I’ve got trouble, Brotha!

Better late than never today! Continuing our series of ink-wash sketches of characters from “LOST”, this week’s subject is one of my favorite characters, Desmond Hume as portrayed by Henry Ian Cusick.

BTW- due to many requests I have set up a page with all the caricatures from this little LOST sketch series collected in it. You can see it here and always find a handy link under “Pages” on the top of my blogroll on the right of any blog page.

We might be seeing this ugly guy a bit over the next two weeks… I’ve got a lot on my plate just now.

Over on Mark Evanier‘s terrific News From ME blog you’ll find this post about the passing away of Mienhardt Raabe, who was one of the last surviving cast members of the Wizard of Oz, specifically of the Munchkins. He played the munchkin coroner. Mr. Raabe was 94.

I never met Mr. Raabe but I was honored to have some of my artwork included in a book about his life… a very unique book not only because it told a fascinating tale about a very fascinating man who lived a very fascinating life… of which playing a munchkin in “The Wizard of OZ” was only a brief part, but because of the tremendous collection of pieces of art that were created for it by a whole lot of names any cartoon/comic book buff will recognize.

I got involved with the project when I was contacted in 2002 by an energetic young naval officer by the name of Daniel Kinske, who wanted to commission me to do an illustration for this book he was working on. The book was “Memories of a Munchkin“, the afore mentioned autobiography Mr. Raabe, assisted by Lt. Dan (can’t resisit calling him that!). Lt. Dan met Mr. Raabe and decided here was a man who had a life story that needed to be told. Mr. Raabe apparently needed some convincing, being a very humble and unassuming man. He finally relented and Lt. Dan worked tirelessly to get the book done.

The most interesting parts of his tale are not the usual stories about the film and behind the scenes anecdotes, it is the truly amazing life of Mr. Raabe before and after the film. At four foot six inches, Mr. Raabe encountered a lot of adversity and challenges in life, yet he did and saw more than most of us will ever imagine. He worked in fairs and exhibitions in “midget villages”, which were somewhat like sideshow attractions. Yet he paid his way through college, graduating from the University of Wisconsin. He achieved a pilot’s license and flew planes in the Civil Air Patrol in World War II. He spent thirty years as “little Oscar”, spokesman for the Oscar Mayer Company (he drove the Wienermobile). He also married, taught and traveled the country as an educator. This little synopsis does not do proper credit to his story.

Mr. Raabe’s tales is worth the price of the book alone, but thanks to Lt. Dan there is another facet to this book that makes it of interest to cartoon buffs, and MAD Magazine fans in particular. Lt. Dan is a longtime MAD and caricature art fan, and one of the concepts of his book was to enlist some past and present MAD artists to do illustrations for inclusion. This began small, as finding many of these artists was a task in itself. I was contacted by Lt. Dan early as my website made me easier to get in touch with, and I was so taken with his enthusiasm I helped him contact a number of other MAD artists. This aspect of the project began to take on a life of it’s own, I suspect.

The end result is that this book quietly contains one of the most incredible collections of caricature and humorous illustration you will ever see. The cover has done by Al Hirschfeld, and is one of the last (if not THE last) pieces he did before he passed away. Inside are original commissions by MAD artists Jack Davis, Mort Drucker, Sergio Aragones, Al Jaffee, Paul Coker Jr., Angelo Torres, Al Feldstein, Bob Clark, Sam Viviano, Rick Tulka, Tom Bunk, Duck Edwing, Peter Kuper, Frank Kelly Freas, Herman Mejia, Monte Wolverton, Bill Wray, Drew Friedman, Liz Lomax and Ray Alma. Also featured are comic and illustration greats like Sebastian Krüger, Frank Frazetta, Greg Hildebrandt, Drew Struzan, Anita Kunz, Bernie Wrightson, Don Perlin and several others. The artwork is really a one of a kind collection. Do yourself a favor and check out this book.

I was sorry to hear of the passing of Mr. Raabe, but I think most would count themselves lucky to have lived such a life as he did.

Q: Have you ever had a client that wanted things done in a certain way that looked bad? Did you try to educate them, refuse to do the project, or just complete it as they asked even if you thought it looked bad?

A: Yes, certainly. There have been many times where I disagreed with the art director/client’s idea of what would result in the best solution for their project.

There are basically three kinds of art directors:

1. The “do whatever you want” ones- These are the ones that tell you what the project is and then let you do whatever you want without direction. These are very rare, and although it sounds like it would be the best type of scenario that is not the case. I prefer the art director to be engaged in the project and to explain what they want and provide feedback at the various stages. Letting me do whatever I want might be fun but it doesn’t guarantee the client will be pleased with the final result. It’s the AD’s job to communicate the client’s needs to me and usually this type provides little of that communication.
2. The “open minded but informed” ones- these are the best to work with. They value the creative input of the illustrator and fully participate in the process. They usually begin with a detailed description of the project’s needs and then let me as the illustrator come up with my ideas for possible end results. Then they provide direct and smart feedback and direction to take my ideas and make them work with the client’s needs to create a solution that is both successful and artistically strong. They are sometimes tough but they never refuse to listen to my thoughts and can be persuaded if I feel strongly about a certain concept or direction if my arguments are strong enough.
3. The “my way or the highway” ones- these are single minded, stubborn folks who think their ideas are genius and there is no room for another idea or solution. They have a clear cut vision of the final result and hire an illustrator not as a creative collaborator but as a “wrist” who just executes their vision. If the idea is ineffective or just plain stupid they do not care, they don’t want to hear any alternatives. The worst part of this interaction is if a client ends up not liking the final result, this type of AD will blame the illustrator rather than confessing it was their idea all along.

The scenario you are asking the question about would relate to the last two types of art directors. If the AD is such a case as a type 2, I would present my ideas and discuss why I think they might work better. If they were a type 3, then I’d just save my breath. I might persuade the type 2 AD my concept was a better solution, and I might not. Either way the fact they are willing to listen and consider my point of view is appreciated.

No matter which type I was dealing with, I would absolutely follow through with the project and complete it to the client’s satisfaction. I can usually take any idea and still execute a piece of art I don’t mind my name being signed to, but I suppose if it came to really hating something I was embarrassed by (and I cannot envision a scenario where that would happen) I might ask them not to credit me. I would never not fulfill my agreed upon obligations nor complain once my ideas were rejected over the completion of a job. I might refuse to ever work for that client or art director again if the experience was truly terrible, but refuse to finish a job as long as they were fulfilling their end of the bargain as far as the agreement and compensation went? Never. Unprofessional.

Thanks to Sharprm for the question. If you have a question you want answered for the mailbag about cartooning, illustration, MAD Magazine, caricature or similar, e-mail me and I’ll try and answer it here!

FYI- This Sunday Mailbag post was written and posted en route from Hartford Connecticut to Minneapolis, Minnesota at 34,000 feet via an inflight wifi internet connect… ain’t technology wonderful!

Over on the Alan Gardner‘s excellent blog The Daily Cartoonist I found a link via Tom Spurgeon‘s excellent blog The Comic Reporter to this excellent post concerning the solicitation of creative work for free. I have written about this topic before here and here, and previously linked to the video above, which was mentioned in the comment discussion on the Daily Cartoonist. Another great (and funny) example of this kind of thing is an e-mail exchange between a graphic designed and an art director who was trying to get him to do some graphs and graphics for nothing that was floating about the interwebby recently but I can;t seem to find the kink… anybody know what I’m referring to?.

The bottom line is simply that a professional creative person makes a living creating whatever it is they create, and they should not give that work away for nothing. I’m not talking about stuff for a charity or causes that someone wishes to support, I’m talking about a commercial endeavor that someone else stands to make a profit on… or at least expects to.

I am on my way today to the bustling town of Agawam, Massachusetts to help set up and draw at my theme park caricature operation there at Six Flags New England. Yes, I will actually be drawing in the park on opening day (tomorrow), so come on by and get a caricature done!

I’m pretty busy (read: SWAMPED) in the studio right now prior to another trip to another theme park to open up another caricature operation for the season… this time in Springfield, Massachusetts at Six Flags New England. On the return from the last trip I found that The Lovely Anna had bought a copy of 1001 MAD Pages You Must Read Before You Die (Crammed into 864 Actual Pages) for me. This is another “Barnes and Noble” exclusive book like MAD About the Movies: The Director’s Cut printed in black and white and at a smaller size than the magazine pages. I was surprised to see I have two pieces in this hefty tome… one is the parody of “Watchmen” and the other is a two pager I did making fun of the iPod ads with the black silhouettes and white earbuds. Here’s a couple of panels from that article, written by Russ Cooper. Click any for a closer look…:

I’m not convinced any of this stuff is among 1001 pages from MAD you must read before you die, but it’s always a hoot to see my work in one of the MAD books. This bargain priced hardcover now resides in it’s proper place in the house… right next to the toilet.

This week’s sketch continues our ink-wash countdown to the series finale of “LOST”. Our subject this week is Ken Leung, who portrays Miles Straume, the son of one of the Dharma Initiative’s main scientists and a man who can hear the dead speak… I couldn’t resist the little gag. Definitely not my most successful attempt with this technique, but you can’t win them all.

Artwork © 2010 Hermann Mejia

Back a weekend or two ago I visited NYC and got a chance to sit in on a mini watercolor workshop with some pals and MAD artist Hermann Mejia. Hermann did s few demos for us and gave us pointers while we slapped the paint around. He also did a couple of quick studies himself. He gave me the little treasure above, an unfinished watercolor “sketch” of Sarah Jessica Parker. His painting seems so effortless. Amazing stuff.

The iPad has been out for all of two days and already we are seeing apps that demonstrate not only how much more this device is than the “bigger iPod Touch” naysayers are dismissing it as, but exactly the kind of content delivery that it and it’s eventual ancestors are going to revolutionize the publication industry with.

Take the new Marvel Comics app. It’s a free app that is used as a gateway to the buying of single issues or a series from Marvel. They have both an iPhone version and an iPad version. Comparing the screenshots of two you can instantly see how the larger screen and form factor of the iPad changes the entire experience of reading a comic on a portable device. Flip the page with your finger, see the entire page on a vertical screen, zoom in for a closer look, browse the entire comic via a thumbnail gallery… all on a screen the same size as a real comic book. Wow. You can preview before you buy an issue, buy single issues or an entire series. You can also buy back issues. The app also syncs with your marvel.com account to back up all your purchased comics, so if your computer goes belly up or you get a new one you can access your entire library with your replacement device. Personally I think $1.99 per issue is a little pricey for a single issue. 99 cents seems more in line to me, but the market will work itself out with pricing.

I cannot imagine any publication not getting on board distributing and selling it’s content via a free proprietary app like this. The logical next step is to have subscribed content delivered via “push”, which would download your issue of MAD or People Weekly or your local daily newspaper right to your device while you are sleeping so it’s waiting for you when you are eating breakfast at the kitchen table, riding the train to work, taking a coffee break, etc with no need to have an active wifi connection or pay to use the 3G network. That kind of convenience, portability and the form factor/interface will get people to part with some money as they understand the difference between this and having to sit in front of your computer or laptop somewhere with a wifi connection and use it’s clunky web-based interface. No doubt publishers will quickly offer only limited content for free on it’s websites as well.

Hopefully DC will follow suit here and create a similar delivery system for it’s comics and maybe MAD.