Stacked unceremoniously in a box among other mementos from Roger Kastel’s career can be found a well-preserved copy of his first paid job as an artist. It’s a full-sized comic book designed to teach industrial workers how to perform their trade better.
As his son, I’m quite familiar with my father’s work—or at least thought I was—but this found work was new to me. I’m shocked at how sophisticated these early cartoons are, especially considering Dad was only 15 years old at the time. I recall what I was doing with my life at the same age, and the comparison embarrasses me.
As an early dusk falls outside my father’s Massachusetts home on the short days between Christmas and New Year’s, I pull up a seat next to Dad, each of us within an easy arm’s length of eggnogs with a spot of whiskey in them.
My father is best known for his Jaws and Empire Strikes Back movie posters and countless illustrations of best-selling and popular books. Now entering his seventy-third year of being a professional artist, he has enjoyed an extraordinary career. At age 88 he is still painting and is still sought out frequently by the media and those in the memorabilia business for interviews and public appearances.
For the next several hours I do something long overdue: interview him, partly for family history and partly to preserve a little bit of Americana because, after all, he is a man who produced some of the most recognizable images of the 20th century. I push the record button and begin talking with a man who tries to come off as unremarkable. But I know better, and have known so for a long time.
Bu hikaye Illustration dergisinin Illustration No. 70 sayısından alınmıştır.
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Bu hikaye Illustration dergisinin Illustration No. 70 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
THE ART OF PAUL BRANSOM
Paul Bransom (1885-1979) was widely known as the Dean of American Animal Artists. His work appeared on the covers of magazines like The Saturday Evening Post and served as illustrations of short stories in periodicals and in books. He provided the illustrations for some 45 books, most notably the 1912 edition of Jack London’s Call of the Wild and the 1913 edition of Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows.
THE ART OF FRANK MCCARTHY
Witnessing a Wild West show as a young boy was a crucial early influence that led Frank McCarthy to become a distinguished painter of Western historical themes. The excitement and emotion he felt that day stayed with him, and can be seen in the vivid action, color, and splendor that emanate from his paintings.
THE ART OF WARD BRACKETT
Ward Brackett (April 2, 1914–December 14, 2006) was a gifted American illustrator, known for his work in paperback books and periodicals such as Reader’s Digest and Cosmopolitan.
THE ART OF N.C. WYETH
For over 25 years, N.C. Wyeth was regarded as the foremost illustrator of books and magazines in the United States. His artwork for iconic tales of romance and adventure has become synonymous with the stories themselves, familiar to multiple generations of readers. Some of the best-known characters in literature have become nearly indistinguishable from the images he produced.
THE ART OF CHARLES LASALLE
\"We have some artists in the family.\" I didn't know it at the time, but my future father-in-law Aiden E. LaSalle was a master of understatement.
THE ART OF PRUETT CARTER
Pruett Carter was once recognized as one of America's top illustrators, during a time when illustrations were viewed primarily as easel paintings
THE ART OF RAYMOND JOHNSON
Raymond Sven (Ray) Johnson was a commercial illustrator who created iconic paperback book covers spanning all genres of fiction for Avon, Popular Library, Monarch and other publishers from the late 1940s through the early 1960s.
"Blow some my way"
THE DELINEATION OF DESIRE IN 1920s COMMERCIAL ILLUSTRATION
THE ART OF FRITZ WILLIS
Fritz Willis was born in Oklahoma in 1907, and raised in Boston.
THE ART OF WILLIAM OBERHARDT
Illustrator William Oberhardt (1882-1958) was born in Guttenberg, New Jersey, 1882.