Robert Saunders

higf

2008-05-13T15:55:26+00:00

Valentine From Sis

2007-02-14T21:49:24+00:00

An early harbinger of a lifelong obsession with music. I got this in a Valentine today from my sentimental sister. It's a pic of me in my formative years with next-door neighbor Danny Shwartzman, me strumming on my Mickey Mouse-Guitar (Valentine-red in real life) and Danny petting my stuffed tiger and sucking on what I have no idea. Piano at right denotes musical family. Note the fingers of my left hand carefully picking out an "L" chord, and the thumb of the right strumming hand showing early influence of Wes Montgomery. In reality, it must be told, to play a song on the guitar you cranked a little handle on the top. While I hungered to perform material like Unit 7, and West Coast Blues, regrettably the only song it played was "Pop Goes the Weasel". Baby steps...

Sloan Snags a Silver

2007-02-01T16:16:35+00:00

I want to congratulate my pal and Half-Tone mate, Michael Sloan, for winning a Silver Medal in sequential art for his full-length illustrated novel (without words), The Heresy of Professor Nimbus, from the Society of Illustrators. You couldn't find a nicer guy or more dedicated artist. Michael went to New York to receive the honor Tuesday night. I asked him if I could put a notice about it here. Photos of the event were nil, so the image above will serve to illustrate the occasion.

You can find out all about this 60-page book at:

www.drawger.com/msloan/?start_date=1138770000&end_date=1141189200&archives=true

Credit Where Credit is Due Dept.

2007-01-17T18:22:47+00:00

Sometimes an image stops you in your tracks. I just got my New Yorker in the mail a moment ago. I couldn't not post the cover in light of Bush's recent announcement of his intention to send more US troops into battle, and with all that's been discussed here politically. The cover is by the great Anita Kunz, who I imagine would have posted it if she were on Drawger, but whose name I couldn't find listed here.

Thank you, Anita, for creating a breathtaking image capturing what the country must be thinking right now.

Anybody have any thoughts? This is pretty rich...

Maiden Voyage of illoz.com Today

2007-01-03T19:08:03+00:00

Congratulations to illoz.com on their big launch today. It's a great day in the neighborhood! People are dancing in the streets, artists are coming together and rejoicing, and critics are predicting the dawning of a new paradigm. Illoz.com is a smart new venue for art directors and designers to acquaint themselves with distinguished illustrators, view their working methods, their latest projects, sketches, whimsical creations, read blogs, and collaborate in cool, streamlined ways. More to come...

Gifts You Can Do Without

2006-12-23T16:35:46+00:00

With Christmas coming up it's important to know proper etiquette upon unwrapping that inevitable, really awful present. In the nick of time, Dave Bamundo called with a quick job to appear in today's Wall Street Journal about the cheesy gifts golfers get.

Working with Dave was fun because he's a consummate gentleman and a sure hand at direction...besides being an inspired illustrator.

I include the sketch detail below in contrast to the final. The guy's first grimace amuses me more because the marks are spontaneous and direct. I'm usually all nerves when copying to the final. I wonder if digital illustrators have this feeling too, though they can take the actual sketch right to final; so I imagine not.

Doing What You Love

2006-12-16T20:13:56+00:00

A friend brought it to my attention that I haven't posted anything in awhile. Well, recent jobs I've been doing don't lend themselves to posting, and I'm waiting for the perfect image. Something up-to-date, appropriate for a hip mag, witty, ironic... Right. Aw, what the hay, people on here post their personal history every day, so why not me.

This is a promo piece I did for a directory page awhile back. I was filling my sketchbook with ideas, and this guy appealed to me. He's doing what I hope to be doing at his age: playing a high-class gig on his exotic vintage guitar in coat and tails—and presumably getting paid at union scale. It's in pen and ink, which I used to do a lot of because it was fast.

But you never know in this business what effect your illustration will have on people, including art directors. You get some interesting responses. In this case I got a call from the then art director of the L.A. Times Book Review. He says, Rob, love your guitar-playing gentleman...know what it makes me think of?

Rob: No, what?

AD: Are you familiar with the work of Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, of the sinous brush-line and poster work? That guitar cable and the contours of your guitar player convey a Lautrec-feel to me. Would you be interested in doing a cover for the Book Review, in a T-Lautrec style?

Rob: (What th'...T-Lautrec???) Uh, sure, love to...

So I changed over to a new style overnight, adopting every stylistic affectation I could from the little dead Frenchman, who by the way was one of my alltime heros and an avid drinker of absinthe (back when absinthe was really good). What the hell, I think—I'll go for it. Illustration makeover time! Thus did I depart from pen and ink forever to pursue the joys of pure brush illustration and study up on the work of T-L man.

Moral: Do what you love to do....for whatever reason. I've heard famous people say that, and it sounds good to me.

Victory in da House

2006-11-08T14:14:37+00:00

I've trotted out a few of my stock illustrations on the morning after the Republicans' defeat, to make the point that this is what Congress is going to do to the White House now that the Democrats have taken back the majority of seats in the House. It is time to hold the lobbyists', Bush admininistration's, and crooked politicians' feet to the fire. First off, I'm hoping there will be a renewed ethics committee, then an investigation of laws broken by the administration, and a restoring of the inspector general's office on waste and fraud by contractors in the Iraq war.

I want Congress to get rid of the bad apples—even Democratic ones—

...and restore ownership of this country to the people who pay the bills and hunger for a little bit of justice.

Doin' the Right Thing

2006-11-07T15:35:51+00:00

I did my civic duty today, and boy do I feel proud. I was able to mark everything in the right place without getting befuddled. I have no doubt we're going to hear before the end of the day that there have been voting irregularities somewhere in the nation, so brace yourselves. It could get wild out there!

What a country.

PS: In the interest of full disclosure, this silly pic was done on the subject of "Self-esteem" for some bleeding-heart-liberal health newsletter, sometime in the last century.

Haiku Lampoon

2006-10-10T21:28:30+00:00

Did these images for Entertainment Weekly when they wanted some art for haiku to lampoon movie stars and couples in a "meditative" but ironic way. I submitted the art for the writer to insert the copy into, but the published haiku wasn't very funny. They must have felt it wasn't working, too, because after two of these ran, I never saw any more. I thought I could do better haiku myself, anyway. Haiku (1st line is 5 syllables, 2nd line 7, last line 5) is hard to do right. Try it and see.

Crib Boy

2006-10-07T00:44:27+00:00

Ever do something like this? You do a job—this was for California Lawyer many moons ago. The subject is how a 16-year old victim of statutory rape by the mother of his child got dragged into court and sued for child support by the county. You send the final in. Then you realize: damn! I should have worked on that profile. It looks too much like a little man, like me, not like a kid. Well they were happy with the piece, no problem, so go figure. But I, in my obsession can see that the image doesn't really read as well as it should. So I take it into Photoshop later for the hell of it and tweak it so that...

...it looks like this—now in my stock archive.

4/7 of The Half-Tones

2006-10-05T18:10:24+00:00

It's rare that The Half-Tones pose for a pic, but here we are as a quartet at the Society of Illustrators Sketch Night a couple weeks ago. We really enjoy playing the Sketch Nights, which take place every Tuesday and 3rd Thursday of the month. In the drawing sessions there are live models, music and an open bar, and on Thursday, a buffet. Not too shabby, no?...it is redolent of Toulouse-Lautrec and the demimonde—all that's lacking is the absinthe! From left, Barry, Joe, Rob, and Michael.

Saunders Humorous Illustration

2006-10-04T17:09:43+00:00

In a perfect world...

Ebullient abuse

2006-09-18T18:40:46+00:00

We've all seen a metric ton of these things. Well, here's this season's first cheery entreaty to come spill your creative gifts for free.The "proposal" this AD's putting forth is slimy: Persuading innocent lambies with visions of stardom in their eyes to vie for the privilege of working on spec...effectively a call for free labor. I love the cheery tone to the exploitative phrases: "Want to add manacles and ball-and-chain to your drawing board? Go for it!" And they sent this to me? I didn't squander the best years of my life on the Graphic Artists Guild's executive committee for nothing. Go for it!
------------------------------------------

City Pages, Wine & Dine

Request for Proposals

CONCEPT & DESCRIPTION
This proposal is for City Pages’ cover design of Wine & Dine, an annual special issue.
Please visit <http://citypages.com/databank/26/1297/article13771.asp> to see last year’s cover design and editorial content. The issue is generally heavy in wine content and restaurant advertisers.

For the 2006 cover, we are looking to step out in a new direction. Descriptive words that have been tossed around are “vibrant” and “modern”. Elements that decidedly need to be present are a person/people and a wine glass/bottle. Beyond that, we are willing to go wherever you take us.

Please note that your cover design should leave room for the logo/text. We are not set on the previous year’s logo and will adapt this year’s logo with respect to the design chosen. If you ﬁnd yourself inspired to create a logo and incorporate it into your design, go for it! Be sure to include the City Pages logo, “Wine & Dine” and the year.

FINAL SPECS
Full color, full bleed, glossy cover illustration.

SIZE: Bleed - 10.5" x 12.5", Live space - 10" x 12"
Ideally the illustration should work on its own and have vignettes which can be cropped for use as spot illustrations.

DELIVERY: Prefer electronic delivery (300dpi for RGB JPEG). Other means can be arranged if necessary. FTP transfer is available.

SCHEDULE
This is for the chosen illustration only:
Working sketch October 5, 5:00pm (Th)
Final artwork October 20, 5:00 p.m. (F)
Publication Date November 8, 5:00 p.m. (W)

BUDGET
$300-500, commensurate with experience. In addition, the illustrator is allowed a visible signature or accreditation in the illustration.

CLOSING
If you are interested in pursuing this project please e-mail me a proposal containing
(1) a written description and (2) a “faxable” sketch of your concept by September 25, 5:00pm (M). Contact me at dgraham@citypages.com, 612.343.9515 or fax 612.372.3737. All entries will be notiﬁed of decision by September 28, 5:00pm (Th).

Thanks much for your consideration!

Dana Graham
Art Director

concrete poetry

2006-09-11T15:51:43+00:00

Kids' Faces

2006-08-25T23:08:20+00:00

I drew these in my sketchbook when I was feeling incapable of drawing (I feel that way a lot of the time). I looked in the newspaper for photos, anything at all to draw just to get me out of my misery, and I saw an ad for like, kids at risk or something. They had cute faces. I assume that they were photographed when they were showing their candid emotions. I drew 'em really teeny (here they are more grandiose—I still have to master the image-sizing thing). Sometimes just going through the motions of observing and recording things gets you warmed up even if it's from newsprint. I'd like to draw from life more, but my nearsightedness is making that harder. Anyway looking back at these faces I like how human the subjects are.

Why should I blog?

2006-08-25T21:52:21+00:00

I could use a little input here. I'm conflicted. Why blog? I tried it and quit once already. So this is my second attempt. Isn't there enough to do in a day already? How long can a person keep this up?

Do you blog for commercial, artistic, reasons, or PR, image? Do you do it to break out of an illustrator's isolation? Is blogging working for you? Thanks for humoring me. I'll get some art up on here soon.