Manny Acta and the Long Road to Washington
Posted by Steve Wacksman at 11:31 am on June 16th
Manny Acta, Nationals manager and traveling man.
The Washington Times contacted me last week looking for a portrait of Nationals manager Manny Acta. The article focused on Mr Acta's many professional stops along the way and the AD hoped that my portrait could somehow reflect that .
On The Inevitable Extinction Of The Human Race or What, Me Worry?
Posted by Steve Wacksman at 11:56 am on May 27th
Last week I was contacted by the great Greg Klee, he of the Boston Globe and a client with which I've been fortunate to have a long and fruitful relationship. And though I've never met the man in the flesh, I imagine him to be a dashing gentleman who dresses to the nines, has impeccable manners and can crush walnuts with his bare hands. In short, a man for the ages.
He briefed me like so ( and I paraphrase, but just barely):
" Some scientist or another claims that if we found fossils on Mars it'd mean that intelligent life is more common throughout the universe that we think and since we're a neighboring planet it would mean that we're next in line for extinction"
Or something like that. The details, as presented. were fuzzy. Never deterred by lack of understanding, Greg and I carved out a two part solution:
A) Mars Rover discovering fossils on Mars
B) Alien Probe discovering fossilized human remains on a barren Earth.
I've always enjoyed drawing machinery (excepting bicycles which, like cattle, are hard to draw). In this particular instance I turned in a finish with which I was pleased, only to have an editor feel that it needed revisiting. Such are the pitfalls of collaborative efforts.
Having not read the scientist's argument, i might have misunderstood, but I assumed that human extinction would not have been brought about by our own hand. I drew an intact city in the background, implying that humankind perished due to plague. I like to think Monkeypox, but only because I think it's a funny name for a disease. The editor, on the other hand, imagined it would be due to warfare and requested that I demolish the city. He furthermore opined that the alien rover looked too familiar and asked that I strip it of its treads and make it a hovercraft.
Armed with the knowledge of our imminent demise, I threw caution to the wind and polished off an entire case of Genesee Cream Ale this weekend.
Zombots From The Past!
Posted by Steve Wacksman at 9:42 am on May 12th
The Front, natch.
Here's a little something from the archives..
I did my "Zombot" pencils for Pentech in 1992 I think- as I'd done almost nothing of note at that point, I haven't any idea how the Art Director found me, but find me she did and she was incredibly gracious and a joy to work for. After we'd discussed the project over the phone she sent out a large padded envelope full of samples. Artists that contributed to the aptly-named "Cool Art" series included Peter Bagge, Drew Friedmen, Gary Panter, Mitch O'Connell, and Drawger's own Elwood Smith and Lou Brooks.
I was deeply and inexorably under the spell of Charles Burns at the time and was drawing decayed flesh and robots on everything. Thus the Zombot pencil was born, although to a deafening roar of indifference from the pencil-buying community who evidently preferred their school and office supplies less...cool. I received a fairly handsome compensation from Pentch as I recall and two large cases of the product. As I lived in a cramped Manhattan rabbit hutch with no storage space whatsoever, I gave away as many of the pencils as I could, consolidated the remaining pencils into one box and eventually 'stored' them at my friends' families beach house on long Island. Where they are now is anyone's guess, but I'd be willing to bet an outer-borough landfill became their final resting place.
The only time I actually came across them in a retail environment was when I was browsing the aisles at a Big Lots store in Northern Kentucky (don't ask).
Regardless of whether these set the world on fire they were great fun to do and an interesting and creative use of some great artwork by some of the days best artists. And no, I'm not including myself in that bunch- like I said, I'm mystified by how I came to be amongst the chosen few. But I was a snotty kid back then and reveled in my status as a 'young gun' and probably didn't give it a second thought. In hindsight it was quite an honor.
Technical note: The artwork was inked at 250%, photostatted onto acetate and painted with Cel-Vinyl animation paints. The copy was written by the inestimable David Burd, who is as good a human being as he is a copywriter. And that's saying something, bub.
PS: The pencils, of which I have no photographic record, were indeed cool; a melange of decayed flesh and veins overlaying a background of bolted together metal plates. Trust me, they ruled.
Pets
Posted by Steve Wacksman at 4:55 pm on February 29th
Okie and Champ make themselves comfortable on the kitchen floor.
Pets are the greatest people I know. We love 'em so much around here that one wasn't enough. Last Sunday we adopted Champ aka Tiny Tiger through Adopt-A-Boxer Rescue and we couldn't be happier about it. Okie and Champ are settling in nicely as these photos would suggest.
Champ was given up by his previous owners because he 'barked, chewed, dug the houseplants, attacked the vacuum cleaner and soiled the house.' After 5 short days here he's exhibited none of those behaviors; he needed nothing more than consistency, guidance and (most of all, I suspect) exercise. 45 mins in the park every morning and he's a prince all day long.
And I vacuumed today, too. Welcome home, Champ. we're glad you're here.
Piggybacking To Vancouver
Posted by Steve Wacksman at 11:17 am on February 17th
This gentleman received a hefty settlement after a melee with a security guard left him bruised and toothless
A short while ago I was contacted (via Illoz- vive le Illoz!) by a Mr Randall Watson on behalf of Vancouver Magazine. He had a handful of spots to accompany an article spotlighting the Worst of Vancouver in the year of 2007.
Being a fairly crabby man who finds great solace in complaining I felt confident that Mr Watson had reached out to the right man for the job. It was great fun and Randall was a joy to work with; he let me do what I do and made a few suggestions all of which were helpful. A rare job in which I felt neither shorted for time or money- both were ample.
I've found a friend in our neighbors to the North. In fact, most of my best gigs in recent years have swept down on the icy arctic Canadian breeze. Thank you, gentle friends. Labatt's and back bacon for the house! I'm buying!
A patient whisked off to the ER found to bleed green blood. Evidently this is common amongst Vulcans.
A young woman was apprehended in a supermarket after complaints that she was stabbing the produce and menacing the customers with large knives.
Within a month police discovered two left feet floating in the river.
Plans to populate Stanley Park with life-size mechanical dinosaurs provoke outrage
A family calls police to surrender a human skull found in their linen closet. Apparently it had been in the family for years although no one knew to whom it belonged.
Exhibitor Spread
Posted by Steve Wacksman at 1:52 pm on January 23rd
The final art, although considerably smaller than actual size.
Recently the fine folks at Exhibitor Magazine displayed their good breeding and exceptional taste by hiring us to produce a double page spread for their fine publication. Well played, Exhibitor. Well played.
The brief that was sent to us via electronic mail revealed that the piece would be a hard-hitting expose of the often questionable tactics used to draw attention to oneself in the competitive arena of the trade show. An example cited in the brief had one desperate outfit dressing midgets ( their words, not mine. Little people need not bombard our PR staff with angry missives) as Mexicans and filling their sombreros with chips and salsa. The project proved impossible to resist.
Also included in the spread were naked cowboys, urinating statues, man dressed as prophylactics, scantily-clad pizza slinging tarts... a regular comic smorgasbord.
As is becoming more and more common here in the hallowed halls of Drawger, I'm including a look at the 'process' as it were. Here's a snippet of the sketch. All characters were scanned and saved as separate layers then scaled and moved about as need be. The intention was to have each character be an individual color to differentiate one from the other.
It was decided the sexual aids were a bit risque for the publication's genteel readership.
I labored like a one-legged tapdancer trying to get the colors satisfactory. It was an uphill climb but I finally nailed it. I sent a progress report to the client who countered that she preferred a more limited palette.
That night in the wee hours I sprung from my bed inspired. I summoned my manservant to prepare a mug of hot cocoa with a dash of whiskey. And I rummaged through the stacks until I uncovered my inspiration- Roger Duvoisin's "Petunia". A symphony composed solely in 3 colors. I pointed and clicked well into the night and by sunup had finally achieved a satisfying solution.
When Books Are Outlawed..
Posted by Steve Wacksman at 11:10 am on December 20th
..only outlaws will read books.
Many of the books that have been banned from schools and libraries in the past are now considered literary classics and in some institutions are 'required reading'.
It may surprise you to know that such beloved classics as Lolita, Ulysses, Brave New World, Fahrenheit 451 and The Lorax have been banned in these United States at one point in history.
A closer look at Ol' Scratch, bibliophile and reigning prince of darkness.
A Little Hocus-Pocus From A Non-Believer
Posted by Steve Wacksman at 1:19 pm on December 10th
Several years ago my career as an illustrator was flourishing in a manner I never could have foreseen. Despite the fact that my abilities were meager and my attitude was unfailingly bad, my work was sought after by a multitude of clients. Recently I was looking over some of my past output that I'd archived and largely forgotten about. One of the works that simultaneously intrigued me and brought upon stinging waves of shame was a series of tarot cards I'd done for Comedy Central. I'm afraid I can't recall the reason I was called upon to produce them, but the drawings themselves were such clumsy lefthanded scrawlings I was shocked that they were ever deemed acceptable by the client. In any event, I was inspired to revisit them. Here are the results. I am too ashamed to show the originals, although I recognize the appeal of comparing before and after. Sorry.
OK, fine. I'm showing the originals, but under duress. I agree, it makes for a more interesting post. Have at 'em.
The Dreams Keep Me Awake
Posted by Steve Wacksman at 1:49 pm on December 3rd
A recent triptych entitled "Scared, Scarred, Sacred".
People often ask me about my 'personal work'- do I paint or do any 'fine art' work? I bristle at the notion that what I do professionally is perceived as anything less than 'personal work', No matter what the content, it always reflects my sensibilities and mine alone, and is the distillation of all my numerous influences. I have always been an illustrator, even well before I was paid to be. With very few exceptions my influences have their roots in some facet of commercial art.
That said, I do have books and books of sketches that were done for no particular purpose other than my own amusement. Looking over them recently I saw a scrawling in the margin of one page of a cartoonish weeping heart. For whatever reason it stuck with me and invaded several of my recent sketches as well.
I've had this title and a vague idea attached to it kicking around for a while. I finally grabbed a few hours to put it together.
