20+ Questions with Drew Friedman - Revision history

TheChairman at 06:48, 7 August 2020

2020-08-07T06:48:15Z

TheChairman at 06:45, 7 August 2020

2020-08-07T06:45:25Z

TheChairman at 06:43, 7 August 2020

2020-08-07T06:43:23Z

TheChairman: Created page with "'''Hi, Drew! Thanks for taking the time to answer a few questions. First of all, can you tell us a little about your background?'''
I was born in 1958, grew up in New York..."

2020-08-07T05:01:18Z

Created page with "'''Hi, Drew! Thanks for taking the time to answer a few questions. First of all, can you tell us a little about your background?''' I was born in 1958, grew up in New York..."

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'''Hi, Drew! Thanks for taking the time to answer a few questions. First of all, can you tell us a little about your background?''' 
I was born in 1958, grew up in New
York, first on Long Island and then my
family moved to Manhattan when I was
13. Early on, I had a love for all things
cartoon art, comic books, animated
cartoons, bubblegum cards, MAD Magazine,
New Yorker cartoons, caricature,
and I knew that somehow, some way,
that’s what I wanted to do with my life.
My parents would send me to afterschool
art classes, then I was enrolled
briefly as a teenager at the High School
of Music & Art, and finally I attended
the School of Visual Arts, which had a
“Cartoon Department” taught by many
working cartoon professionals.

'''When did you realize you could draw for a living? Was it always your goal to be an artist?''' 
Yes, really early on and probably when
I was 5, I realized that’s all I would ever
be suited for as I hated school and only
wanted to draw cartoons and funny
faces, much to my teachers’ anger. My
earliest goals were to someday work for
MAD Magazine, to be one of the “Usual
Gang of Idiots,” and to also do work for
the Topps bubblegum company, who
were then producing “Ugly Stickers”
and “Wacky Packs,” two series I was
particularly obsessed with. At that time I
thought my goals were probably impossible
to achieve, but I somehow managed
to achieve them both!

'''What is a typical day like in the life of Drew Friedman?''' 
Typical day is to get up fairly early, run
the two beagles in the yard, then get to
work around 10-ish. I have a downstairs
studio, so joined by the beagles, that’s
where I can be found through most of
the day, with a quick break for lunch. I’m
usually wrapped up by 5 or so, even if
I’m on a deadline, and that’s it as far as
work. When I was younger, I’d sometimes
work too late, or even occasionally
[pull] the dreaded “all-nighter,” but no
more. My nervous system finally couldn’t
stomach it!

'''If you couldn’t do what you do now, how would you make money?''' 
I’d be either a figure skater or a
grave digger.

'''What art-related activities do you do in your free time, or, if not art related, what do you like to do?''' 
Actually, pretty mundane. My wife and I
live in the country, so aside from tractor
pulls, there’s not much to do around
here, which is just the way we like it.
We tend to stay in, cook together, relax
with the beagles by the pool or watch
old movies on TV. We’re about 80 miles
from NYC which is perfect since most of
our friends live there so it’s a pretty easy
visit. We love to drive into New York and
also we love to drive home.

'''Do you take any art classes now? If yes, what? If not, what would you like to take?''' 
No, no art classes. I’m basically self
taught, or at least I learned how to do
what I do by paying attention to other
people’s work and through personal
trial and error. I’m convinced that’s the
best education.

'''You have a definite style that is unmistakably “Drew Friedman.” I am struck by how meticulously detailed everyone of your drawings is–how long does your process take?''' 
It depends on the piece or assignment.
If it’s a rush job for a publication, I just
don’t have the luxury to put in the detail
that I’d normally like to do. But if it’s a
piece with no particular deadline, I’ll
sometimes spend up to a week on the
illustration. I love drawing the small
details, even if it’s just people, or even
portions of heads or bodies in the background
of a drawing. Sometimes that’s
more interesting to me than what’s supposed
to be the focus of the illustration.
I want the viewer to absorb the entire
piece, not just the main image.

'''Much of your past work entailed stippling, but now you seem to be doing more painting–why the change?''' 
I worked in the stipple style very early
on, starting at art school, the School of
Visual Arts in New York. I sort of stumbled
into that style of drawing (tiny dots),
and it let me achieve the more photo-realistic
effect I was striving for in my early
work and especially in my comic strips,
where I was depicting actual people, TV
actors, movie actors and celebrities, in
semi-realistic, dark noir-type situations.
The best example was an early comic
strip I drew, written by my brother Josh,
about a black man visiting the Andy
Griffith town “Mayberry,” and the horrible
aftermath. I worked in the stipple style
for about a decade but finally switched to
painting when I was concentrating more
on magazine assignments, some with
tight deadlines, and celebrity portraits.
Also, the stippling was beginning to
strain my eyesight, something my artistic
hero and friend Robert Crumb had
warned me might happen.

'''Can you explain your current working procedure and how it varies from the way you used to work?''' 
I tend to work to actual size, or maybe
just slightly larger, although when I take
on a commissioned piece, I’ll work a bit
larger (for me), up to 12 inches tall or so,
since most people like to collect or hang
up larger pieces. I work almost exclusively
in watercolor, not oil, with some
color pencil used for hi-lighting. I don’t
work at all on my art on the computer,
although my wife Kathy will touch things
up before we send it out to whomever. I
still do things the old-fashioned way!

'''Also, most of your work seems to be in black and white, with lots of vintage images. What do you use when you work in color?''' 
Actually, these days it’s more 50-50 as
far as color vs. B&W. Early on I worked
exclusively in B&W, but as art directors
were demanding color more often, I
gradually taught myself to paint in color.
It was a slow process of a few years before
I was finally pleased with the results.
I have a huge photo file of B&W and
color photos, and of course these days you can just Google-image practically
anyone, but one of the things I most enjoy
is using a B&W reference photo and
transforming it to full color. Two good
examples of that are the full-color cover
of my first Old Jewish Comedians book,
Milton Berle. That was based on a tiny
photo of Berle I had clipped from People
magazine back in the eighties that I just
had a feeling I knew I’d use someday.
Also, my recent Sideshow Freaks book.
The reference photos I had for the sideshow
performers were, in most cases,
grainy B&W photos. I did all the portraits
in full color. Always a fun challenge!

'''Do you ever try to challenge yourself by working outside your comfort zone?''' 
Well, honestly, I prefer not. At this point
I know my strengths and weaknesses.
I do hate drawing attractive people and
try to avoid that. I like drawing people
with more “interesting” faces. I’ll occasionally
get an assignment that’s
completely wrong for me and I try to be
honest with the art director and steer
him to another artist that might be better,
even suggesting a particular artist.
But there have been times I’ve accepted
the assignment, maybe because the
money was just too appealing or the
challenge was exciting. One example is
when Field & Stream magazine called
me to do an assignment a couple of
years ago. Now, I’m a Jewish, anti-hunting
vegetarian, but since the art director
was someone I had worked with at another
magazine and liked, I took the job,
although I agonized over it somewhat.
So of course the editors were delighted
with my illustration and I was hired to
do regular work for them! Oy Vey! I did
about a half dozen assignments for
them till it slowly dawned on the editors
that I was subtly drawing the animals to
look heroic and the hunters to look as
stupid as possible. Finally they stopped
calling with the assignments.

Another example is when the TV sitcom
Friends was popular, I kept getting
assignments, especially from Entertainment
Weekly, to draw the cast members
in various situations. Now I don’t watch
much TV, and I had never watched
Friends, I didn’t want to (to this day),
but I kept getting assignments to draw
those people. Finally, I instituted a “NO
FRIENDS” policy, and stuck to it. Mercifully,
the show finally went off the air and
I could breathe easily!

'''How do you handle doing a commissioned piece when you just can’t find the right reference photos?''' 
The reference photos are so important
to me. Like I said, these days you
can Google-image almost anyone, but
many times the same photos appear
over and over, or it’s the same standard
shot of the person looking directly at
the camera, something I try to avoid. I
do have a large photo file, something
I’ve kept since I was a kid, so I have
many rare, obscure photos of various
celebrities, authors, comedians, etc. But
sometimes, I just can’t come up with the
right ref photo. When I was working on
my three Old Jewish Comedians books,
I really wanted to include Arnold Stang,
the nebbishy comic actor who did the
voice of “Top Cat.” Now, the novelty of
these books is that I depict the comedians
in their “golden years,” and although
there were a couple of recent photos
online of him as an older man, nothing
struck my fancy. So I finally just had to
leave him out. Not really a huge deal,
but I had to break the news to Arnold
Stang’s BIGGEST fan, who I’m in touch
with. She was shattered.

A fellow just commissioned me to do a
portrait of his hero, the author Raymond
Chandler, but the same 5-6 images of
Chandler, most of them already used on
various book covers of Chandler’s stories
or letters, popped up over and over
on Google. And since I had no photos of
him in my files, I finally had to decline.

'''Is there one celebrity that you struggle with in getting a likeness?''' 
Well, like I said, I hate drawing “attractive”
people, young celebrities...to me,
in most cases, their faces are just so
bland and uninteresting. One of the reasons
I issued a “NO FRIENDS” policy. I
remember struggling with a Brad Pitt assignment
a few years back. Just nothing
to sink my teeth into. The caricaturists’
lament. I love nothing more than drawing
comedians, old and young. When I
get to draw a Woody Allen or Howard
Stern, I’m in heaven. Also Jeffery Ross,
who wrote the forward to the latest OJC
book. What a puss!!
Have the Howard Stern endorsements
helped or hindered sale of
your paintings and books?
Ah, Howard. I love the guy. He’s always
been so supportive to me, repeating
that I’m his “favorite artist,” hiring me
to illustrate his two books, and always
plugging my latest books on his show.
As far as Robin...

@@ Line 412: / Line 412: @@
 looking as idiotic as the next, no matter
 the party.
 That said, I probably would never do
 a cigarette ad, not that they even exist
 anymore?
 So who are your main influences in
-caricature, past and present?
+'''So who are your main influences in caricature, past and present?'''<br>
 The list is so long that I am sure I’m gonna
 forget a few of my heroes, but growing up,
@@ Line 436: / Line 437: @@
 Ciardello, David Cowles, Steven Brodner,
 Victor Juhasz and so many others.
 What is your favorite accomplishment
-illustration-wise?
+'''What is your favorite accomplishment illustration-wise?'''<br>
 I’d say it would have to be having my
 illustration of Barack Obama posed as
@@ Line 444: / Line 445: @@
 Even my crazy relatives were impressed
 with that achievement!
 So can you tell our members a little
-about what to expect from you at
+'''So can you tell our members a little about what to expect from you at the convention?'''<br>
 I’m really looking forward to meeting all
 the caricaturists on hand and checking
@@ Line 471: / Line 471: @@
 Jewish comedians included in my books,
 including...Jerry Lewis.
 Do you plan to hang around and
-draw as well?
+'''Do you plan to hang around and draw as well?'''<br>
 My guess is yes, at least for a bit. I’m
 sure I’m gonna be inspired seeing everyone
@@ Line 478: / Line 478: @@
 faces stand out, I’m sure I’ll want to
 capture them!
 Is there anything else you want to
-tell us? Push a book or product?
+'''Is there anything else you want to tell us? Push a book or product?'''<br>
 My brand new book is Even MORE Old
 Jewish Comedians from Fantagraphics
@@ Line 487: / Line 487: @@
 I’m becoming an old Jew myself!! I just
 recently spotted my first liver spot!!
 And lastly, one of our members
-wanted to know if there are any old
+'''And lastly, one of our members wanted to know if there are any old white Baptist comedians you would like to draw?'''<br>
-white Baptist comedians you would
+Yes, that’s my next book. It’ll be a pamphlet.
 -----
 For more on Drew Friedman, check out his website at http://drewfriedman.net/ or his blog at http://drewfriedman.blogspot.com

@@ Line 407: / Line 407: @@
 work for. They’re a right-leaning publication
 and if pressed, my politics tend to lean
-towards the left. But they never once told
+towards the left. But they never once told me to draw a Democrat looking any more

← Older revision		Revision as of 06:43, 7 August 2020
Line 260:		Line 260:
	plugging my latest books on his show.		plugging my latest books on his show.
	As far as Robin...		As far as Robin...
		+
		+	'''What type of deadlines do you usually work with?'''<br>
		+	It depends (not the kind old Jewish comedians
		+	wear). If it’s a weekly magazine or
		+	publication, the deadline is usually pretty
		+	tight, sometimes needed the following day,
		+	although I try to avoid those these days.
		+	I’ve done close to 200 covers for the New
		+	York Observer over the last few years
		+	and for the most part, the assignment
		+	comes in Friday and the finish due by
		+	early Tuesday, and published on Wednesday
		+	morning. If it’s a monthly magazine,
		+	there’s usually a bit more time. If it’s a
		+	commissioned piece, or a piece I’m doing
		+	for one of my books, then I can relax and
		+	spend a bit more time refining it.
		+
		+	'''We are all so tired of hearing the term “starving artist,” but most of the time it takes someone with a true business sense to make even a great artist be one who can survive financially. Who handles the business side of things for you?'''<br>
		+	I’ve become pretty adept over the years
		+	in handling the business end, negotiating
		+	the fee and assignment in general. There
		+	was a time early on when I was starting
		+	out that I was grateful for every little
		+	crumb thrown my way and the pay was
		+	secondary. I was indeed a “starving artist”
		+	throughout the eighties when I was just
		+	out of art school, but my wife was finally
		+	very helpful in turning that all around.
		+
		+	'''Do you consider yourself a caricature artist?'''<br>
		+	Not really a traditional caricaturist, but
		+	I’m referred to as one by many, which
		+	is OK by me. Like some of my fellow
		+	humorous artists, including Chris Payne
		+	and Robert Parada, I tend to not so
		+	much exaggerate facial features, but
		+	distort, sometimes subtly. I’m more of
		+	a “situational artist,” meaning I’m more
		+	focused on the entire image, the poses
		+	putting over the idea, the background,
		+	the central “joke.” Rather than exaggerate
		+	a face, sometimes a raised eyebrow
		+	or how the head is tilted conveys what
		+	I’m trying to put across. Now there are
		+	examples of my work that do clearly fit
		+	into the category of “caricature.” I was
		+	hired by Howard Stern a few years back
		+	to do drawings of a younger version of
		+	him for a proposed animated TV show he
		+	was trying to put together for FX about
		+	his teenage years. I went full throttle with
		+	the drawings, exaggerating especially his
		+	big nose. He had asked me to make him
		+	as “ugly and disgusting” as possible. The
		+	show didn’t happen, but I’m including
		+	some of my Howard drawings with my
		+	visual presentation at the convention.
		+	We are all familiar with your studio
		+	work.
		+
		+	'''Have you ever drawn people live in hopes of retaining a likeness?'''<br>
		+	Early on, I kept a sketchbook and would
		+	draw people I’d see on the street in New
		+	York, but I haven’t for a few years now.
		+	These days, I try to keep a mental image
		+	in my head of various types I encounter,
		+	I have a good memory for faces, or even
		+	snap photos of various interesting faces
		+	with the iPhone to use later. Walmart is
		+	great for that!
		+
		+	'''A lot of your work is extreme closeups– how do you do that?'''<br>
		+	I think you’re probably referring to the
		+	Old Jewish Comedian faces. I wanted
		+	to depict them close-up, because that
		+	conveys the way they actually are, bigger
		+	than life, in your face, looking for
		+	attention, never giving up, always looking
		+	for a laugh! I’ve met a bunch of them and
		+	that’s the way they are!
		+
		+	'''What color do you use for “liver spots?”'''<br>
		+	Oh that’s simple! Dr Martin # 37-B
		+	“LIVER.” Actually, the good doctor’s
		+	“Reddish-Brown” achieves the perfect
		+	liver spot essence for me.
		+
		+	'''I have seen your caricatures in lots of books and magazines. Is it on any interesting products, besides “Impetuous Man” that you would like to tell us about?'''<br>
		+	I’ve drawn images for various products
		+	over the years. Recently I created the
		+	logo for McSorley’s beer, which is one of
		+	the oldest bars in New York, on east 7th
		+	St., big with NYU students. Their beer is
		+	sold nationally, so it’s fun to see slobs all
		+	over the country buying and drinking it!
		+	The “Impetuous man” product was actually
		+	a case of being totally ripped off,
		+	although with a funny outcome. I had
		+	drawn the comic-magician Penn Jillette
		+	making love to a screaming woman for
		+	Men’s Health magazine, to accompany
		+	a short piece Penn wrote about how to
		+	satisfy a woman in bed. A decade later,
		+	the image was used on the box, and to
		+	advertise a Chinese herb supplement
		+	called “Impetuous Man.” I contacted
		+	Penn and we both agreed it would be
		+	fruitless and next to impossible to sue
		+	this company in China, and besides, he
		+	was quite flattered to be singled out as
		+	the American ideal for sexual stamina.
		+
		+	'''With the internet, it has become much easier for anyone to steal an illustration and use it as they wish. How do you handle this?'''<br>
		+	There’s not much you can do once it’s
		+	online. I just accept it if I see someone
		+	using one of my images on Facebook
		+	or elsewhere online, as long as they are
		+	not profiting. My work is fairly distinctive,
		+	so it’s rare when anyone attempts
		+	to use something without permission. If
		+	it’s a case of someone actually taking
		+	the image and putting out a t-shirt with it,
		+	or putting it in a book, they’ll hear from
		+	me...or my wife. But mostly it’s just sharing
		+	on FB or on people’s blogs which
		+	doesn’t bother me, although I occasionally
		+	ask them to at least give me a credit.
		+	The world we live in today...
		+
		+	'''Have you ever taken on an illustration assignment where you personally disagreed with the product or point of view being commissioned? Have you turned down assignments along those lines?'''<br>
		+	I’ve turned down many assignments
		+	for different reasons, for the most part,
		+	that I was either booked up or on a tight
		+	deadline. It’s rare that I’ve turned down
		+	assignments based on my principles, not
		+	that I don’t have any, but despite the job,
		+	I can usually steer a particular assignment
		+	in my direction. A good case in
		+	point was doing work for Field & Stream,
		+	which we discussed before. The outcome
		+	was they stopped calling, but that was
		+	ultimately fine by me. As far as doing
		+	political illustration, a good example is The
		+	Weekly Standard who I used to do a lot of
		+	work for. They’re a right-leaning publication
		+	and if pressed, my politics tend to lean
		+	towards the left. But they never once told

20+ Questions with Drew Friedman - Revision history

TheChairman at 06:48, 7 August 2020

TheChairman at 06:45, 7 August 2020

TheChairman at 06:43, 7 August 2020

TheChairman: Created page with "'''Hi, Drew! Thanks for taking the time to answer a few questions. First of all, can you tell us a little about your background?''' I was born in 1958, grew up in New York..."

TheChairman: Created page with "'''Hi, Drew! Thanks for taking the time to answer a few questions. First of all, can you tell us a little about your background?'''
I was born in 1958, grew up in New York..."