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FAILED-PROJECT FRIDAY: The SPIN magazine spot illustrations
🕑 Added 2019-10-11 13:01:57 +0000 UTCI'm stretching the definition of "failed project" a tad with this one, as my work for this particular job did, in fact, see print. The only "failure" involved was the sad reality that I eventually lost the job.
Anyhoo, for a time in the late 90s, my buddy Joe Rosas and I did a series of illustrations for SPIN magazine. I drew the line art, and Joe colored 'em (on photocopies) with markers; at the time, he was one of the kings of marker-based color guides at Marvel, in the era before Photoshop took over the coloring of comics and rendered his technique sadly obsolete. As you can see, though, Joe's skill level with Chartpak and Prisma Tri-Tone markers was g-d amazing.
More specifically, I drew pieces for SPIN magazine's tech-related "ICON" column, in which I had to take one of the column's subjects and crank out a related illo that featured a "cute anime babe." This proved to be somewhat problematic at times, given that some of the techy topics did not lend themselves especially well to the depiction of "hawt manga-style chicas"; thus, some of my pieces wound up rather puzzling and abstruse.
Fo' example: The following illo was a piece about webcams, so I crammed assorted elements from the article into a single illo, referring to webcam video feeds of toy trains, concerts, prostitutes, and (go figure) a tin of rotting Spam. This made for a rather cryptic and bizarre illustration, needless to say.
Arguably the highlight of my stint at SPIN was the time that I forwarded some copies of Brian Michael Bendis's early (and awesome) crime books AKA Goldfish and Jinx to the magazine's comics column (at BMB's canny suggestion, I hasten to add). As recounted in the fine Bendis autobio book Fortune and Glory, the magazine's subsequent Jinx review attracted the attention of a Hollywood player or two, and BMB's wacky experiences in Tinseltown were soon underway.
Amusingly enough, the art director at SPIN later recommended that I submit some of my own work to the comics column. So, I sent in some selections from Dirty Pair and Gen13 Bootleg and Titans: Scissors, Paper, Stone. The result?
*Sound FX: crickets chirping*
Not a big surprise, as I was well aware that my work wasn't indie or artsy enough to appeal to the column's editor. "Not that I am bitter," as Dave Barry used to say. (Yeah, right.)
I worked on the column for the better part of a year before SPIN's art director stopped calling, and the work dried up. Maybe the art director left the magazine, for all I know. (Like the old pros say, "You're always one editor away from being unemployed.") Ironically, the very last piece I did was for a segment predicting a grim future for James Cameron's upcoming, way-overbudget film Titanic. Yep, SPIN really called that one right, didn't they?
I'm pretty sure I have at least three or four more of these illos somewhere, but can't seem to find 'em right now; I'll post more of 'em in a follow-up Failed-Project Friday if I ever dig 'em up.
Comments
KranberriJam
I love the idea of this, even if they came off cryptic (I like 'em that way). But what gets me the most is Joe Rosas' marker work. Holy. Shit.
PixelThis
I stumbled across that Drastic Surgery piece a while back and was wondering what that was all about, had you been taking work for piercing studios like stuff you did for that motorcycle helmet company
Otaku Twenty-Four Seven
Dunno, but check out this Martin Brest guy, you know the one that did Beverley Hills Cop and Midnight Run? I hear his latest film 'Gigli' is gonna go places! (/Sarcasm)
Dean Reilly
James Cameron, huh? Whatever happened to that guy?
