. To see a John Wayne movie today is to remember my pop. That’s not a bad way to regard this film icon, now is it……..Pilgrim?
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Abraham Lincoln
Mixed Media
Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, has such an interesting face that I enjoy illustrating. As you can see here, I’ve caricatured it a few times for different projects. There’s a watercolor portrait, a digital sketch, an ink wash/digital “selfie” photo (also featuring Mary Todd and John Wilkes Booth), and a cartoony digital rendering created for children’s publication Clubhouse Magazine – just a few of my favorite versions to come out of the ol’ studio.
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Groundhog Day
Digital
I make my own Christmas card every year, but every now and then I like to shake things up by skipping Christmas, then sending a card for a holiday that never gets greeting card love. In 2024, folks were surprised to receive a Groundhog Day card just before February 2. Inspired by the Art Nouveau stylings of the artist Mucha, I did a piece based on Harold Ramis’ Groundhog Day movie from 1993 with caricatures of Bill Murray, Andie MacDowell, Chris Elliott, Stephen Tobolowsky, Brian Doyle-Murray, and two other gentlemen who were Punxsatawney officials in the movie. BIIIING!
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Wonderful Life
Watercolor, gouache, colored pencil, ink & digital
I grew up loving the annual television airing of Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life around Christmas time. While the quote on this art may not exactly be true biblical theology, I do believe it came from the first book of Capra, chapter 2, verse 11. I created this for my personal Christmas card art in 2022 which also happened to be the 75th anniversary of the film! Just afterwards in January of 2023, life and art collided – I was pleased to personally show the art to Karolyn Grimes who played little Zuzu featured front and center in Jimmy Stewart’s arms in the painting!
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Bill Morrison
Watercolor & colored pencil
This is a caricature of my pal Bill Morrison when he was president of the National Cartoonists Society for use in their publications. The Big Boy reference came out of Bill’s hairstyle, a desire to show him holding a NCS Reuben Award, and his love for kitschy pop culture things. Voila, Big Bill. Professionally, Bill has been a movie poster artist (remember the infamous original Little Mermaid poster?), the art director for Matt Groening’s Bongo Comics, MAD Magazine editor-in-chief, and throughout all, has been a comic book artist and illustrator on the side!
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Tesla vs. Edison
Digital
These images were created for an educational publication for kids, introducing them to the two geniuses of electricity: Nicolas Tesla and Thomas Edison. When I heard they battled between their AC and DC philosophies of electricity in the late 1800s known as the “War of the Currents,” naturally I needed to show them engaged in an epic battle for electric domination.
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John Williams
Colored pencil & gouache
John Williams’ music has transported us to the depths of space, the mysterious orient, deep dark jungles filled with secret treasures, and into our hidden emotions when he has scored the human experience. Having won the Oscar five times, he holds the record for any composer with 52 nominations, 17 of which were for a few of the 29 movies he has scored for Steven Spielberg. And what other 90-year-old do you know who can sell out concert venues with 30,000 seats? To say the least, I am a fan.
This was drawn on the occasion of the maestro’s 90th birthday, who we all know wields a lightsaber baton. The Force is strong in this one.
June Foray
Gouache & colored pencil
June Foray was the first lady of voice acting having been the voice of hundreds of characters such as Granny (Tweety cartoons), Magica DeSpell & Ma Beagle (DuckTales), Cindy Lou-Who (How the Grinch Stole Christmas), Talky Tina (Twilight Zone), Witch Hazel (Bugs Bunny & Donald Duck cartoons), Grandma Fa (Mulan), and Jokey Smurf (The Smurfs). Perhaps her most beloved character, and her favorite, was Rocket J. Squirrel from Rocky & Bullwinkle cartoons. June always wore a Rocky pendant around her neck that her niece made for her. This was a piece I made for a Jay Ward-themed art show at a Los Angeles-based art gallery a few years back.
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Dick Van Dyke
Ink & digital
Well, it’s Dick as well as Mary & Fred Willard – three caricatures for the price of one! Mary Willard asked me to create this for a full-page ad she and Fred were taking out in the program book for the Actors & Others for Animals annual banquet that was featuring Dick Van Dyke as the guest of honor. That led to me being hired to create the key art for the following year’s banquet that honored Fred!
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Jon Favreau & John Debney
Gouache & colored pencil
I absolutely loved the live-action/CG version of The Jungle Book directed by Jon Favreau and scored by John Debney – a great story executed very well with stunning visuals and wonderful music. The two Jons (or do you prefer “Johns?”) had collaborated several times before on Zathura, Iron Man 2, and one of my favorites, Elf. It seemed like Jungle Book was a good opportunity to celebrate this director/composer team with a painting of Jon Favreau as King Louie and John Debney as Baloo based on the traditionally animated Disney characters.
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Queen Elizabeth
Watercolor, colored pencil & digital
“It’s good to be the queen.” Well, Mel Brooks didn’t quite say it that way, but nonetheless, I’m sure it certainly had been an interesting seventy years for Queen Elizabeth as Great Britain’s monarch.
Back when I worked on the show My Friends Tigger & Pooh, we introduced a little girl named Darby. Word came down to us that an aide of the queen had called Gary Marsh, the head of the Disney Channel. “The queen has heard that Christopher Robin has been replaced. The queen is not amused.” So, we put Christopher Robin into two episodes.
Glen Keane & Kobe Bryant
Digital
As a former colleague of Glen Keane’s, it was pretty thrilling to see him finally win an Oscar in 2018 for the brilliant Dear Basketball animated short he made with Kobe Bryant. When Keane and Kobe accepted their Oscars, I was struck by the physical size difference between those two giants. I know this is an exaggeration, but this is how it seemed to me while watching their acceptance speech on TV.
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John & Abigail Adams
Ink, colored pencil & digital
This was created for children’s publication Clubhouse Magazine when they were doing a Valentine’s article about all the schmoopy love letters John and Abigail Adams sent each other while courting. It was created in such a way to suggest they took a selfie with the mountain of love letters they wrote surrounding them. This was ink wash and colored pencil, with color tinting and aging effects added in the computer. I’m pretty sure it’s historically accurate. (cough cough)
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Jim Henson
Ink & Digital
Hey! You found it! The Rainbow Connection! Way to go! Jim Henson and his troop were a huge inspiration to me growing up. I was just the right age for The Muppet Show when it aired, but so was my dad because we enjoyed it together. After finishing college, I first tried to find work at Henson Associates in NYC, but the doors didn’t open for me there. Ended up going to Disney instead. Funny that that’s where the Muppets eventually ended up, too.
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