Jim asked Sandy about the above drawing Sandy: Back in the 80's Marvel put out a series of comics called The Official Handbook to the Marvel Universe which, collectively, served as something of an encyclopedia to their burgeoning stable of characters. I did a few drawing for the series, including one of a minor character named Jarella who, apparently, was the Hulk's main squeeze at the time. I really wasn't happy with the results (despite a nice inking job by Joe Rubinstein) but so it goes. Years later, though, a French fanzine called Back Up ran an extensive interview with me and tried to build their readership with that issue by offering a premium. They had me do a limited edition print that would be available for free to those who took the opportunity to subscribe. I used this as a chance to redraw that Jarella piece and bring it up to snuff, or at up to my satisfaction, this time adding a Burroughs-esque background to suggest that she was something other than a Marvel character. And that's that. Handbook to the Marvel University's Jarella Fanzine's Jarella with Burroughs-esque background Jim asked Sandy about the above painting
Sandy: This piece was something of an exercise. Most of my color work is done kind of coloring book style. I do a black and white drawing and then start coloring in, trying not to go outside the black line. One gets a MUCH different effect if one eliminates the line drawing. The piece will feel much more like a true painting and less like an illustration. This portrait of Tarzan and Jane was one my numerous attempts to ween myself off the use of line and paint directly over the penciled drawing. Unfortunately, the illustration board I was using began to behave badly—it started to produce what's known as a 'granulated texture' as I put down the glazes of color. Sometimes you can make that effect work for you, but not when trying to capture the texture of flesh, and this was a particularly bad case of granulation. So, after a good cry, I abandoned the piece. Jim asked Sandy about the above drawing
Sandy: A fellow by the name of Rod Nippert gave me a call one day way back when, wanting me to come up with something to use for a new venture he was embarking on: raspberry farming. Seemed like my big chance—an opportunity to break into into the lucrative field of southeastern Ohio produce art. Well, not really. Rod didn't have much money to pay for the work, but for a month or two I was eating more red raspberries than you could imagine. He used the logo on his business cards and eventual had it blown up and put on the side of his pickup. |
BLOGaboutPlunkett-fan Jim Harris interviewing Sandy about past and present projects. Archives
January 2021
Categories
All
|