Mary Parsons called me a few weeks ago to do something for THE AMERICAN PROSPECT.
I had never worked with her before, enjoyed our initial conversation after the email intros and looked forward to coming up with an image for an article about the conundrum of the Democratic Party trying to re-woo the Old South.
Mary had mentioned right from the start an image making use of the classic movie, GONE WITH THE WIND.
I played around with the familiar poster image as well as some reference pictures from the movie involving Scarlett, as a Republican elephant belle, surrounded by adoring males- white males.
There seemed to be a great opportunity to play up that visual and I was glad when she chose the garden scene instead of the poster image, even though the poster image could have been a hoot as well.
The important part was to get the expressions and attitudes correct and a number of studies were done before committing to the final drawing that would go to color. Several false starts and finally a version that took on an energy all its own. One of those assignments that we hope all could be like in terms of fun and playfulness and still manage to say something within the humor. Thank you, Mary Parsons. Hope to kick something around with you again.
