For no other reason than to wish my buddy Stephen Silver a happy birthday today, I’m posting this over exaggerated, um, flattering portrait I created of him.
Back in April of this year, I heard that illustrator Jason Seiler was going to be interviewing animation character designer Stephen Silver (Kim Possible, Scooby Doo and Guess Who?) for Jason’s podcast Face the Truth, and he was encouraging people to send in caricatures of Silver that would be revealed to him during the interview. Silver and I have worked together several times over the years, so I thought it would be fun to surprise my pal with this slightly extreme portrayal.
Wait, didn’t I see this on a wall at the Post Office?!
I’m including a photo of Silver with movie poster illustrator Drew Struzan that I took a couple of years ago. This was one photo I used in working out my pencil and watercolor deviation.
Stephen Silver with Drew Struzan with a few of Drew’s posters in the background.
Oh, and if you seek out the podcast (which you can by CLICKING HERE), this shows up around the one hour-eight minute mark. They were kinder to the drawing than the drawing deserved, mostly by laughing at it, which was its intended purpose.
I was recently asked to illustrate an article in Focus on the Family’s Clubhouse Magazine that commemorates this story, which will appear in September’s issue (and who graciously allowed me to post this today on the 100th anniversary of the event). It’s a fascinating tale of a young 23 year-old Harry T. Burn, a Republican member of the Tennessee General Assembly.
Harry T. Burn on the steps of the Tennessee State Capitol in Nashville in 1920 complete with mama’s letter in his pocket before going in to cast his historic vote. (Click on image to enlarge.)
For an amendment to be passed, 36 of the then 48 states had to ratify it. Thirty-five states had done so, but one more was needed. In Tennessee, it was a hot-button issue with passions raging on both sides. It came down to a 48-48 deadlock in the vote, and the young Harry had yet to make his decision.
Harry had received a letter from his mother urging him to vote in favor of the issue, a letter he kept in his suit coat pocket as he sat there in chambers while all the heated debates raged on. Ultimately he voted to ratify, which was the final approval needed for the amendment to be the law of the land, all thanks to a letter from mama.
The art is a bit of a mixed media endeavor. It is partially traditional with warm gray colored pencil outlines, black ink wash, and then color tinting was added within Photoshop to help give it an old-timey feel.
Now that it’s August, we’ve officially reached those hazy, lazy days of summer. It’s the kind of time that is best spent in the shade by a stream with your best buddy. There’s a slight breeze, the sound of bees buzzing nearby, and without a care in the world.
This original 11×15″ watercolor and colored pencil illustration is for sale. $800, shipping included if in the United States.
Since April 15 is usually the day, it seems awfully odd to me to type this today, but 2020’s tax day is finally upon us TODAY. I think ol’ Uncle $crooge here is oblivious to that fact, because no doubt he owes a few sheckels to Uncle Sam.
You know, two cartoonists most influenced me when I was a child. The first was Peanuts creator Charles Schulz. The second was Carl Barks, the man who invented many characters for his Disney comics stories such as Scrooge McDuck, the Beagle Boys, Gyro Gearloose, Magica DeSpell, and the list goes on. He also invented the idea of ol’ Scroogey being able to swim through his three cubic acres of cash as if it was water off a duck’s back.
A little morning swim is good for the pores.
This is my take on a classic pose Barks drew his signature character in many times in many of the 500 stories he did for Disney comics. If you don’t know his work, definitely use some of your tax refund this year to pick up some of the great hardcover reprints that have been published by Fantagraphic Books in the past few years!
Earlier this year, I received an assignment from Clubhouse Magazine, a magazine for kids published by Focus on the Family. They wanted a boy exercising the old school activity of writing a physical letter to help advertise Clubhouse‘s summer pen pal program for kids!
So, a little watercolor paint and colored pencil later, here it is as seen on the back cover of the May 2020 issue of the magazine, then my own scan of the original art.
I’ve heard of the long arm of the law, but long face?
This sketch came about in a strange way. I just decided to see if I could fit three faces on the height of one page in my sketchbook. Mystery solved. I did it.
I have been working on something over the past five months that I haven’t talked much about publicly, but today is the day to unveil it. The Society of Illustrators of Los Angeles (SILA) asked me to run their annual illustration competition this year, known as Illustration West. This is the 59th consecutive year of this contest, and I am honored that they have entrusted it to me.
So, as the Show Chair of Illustration West 59, I am pleased to announce that today is our launch of the Call For Entries!! Folks around the globe may visit IllustrationWest.org to see our amazing list of judges comprised of award-winning and highly respected leaders of the illustration industry, review the many categories they may enter, and check out the requirements for submissions.
I was also invited by SILA to create this year’s Call For Entries poster, which was thrilling and a little intimidating. I decided to work up a spoof of monster movie posters from the 1950s, setting it firmly in Los Angeles where our contest takes place!
The art is a combination of traditional watercolor, gouache, and colored pencil with a touch of digital for good measure. Click on image to enlarge.
I wanted to give a special shout-out to my buddy Andy Heckathorne for donating his graphic design skills to creating the type for the poster. It lends just the right touch of vintage monster movie nostalgia to the image!
I am absolutely thrilled with the people who agreed to be judges this year. While you can go to the Illustration West website to read all about them and see samples of their work, I’m more than happy to share with you the list right now:
The deadline for our call for entries is October 31, 2020, after which our judges will be busy reviewing the submissions in November, leading to a physical art show in Los Angeles in February 2021 where the winners will be revealed!
My thanks to everyone on our judging committee, and for my fellow SILA board members and staff who have been involved in helping to get the contest this far!
If interested in joining SILA, or just to learn more about this arts organization that was founded in 1953, visit their website si-la.org.
