Elwood
Smith: Will Work For Beer
a
chat with Ross Rice from Rolly
Peter Aaron
Over
the years, I’ve tried to stretch beyond that way of drawing—trying
to find a way to break from the conventions of things like perspective.
It’s my goal to find my own voice, not my own voice filtered
through those cartoon masters.” Like many artists, Elwood
was searching for a personal style beyond his immediate influences,
and met resistance. “I started in New York with the Barney
Google style, and later when I came out with my new style, it was
a smaller feet, smaller hand style. There were a lot of people who,
when I gave them the new one, they wanted what they saw before,
what they were comfortable with already.” Still, the change
was made and clients kept calling, but the lesson was learned: commerciality
and creative change would always be a tough balancing act in the
ad biz. . . but not impossible. Elwood’s quality prevailed
and with his new style he racked up a succession of major clients:
Sony, GE Cellular One, Pizza Hut, ATT, Prudential. . . the list
goes on and on. His “humorous illustration” style was
easily adapted for numerous books for adults, as well as children.
Many
clients, awards, and accolades later, we fast-forward to the present,
and Elwood favors us with a copy of Gee Whiz! It’s All About
Pee, a whimsically informative children’s book (written by
Susan Goodman) that, along with its sister (brother?) book The Truth
About Poop, makes full use of Elwood’s all-ages sense of humor.
He’s rightfully proud of these “because they’re
really good books! When you read these, they’re classy books,
it’s all information, it’s not scatological. I happen
to be one of those people in the world who thinks that it’s
sad that, due to the repressed (nature) of this country, pee and
poop. . . well, especially poop, are not talked about. I’m
amazed, because aside from sex and music and drinking, having a
good BM - there’s something so satisfying about that! Why
don’t we make that something people talk about readily?”
Uh,
how about we have lunch first, Elwood... Continue...
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