Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Artistic Memoirees © 2008 stevens


The 60's  again... Before we adjourn back to the 60's,I'd like to stop for a moment  to visit the  50's 
 I remember as a child in grade school, how we had to duck under
our desk and cover our heads, for a mock Nuclear Bomb Blast drill.
Well, perhaps not everyone remembers, but I sure do !
 The Government even had a cute jingle created for it,
 and a cartoon character. 
A Turtle.... How appropriate.
The song was called "Duck & Cover".
 Can you imagine how safe that would be, to bury your head in your hands, and sit under a desk,while an atomic blast lit up the sky from an azure blue to a hellfire red!
Someone commissioned me years ago to draw a cartoon depicting this innocent act of insanity.
 There are many subtleties within the cartoon
 see the cartoon below ( with my apologies) especially the eyes !
If you have any interest in Duck  
& Cover, or how it all came about , visit www.conelrad.com
It's an interesting bit of information, and a fun read.
Now back to the 60's, 
Through my High School years  of  back pain, Back Braces, Body Casts, 
Traction Devices in the Hospital, and finally a Back Operation 
 for a Herniated Disc at the 
ripe old age of 15, I graduated High School.
 In 1965, I attended the School of Visual Arts, (SVA)  at night, for their
Comic Art Workshop class,The teachers were Chas Slackman,
and R O Blechman. The class consisted of about 15 people, 
Roz chast , later to become an incredible, unique cartoonist , with 
publications like New Yorker, and many others to her credit.
 Bill Lee, a cartoonist, and also the past  cartoon editor of Penthouse magazine 
 Bill Woodman, a funny, funny cartoonist, with many publications under his belt. and  Elcik, , Hudson, , Martelli,. Golden, , and so many more.
Each humorist had their own view, and creative approach to cartooning. 
R O Blechman, was the cartoonist who created the animated cartoon about a man talking to his
 stomach,  shown here.
I believe it was alka seltzer... 
His style was a squigley line, quite wonderful, and award winning. His list of clients are the who's who of industry.
View his web site at www.roblechman.com, and see some wonderful creativity.
I'm sorry I could not locate a web site for Chas Slackman,, I am still searching through my library of books,. If minds serves me well, I recall his style as being illustrative, with great crosshatching, but , of course that was over 40 years ago.
As I recall, Chas Slackman, was a large gentleman, with a handlebar moustache,, and a cigarette holder, and his style of ilustration was uniquely different from Blechman's. All in all, it was a wonderful class.
See, www.schoolofvisualarts.ed to find more about creative ventures, and learning opportunities
At the end of the session a small book was created. with only the best cartoons.,. Alright, I already admitted that I was new to this territory, and yes, you will not find my cartoons in the issue.
One evening as I was leaving  SVA, I bumped into , Nick Meglin. Somehow we briefly got into a conversation about Mad Magazine, and before I knew it I was carpooling home to, Lynbrook, Long Island with, Al Jaffe, and a few other Mad Magazine cartoonist,. They offered me a ride home, since I only lived one town away from Nick Meglin. That was , as you can see, a night to remember.
I will display some of my art to show you my humble beginnings, frightfully, tomorrow.

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