Vacation post

  all images, c. kevin sprouls

Surf’s Up, Dude! I’ve been spending time out in Studio B, in North Wildwood, NJ, since March 16th (off and on). The snapshot above is from a month ago, early May, and the water was still pretty cold. This relocation may partly explain why these posts have dropped a bit in frequency. My workload is also pretty heavy right now. Lucky for me I can steal off to the sea once in a while.

In this posting, I’m bringing out some “conceptual” illustrations. Most were produced while I was at The Wall Street Journal. The telephone illustration was done after my tenure at The Journal was up. It was created for one of the telephone companies of the day… maybe Sprint or MCI.

Produced for a full-page newspaper ad. circa 1990.

The one below won me a gold medal from one of the newspaper organizations. For some reason, a big fuss was made out of it.

 

While I was at The Wall Street Journal, the paper went from a one-section broadsheet to two sections. We illustrators on staff (as well as an increasing number of freelance artists from outside our stable) would be called on to create larger format artwork for the new section. The image above would be introducing a story about the enormous amounts of paper generated by an office building. circa. mid-80′s.

From the same time, also for the expanded newspaper format that The Journal had adopted. This image had to do with the developing practice of global wireless banking transactions.

That will have to suffice for now, dear reader. It’s off to the drawing table once again for me. Don’t worry, though. I’ll be heading to the beach before you know it…

the Wall Street Journal, Human Interest

 

At The New Yorker, final chapter

  all images, c. Kevin Sprouls

  As I said, my output for the New Yorker magazine was produced between 1989 and 1991. The following images, all as they appeared (only larger) in the original black & white “Goings On About  Town” format:

A scene from the 1949 film, “All the King’s Men”. Broderick Crawford, Joanne Dru played leading roles. A great hash was apparently made over this drawing, as someone requested the pre-press office to make the coat over Crawford’s arm “darker”. I struggled for many years trying to get various and sundry production people to print my work very dark. They rarely seemed to get it. The “coat darkening” was totally unnecessary as long as the drawing as a whole was adequately under-exposed, as you see here.

From the 1936 Japanese War Noir film, “Osaka Elegy” of Kenji Mizoguchi. I incorporated a lot of tightly controlled linear technique here, as I felt it would strengthen the already powerful image. Once again, seeking to get my name out there, bottom left!

A portrayal of American Conceptual/Minimalist artist Sol LeWitt. I took a piece of his art (the grid element here), and carefully inserted marks into it, building up his likeness. My good friend at the Journal, Hai Knafo, especially liked this piece.

A vibrant Kathleen Turner, circa her days working with Michael Douglas and Danny DeVito. I remember getting this assignment just before a trip to North Carolina with my wife and two kids. As I have done pretty frequently in ensuing years, I set up at the dining room table and went to work at my in-laws’ place. With the New Yorker, you only got a couple of days to turn in a job!

Another instance of artwork created “on the hoof”, I produced this one while visiting a close friend on the outskirts of New York. I recall sitting at a basement table, cool and dark, to perform my services. I don’t know anything about this image, except for the title “Enemies” that someone at the New Yorker scrawled on the back of the artwork. So, this bizarre and (to me) rather off-putting image also contains a mystery— for now!

At the New Yorker, part 3

 all images, c. Kevin Sprouls

 

   During my brief spell of association with the New Yorker, as I mentioned, all of the      illustration work in the Goings-On-About-Town section were created for black+white  reproduction. I thought this a distinctive attribute, and that it set the “calendar of events”  department nicely apart. As an exercise, I thought it would be useful to try colorizing some of my more interesting illustrations from this body of work.

 A still from the 30′s or 40′s. My good friend, Mark Lonergan, describes the credits this way: “The women…are Ruth Chatterton and Mary Astor, who appeared together in William Wyler’s 1936 ‘Dodsworth.’    …I think.” I’m sure he’s nailed it. Note the condescending haughtiness of the society elite vs. the desperate social aspirant who’s pining for an out-of-reach object of desire. Am I reading too much into this?

This is the original used in the G.O.A.T. section. Back in those days (early-90′s), I had an Agfa production camera which came in very handy for assembling images for mechanical boards, reproducing images for my portfolios, and even scaling photos for producing illustrations. I developed a technique using transparency film, whereby I would take the black + white artwork, make a film overlay from it, and then create a color backdrop on board. The end-result tended to be graphic and effective, when successful– but it was a ton of work!

This image was perhaps the first time I utilized the process. The art was not produced for the New Yorker, but as a self-promotional piece for my young, thin portfolio (ca.1987). In the days before google images, a good place to dig for source materials was the New York City public library’s picture collection. One could spend hours combing through old photographs there! I found a still photo from the movie “Beckett”, of this brilliant Peter O’Toole moment, and took it back to my studio to spend a weekend with it. The result, above, is probably the piece I get the biggest response from, even today. Below, you can view the original, black + white artwork.

Another New Yorker assignment announced the screening of one of my favorite cinema works, Cocteau’s 1946 film (though it seems much more archaic!) “Le Belle et La Bete”. I thought it was a good candidate for the color process. Below you’ll see the colorized art, and then as the image was originally produced for the New Yorker.

On a technical note, the colored backdrop boards were typically cold press (slightly toothy surface), upon which I applied watercolor washes, building up the colors. Because this medium is somewhat challenging to control, I worked up a further stage using colored pencils to sharpen and define the color fields, then whatever corrective gouache paint that became necessary.

Yes, this was commissioned by the New Yorker. I never considered putting this through the coloring process, as the image is somewhat bizarre, to put it mildly. Announcing the Copeland, Clarke, Holland pop-fusion ensemble “Animal Logic” of 1989. My apologies to the band— it wasn’t my idea!

The New Yorker years, part 2

 

  all images, c. kevin sprouls

   Going back through the vaults of my original art boards, I am struck by the relative consistency of the works I produced under the art direction of Chris Curry, at the New Yorker magazine in the early 1990′s. I’m a trifle disappointed the relationship didn’t continue longer than the 2-3 brief years it did, as I consider most of my pieces produced for the magazine fairly effective. During the years of my retainership, all of the G.O.A.T. art was in black and white. This was a design consideration, certainly. There may have been a change at the top that brought a close to my participation in the weekly publishing endeavor. I recall that this “Goings On About Town” section began using full color art spots concurrent with my departure from those pages.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! ca. 1990

The very first installment— David Strathairn and Jean Stapleton playing Pinter, 1989.

Rock ‘n Roll! ’80′s Rocker Sylvain Sylvain. A fun piece to draw. Gotta love that outfit…

Now here’s a musician for you. The fabulous bluesman, Robert Cray. I once heard this great guitar hero interviewed on radio. He told an interesting story about how the band made sure club owners would actually pay for gigs… By sending Cray into the back office at the end of the night with a bad-ass act. According to Cray, he was effective, though in truth he was just another sensitive musician type. I am sorry, dear reader, to delve into such lurid detail on this blog, but,… that’s Show Biz.

Antonio Tapies, expressionist painter. For this piece, I incorporated the painter’s strokes into my portrait.

Announcing the IBM sponsored exhibit, “Pompeii”. It was a real labor of love to be drawing all those individual tiles!

Although the hours were long, the notice was (indeed) short, and the pay unprincely, I must confess that these images, produced for the New Yorker, remain some of my favorite children.

The New Yorker Years, part 1

 all images, Kevin Sprouls

 

  In the years from 1989 to 1991, I enjoyed a regular (if rigorous) retainership from the New Yorker magazine. It didn’t pay a princely sum, but I was glad to have the coveted, prestigious exposure in this high profile weekly. Rigorous, in that I would receive a request for an illustration on a Tuesday afternoon, and be expected to ship art overnight on Thursday. Meaning, I had to drop everything else I was working on and devote myself entirely to the magazine for a day or two. I still enjoy magazine work today, and sometimes accept less than optimum terms for the pleasure of being published. Here, then, are a collection of my images that were printed in the New Yorker, for the “Goings On About Town”, or GOAT pages. Mainly, these were to publicize dramatic or cinematic events, concerts, etc.

For an Australian film, as I recall…

Publicizing the film, “Gremlins”

from a 1940′s flick… note the garter. Most de rigeur!

Fabulous African musician, Youssou N’Dour.

Bing Crosby and Mary Martin.

This was the “nail in the coffin” for me with the new Yorker. I thought, given the circumstances, this wasn’t such a bad image, but one of the A/D’s didn’t like MM’s visage in the 1st draft. What you see here is the original art, with a paper patch carrying a substitution of the starlet’s face. Sometimes relationships break off without apparent reason or warning!

at the Wall Street Journal, Part 2

 

 

 

  Images by Kevin Sprouls. Photographs, courtesy of Barbara Kelley

 

Gosh, are we in the 1920′s here?? Picture quality is definitely early rotogravure, or is that daguerreotype? No, it’s 1983, at my office Birthday party! At the Journal’s art department of this period, there was tremendous Esprit-de-corps, and any excuse to celebrate. Pictured are, l to r, back row: Priscilla Derven, Barbara Kelley (who made the ties), myself, Hai Knafo. Middle: Our boss, Stephen MacDonald. Bottom row: Roz Ryan, Diane Caro, and Posy Webber.

Steve, our boss, was one of the gems. Assigned to temporary service as art director over our collective (he was actually an editor/reporter for the paper), he ruled over a rich and harmonious epoch in the development of the department. One of those “Good Bosses”, I recall him dismissing a glassed-in partition for himself in favor of being “in the room” with the rest of us. This was a very far cry from his successor, I am sorry to report, dear reader.

Barbara and Posy, on the occasion of Posy’s Birthday. Barbara was the Queen of Hats, and made all of our festive headgear. I don’t recall the joke, but I believe it’s photo’s of the entertainment. This seems to have been taken in Chinatown, mid-80′s. Note the antiquated spelling– maybe just a typo, I think it is referring to our “now recognized” pointillistic popularity.

From an article on British Thatchers, interestingly, not the political kind. How naively quaint!

Musician Chuck Findley. The paper used to run a lot of “Human Interest” stories in the 80′s, particularly for the middle column, front page, named the ”A-head”. This image is very pointillistic. Good tonal range, I think.

 

An illustration for the “edit page”, that sported an arts and leisure appendage at that time. This is a direct (and convincing!) copy from my hand of an illuminated letter taken from a review of the book “The Story of Writing”, ca. mid-80′s. I was impressed enough by this treatise to have bought a copy for my elderly Aunt and Godmother, who had IMPECCABLE handwriting. After her passing, the tome went along to one of my siblings, I suspect.

 

One of my favorites— Billy the Kid. Note the snow-white breast, connoting innocence. I’ve always felt that folks having their pictures taken at this period in history typically have an exhausted look in their eyes. I tried to give his visage a more resilient character here.

I also like drawing flowers, things of beauty. I had the distinct pleasure of once knowing and working next to a master-gardener by the name of Vitus Boyesen. He was my mother’s gardener, and knew it all. I don’t mean in the sense of “know-it-all”— he was the real deal. His son, Hans Boye Boyesen, a talented and ambitious design studio head, taught me guitar and got me started in graphic arts as my tutor in high school days.

I feel indebted to so many! Hope you enjoy this installment. Many more to come…

at the Wall Street Journal

 all images, Kevin Sprouls

 

 

a card I was presented with on my Birthday, mid-80′s, by “Ginny the Chartist”. The dogs were labeled (libeled?) as my protege’s at that time. I still cherish this witty artefact.

This short blog entry presents a slice of my Wall Street Journal history. There will be many to follow, no doubt. Since the earliest days of my tenure there, and with the establishment of the new portrait style, a demand rose for more art work in the paper. Bear in mind that, back in my early years, ca. 1980′s, photography as such was restricted to “only if you must” usage. I recall the edit page running a small photo of the crash site at Chappaquiddick, by way of presenting evidence! And so, I was asked to help induct, and train, other talented people in the craft of producing wsj hedcuts and other diverse line-art illustrations that would enhance the graphic quality of our paper. The characters tagged above represented our crew of illustrators at the time, still dear, if distant, friends.

 

Yours, with my one-year old son, Brendan. 1983-4. I had the corner, gunslinger’s position in the art dept. space of that time, at 22 Cortlandt St., NYC.

I could (and will in future) go on quite a bit about times more formative in the life of this department, but will restrict myself to a few of my art samples of this period, as follows…

The portrait of a pioneering Conductor of this period, Judith Somogi.

 

I used to wear one of these devices… the Journal wrote about the product, new at the time.

 

This was for a front page human interest story about the Hutterites. As I recall, in some ways similar to the Amish. Industrious, enjoying the simple pleasures of life, etc. This particular angle showing their handmade attire. Seems a tad non-mainstream for the #1 financial rag in the nation. Must give the editors ( and the women as well ) credit, I say.

An olympiad, Curt White. note the surreptitious signature, bottom left. I was always looking for opportunities to slip my name into the paper, and was very often successful at it (for what it’s worth).

Making Maps, part 2

all images, c. Kevin Sprouls

 

 

 

People are seemingly fascinated with maps. I suppose it only takes curiosity, wanting to know where one’s going. The prospect brightens if the lay of the land is attractively presented. There is an admirable amount of craft that goes into illustrated maps, and the tradition is, of course, ancient. Here, then, are a few of mine produced over the years:

A cruise line map for a print ad, ca. early ’90′s. I wouldn’t mind making that trip— it would be colorful and historic, certainly.

ca. 1995, British Airways. Mixed media on board, with route and cities on transparency overlay.

Chicago Tribune, 2004. A map to show the celebrated Mendoza wine country. Watercolor, colored pencil, pen and ink.

2003, for a school textbook covering the history of the nation’s capitol. The city plan was incorporated into my illustration of the rivers.

The map was produced in 2006, for Random House, for the flyleaf of a young person’s book. Notice the gutter that distinguishes this as a spread.

Field and Stream magazine, 1999. One of four fishing maps published in that issue. Watercolor, colored pencil, pen and ink.

1995, American Express Travel Related Services was the client. The original was in black and white, line art only. I took the liberty of making a full-color version. The line art was made into a transparency, and I created the color backdrop to lay beneath it.

I hope you’ve enjoyed these samples from my “vault”, and look forward to more mapmaking going forward!

Evergreen

all art c. Kevin Sprouls.

One of my art school friends, Tim Barr, was hoping to see some more of my “student work” on this blog, so here it is (at least some of it)….

Thanks to my partner, who, just this last week undertook the formidable challenge of excavating our storage space, I have laid hands on some college-era graphic anthropology. Forgive me, but, as in other fields of the arts, this early stuff’s in black and white.From a sketchbook, circa 1975. I did a lot of time with those rapidograph pens! ’75 was quite a year for me. Lots of personal unfolding, and friendships cast. I frequently go back to that art school (Tyler School of Art) in dreams to once more savor the joys and optimism of my youth.

In the early days I used to set pen to page and take my chances. Half the time it worked. This image would have its merits were it not slipping off the page, and if Rover’s hind-quarters were better thought out (Let this be a lesson to all you upstart art students!).

Playing with the technical pen technique, and developing my control (somewhat). Back then, I was a true anachronist, being mysteriously drawn to things Medieval. I was a big fan of Tolkien, and even moreso of the Narnian Chronicles. My first journey into Ireland in 1974 deepened the attraction to Middle Age culture and arts. The Middle Age used to be a lot more fun than it is now (Pah-Dum-Pissshh!).

In my Junior year of school, I took my first course in Illustration. So, I finally learned to plan a piece of artwork and carry it through to a successful finish. This was an assignment from that class. We had to produce one of these a week. On top of the other four courses I was taking at the time, this class added considerably to my workload! My art school days were tumultuous, taxing, heartbreaking, magical, and in the end, so enriching. I owe a debt of gratitude to all those who taught me, and knew me during that time of profusion.