Elwood
Smith: Will Work For Beer
a
chat with Ross Rice from Rolly
Peter Aaron
Oh,
you’ve seen his work, all right. Unless you've never ever
read Time, Newsweek, Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, Sports Illustrated,
The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, or New York Magazine. His
visual style is a classic one, with elements of Krazy Kat, Barney
Google, and the Katzenjammer Kids, which has evolved into a distinctly
original style that has the ability to convey a multi-layered setup
and punch-line all in a single image, often without text. A self-described
“humorous illustrator” at the top of his game, he still
maintains a fearless curiosity and willingness to explore new genres.
Ladies
and Gentlemen, meet Elwood Smith.
First
thing we (“we” being ex-rocker and Roll “elder”
Tom Grasso and me) learn over lunch with Elwood: he is a beer enthusiast,
though not a beer snob, having learned the finer points after multiple
tastings of a close relative’s home-brewing experiments. “I’ve
always liked beer. I am not broadly traveled, but I’ve been
to England twice and I didn’t KNOW beer until then.”
He attributes his good health and outlook to good taste in beer
(Belgian ales a favorite) and good genetics. We grunt assent and
toast with a round of Chimay.
Looking
back over an impressive professional career that blossomed when
he relocated from the Midwest to New York City in 1976, Elwood offers
a frank assessment: “Starting out, my heroes were George Herriman
(Krazy Kat), Billy DeBeck (Barney Google), and the infamous Rube
Goldberg. I was trying to draw like those guys. I bought the same
pens, which are still available, but I never quite got it. It took
a while but I managed to channel their classic style into my own
voice. Thing is, even though I am known for that retro style and
I’ve made a good living working that way for many years, I
often felt trapped by the style.. Continue...
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