2018 Golden Nosey Interview
Article Description. Should include author, brief description, issue number and page number(s).
 | |
| Author | Dan McConnell |
|---|---|
| Subject | Daniel Stieglitz |
| Genre | Article, Interview, Golden Nosey Award |
| Published | EF Issue 2019.1 |
Publication date | Winter 2019.1 |
| Media type | Print, Digital |
| Pages | 18-21 |
| Website | caricature |
Article Transcript
If you Google our latest Golden Nosey winner, you will find entries for him on both Wikipedia and IMDB. He has done everything from studying animation with the famed Paul Driessen to even writing and directing his own film. But we are more interested in his caricatures. His one winning piece at this year’s convention was a sight to behold. Be sure to view his website for even more of his art at https://danikaturen.wordpress.com. Thanks to Dan McConnell for reaching out to interview our winner before I could even ask! Please note: This interview was edited for space. - editor
Q: Huge congratulations for winning the Golden Nosey, WHILE being a first-time ISCA member. Outstanding! Rookie of the Year AND the Golden Nosey?! Woo Hoo!! Plus Caricature of the Year, Outstanding Group Composition, Outstanding Body Situation AND an extra award for Black and White composition thrown in as well.
A: Thanks, Dan. This was a f…ing insane week for me – not only being in paradise-like San Diego, together with all of those brilliant artists I’ve been following on Facebook for years now – but winning all those awards… still can’t believe what happened there.
Q: Were there any other mural caricature awards in your past? Has 2018 been your “banner” year? (pun intended)
A: I call those group-compositions “panorama caricatures.” This was the third one (this year!). I did one in April at Eurocature (which won best traditional caricature), and one at the Eindhoven Minicon in August (which won best theme work, and most inspiring work). I’m a big admirer of Korean artist Kim Jung Gi’s work – which I discovered only last year and was blown away by! In my opinion, he’s the Master in drawing. If you look at the hundreds and hundreds of sketchbook pages he has filled during the years, you can see where that comes from…practice, practice, practice.
Q: What was your earliest memory of drawing? How old were you and what were you drawing?
A: Well – I think, as every child, I might have started to doodle around at 3 or 4. Whenever there were handicraft activities, I tried to change the characters or the topic. I turned an Easter bunny into a pirate, or an angel into Batman ,etc., that kind of stuff boys do, you know – adding blood, vampire teeth, beards, wieners… . But the first vivid memory I have about drawings that really changed my life was when I was ill one morning and my dad gave me an Asterix comic to read (I must have been around 6)…the quality in terms of character design, story-telling and overall drawing skills was so much above the usual Mickey Mouse comics I used to “read“...when he came back that day, I begged him to give me more, and he brought me his 28-issue-collection!!!… and from that day on I knew that I wanted to do something like that for a living.
Q: Was your first caricature by accident or have you always planned out painstakingly what you are going to draw?
A: At school I drew some teachers…. I did fun portrait drawings for friends and family and worked for the school magazine for a few years. So at that time I learned the term “caricature.“ I had the poster of “Hook“ by Drew Struzan hanging in my room, and a huge poster of the German band BAP, painted by Sebastian Krueger. When drawing...faces…my first goal was likeness – and I failed loads of times there. One time I tried to get the likeness of my uncle for hours and hours and afterwards I disappointedly threw all the sketches into the bin with the strong belief that there are faces out there that just CANNOT BE DRAWN !!!
Q: Tell us about your award(s)- winning California Gold Rush Nosey Panorama-Caricature? You decided early on to use an “S” Curve as the basis of your composition, what else?
A: Well I knew that I wanted to try another panorama caricature, and Bernd (Ertl) told me that there were those “walls” at the ISCAcons, so I thought about vertical compositions and soon had the idea of many artists building a tower, trying to reach the top… there was a kind of snaky, curly picture in my mind.
Q: Did you use Google images of Western clothing?
A: Most of the Western stuff I drew were cliche pictures in my mind – not that authentic maybe…but if you combine the memories you have in your mind, some cool and unexpected gear evolves on the paper.
I studied screenwriting and directing besides animation and illustration…playing improv theater changed my life in a profound way…I only did presketches on my very first live gig – then my client came to me, pointed at the row of people and told me to draw faster. That was when I started using my ink brushpen without presketch (and those drawings SUCKED a lot – I guarantee you. But as we all know, in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king. So, yes, all those details, interactions, body situations were 100% improvised, and developed in the making.
Q: Is there a bit of Mort Drucker influence in your work? Who else has influenced you in the past? And who are you inspired by now?
A: I loved reading MAD magazine. A few months after I discovered Asterix and my reading abilities improved, I saw a German MAD magazine for the first time. I guess I had 3 bucks in my pocket and I checked out all the comics at the store – and my decision was quite easy. There were SOOOO many things to explore in a MAD mag, compared to a Mickey Mouse issue. I got addicted – not only to the humor but of course to the brilliant drawings.
My MAD heroes are and were: Sergio Aragones (I saw him draw without a presketch on YouTube!!!), Don Martin, Mort Drucker and Jack Davis. Tom Richmond and Anton Emdin joined later.
Other influences are the Swedish illustrator Sven Nordqvist, the comic artists Enki Bilal, Juan Gimenez, Milo Manara, Katsuhiro Otomo and the ones I talked about before: Albert Uderzo, Moebius and Master Kim Jung Gi.
But at this ISCA convention I saw soooo many brilliant works that I’m pretty much inspired for the next months, if not to say years.
Q: You use a Pentel brush pen for your line work. What other media do you enjoy working with?
A: I use the Pentel brushpen (bought my first one when I was 16 and fell in love) for the black linework and black solid areas and another pentel water-brushpen for the greys – I just add a few drops of ink to the water.
Q: Do you do much artwork on the computer?
A: Yes. Especially on the iPad. Since the Apple pencil came out 2-3 years ago and a friend showed me Procreate, I hardly use my big WACOM anymore. I just LOVE the brushes in Procreate and I love the mobility. I do a lot of live digital gigs.
Q: What are your prospects for 2019: jobs, caricature gigs, more conventions? And will we see you in Memphis?
A: Beside doing lots and lots of live gigs next year, and trying to finish the novel I’m just working on, I’ll definitely be in Vienna for the Eurocature in April and Memphis is already written in my calendar too.
I really enjoy the magic of the moment while drawing those group compositions and the possibilities of storytelling within – so the “Golden Nosey Rush” will definitely not be the last one.
Dear Caricature-Community: Hope to meet y’all again in Memphis and thank you SOOO much for your kindness and support! Greetings from Germany!
See Also
External Links
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