Inspiration or People Really Do Matter!

In November of 1963, President John Fitzgerald Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. The nation was in mourning ... various countries in the world had their own turmoil ... and a seven year old boy had a pencil! After a few months, the nation began moving forward, the countries of the world blamed each other for their problems, and I began to work on a memorial drawing to honor President Kennedy. I didn't know what else to do...everyone was in shock over the incident and all I could think of was that maybe a drawing would somehow tell someone in the White House that I was sorry and mourning in my own way. I found the perfect reference photo from an issue of LIFE magazine and set down to draw. Freehand illustration takes control, precision, and lots and lots and lots of practice...sometimes the magic works, sometimes it don't. I worked on it for hours and hours until I thought I had a good likeness. When I was finished, my parents helped me package it up very carefully and send it to the White House. I don't even want to think about how bad the drawing was...it was the thought that mattered! Shortly afterward I received a letter from President Lyndon Johnson's personal secretary, telling me how much my gift was appreciated. I couldn't believe my eyes! I not only felt satisfaction that I'd done a good thing, but in turn I realized I had an audience! Tiny, almost imperceptible, but it was there nonetheless! Oh, don't get me wrong, the short letter was almost generic in context, but it was a reaction to my work!

I could hear gears turning in my little head!

After that, I couldn't get my hands on enough things to draw, whether from photographs or comic books, or from life itself, which still holds the most beautiful treasures you could ever discover with a pencil or a camera lens! Cars and buildings were a problem and they still are, but believe me I don't lose sleep over it! But I thought "a true artist" would be able to draw anything anytime without looking at any reference at all! Yeah, right! Whoever started that lamebrained way of thinking should have a colonic with a garden hose!...my treat! Every artist uses reference! Every artist studies their subject matter before they begin a final illustration...sometimes in the form of small "thumbnail sketches," aptly titled as they're usually pretty small, but give you an idea of layout and size of your subject(s)!

Once you have an idea of how you want your drawing to look, you can move into securing good reference shots or whatever you need for inspiration...I'm fortunate that I can look at a photo of most anything and "turn it" in my mind's eye and draw it with some level of accuracy...that's proven to be an invaluable asset in my professional career. Also, I had no clue as a child that drawing the Superman typeface-logo in perspective (at least 10,478 times) would prove so beneficial in my line of work...I often illustrate and make up typefaces for things such as "Once Upon A Time..." (or in Italian) "C'era` una volta..." which will appear in my book! Even the book title for the cover of "There's a Crazy Dog Under the Palace!"

Generally, you'll pull things you like from reference shots and use them, changing them into your vision, without following them to the letter...but once in awhile you find something so special that you decide to draw it "as is," because there's really no way to improve upon it! For this drawing of "the crazy grandma," (who in the book will yell "That dog...she's CRAZY!")  I found a old photo from a book about the 1950's and 1960's in Sicily...but she was yelling with grief over a loved one being shot! But I didn't see it that way...and I drew her (with that beautiful body language!) as part of my opening montage about the townspeople's reaction to Princess Jasmine!

In closing for now (geez, I didn't know I was going to write this much!), people are important to me....yes, they're my strong suit in illustration, but they can impact you in so many ways, from a boy's memories about a fallen president, to the unusual person you might encounter running for a bus! Open yourself up to what's around you ... how people can affect you, and in turn, how you may affect others! It's fun!