My stomach scraunched up so bad, homie! Sending this message killed me. A fucking shot at a 2 page spread in the LEGENDARY MAD MAGAZINE!!! 🙃 Who the fuck am I to say no!? I was certain I’d physically faceplant. I walked off the anxiety around beautiful downtown Glendale, CA. and miraculously worked up an appetite. I consoled myself with a burger from The Great White Hut.
On my way back from break I received a phone call from MAD Art Director (and one of my all time favorite cartoonists) Sam Viviano. Sam is such a wonderful guy, he can convince me on his own, but he HAD to drop “Weird Al Yankovic is guest editing this issue”. A living treasure and one of the world’s greatest humorists.
I have been a fan of Weird Al Yankovic since as far back into the early 80’s I can remember. Definitely since “Eat It”. I used to check his albums out from the Calumet City Public Library (Bless em. They had the most amazing selection of art & comics books, along with audio, and later, video. Eddie Murphy cassettes were a frequent get). Every other weekend I would rent Al’s videos, UHF & The Compleat Al, from VideoRama.
So of course I agreed to do it. I’m surprised I didn’t upchuck my hamboig. Went back into work at Nick and got to hustling, working on the Space April Design. In order to catch up, I had to bring those files home. It was juggling time.
I had to go into robot mode, so off I went. I sent this initial sketch to my AD based on a layout they provided. This is the first time I worked with Kenny Keil. We would be partnered on more MAD articles in the years ahead. Go buy Smoove City and all his books! I miss that guy!
(Kenny, one day we must get DEEDS back on its feet!)
Digging through the files, I found this first sketch and started dying 🤣
Reagle Beagle lookin’ aged hipster teacher. I forgot I even did this hahahaha! Damn fugue state. Well, I guess we lost him in the revisions. The year leading up to 2015 was a crazy one and I was functioning on little juice (following this, work wouldn’t let up for another year. Again, another time for that). Since 2011, I was working solely as a Character Designer, and as a result, my work and figures had become stiff. I felt (still do) like I lost the ability to just draw. Design, especially for CG, involves a lot of construction and more technical drawing. It was great to let loose with these roughs.
The Teacher was changed to a more geeky & nervous design. It was definitely the better call.
Luckily, the great people at MAD have never given me many notes on these assignments. With the other jobs on the burners, I had only 3 days I could devote to this illustration. I was so stressed, I couldn’t sleep. I took sick days from Turtles, bouncing between this, Goosebumps colors, and designs I brought home from TMNT, taking occassional naps instead of sleeping at night. I never called in sick more than one day at a time, and here I was at three consecutively. I was so nervous about my standing at the day job, and feared getting canned. Fortunately, I wasn’t. But that type of pressure is something fierce. Trust me, I’m paying for that “lifestyle” now.
I got through the crunch by listening to gobs of audiobooks & music. Sometimes looking at a drawing reminds me of what I listened to as it was created.
Anyway, this was done on like, 8 million layers. I know because I was just nosing around in that Photoshop file prepping the images for this post.
I don’t know how much I’m into Easter eggs and references anymore, they’re kinda everywhere these days, and often feel like crutches. I guess it’s fun to throw them in here & there. I’m just an old crank. Anyway, there are a bunch of eggs in here, mostly TMNT related. This being MAD Magazine, of course, what would it be without chicken fat?
“Things to Ask Your Teacher” is much bigger than I remember hahaha. Both file size and print dimensions. Each front character lives in their own layer set, so I was able to move them around if the composition needed adjusting.
Since I started working digitally, I’ve been on a quest for ways to consolidate the process of creating comics & illustrations. I was tired of drawing a page once while penciling, drawing again while inking, and just soaking in the drawing while coloring. I wished to go from layout to finish without drawing the same thing over and over again. I can’t say I’ve come upon the perfect formula for that, but I keep refining the process. This era was a mess- I jumped from layout/sketch to color, back to rough, then inks, then color, more inks, etc… I’ve come a long way since, but could use some tweaking. Sadly, now that I’ve finally reached a workflow I like, from iPad to Photoshop via Dropbox, I’ve come to loathe the way the corporations behind these devices and apps are behaving. I can’t leave them quite yet, but may have to return to traditional art for at least a chunk of my workload.
Contributing to the file size are the textures used for each character. This was my heavy texture era. Instead of dropping flats, I’d cut up pieces of scanned in paintings to fill the area. While working on paintings, I’d scan the process and use those bits for my textures. Like sampling in beat making, using physical art to give my digital work some warmth. It’s a technique I started using in 2001 and increased its use as technology progressed and allowed for large pieces. I went from Mbees to Gbeez.
These days, I’m more comfortable using masks & styles. I’m able to consolidate layers and reduce the file sizes. I’m also working more in black & white or flat colors, since the textured look has been done to death in the past 10 years. I’m on a mission to get my speed up, and this constructed approach takes time. I’ve got a backlog of half completed art I have to get to, and old age is here, so time is of the essence. Having a tablet that can handle these files allows me to work away from the desktop, so there’s a plus for technology (I’m a bit of a tech junkie, but current times have me feeling more frustrated by it)
Overall, I was happy with the final outcome. I’d tweak some color and definitely the background drawings if I had time. Though I’m proud of myself for having stuck with it, in hindsight, I wouldn’t put myself through that again. Burnout lingers for a very long time. It’s a hard lesson to put one’s health in front of professional duties. I spent the rest of 2015 in this mode, powering through little sleep (and gout🩼) hoping to make as much money as possible in order to take some time off from full time work. This was 16 years into a professional art career that consisted of a full time job, freelance gig(s), and personal work at any given time. I was excited to work with some pretty big houses – TMNT/Nick, Cartoon Network, MAD, Goosebumps/Scholastic – and was so driven to build momentum. I was hoping to take a year off to start a business and website to devoted to my personal projects (this here is it, FYI, albeit very late. My bad). There will be more I’ll share regarding 2016, but at the moment of this piece, this where my head was at.
I JUST NOW remembered – I had a t-shirt with the cover image. Sadly, it was lost in “The Great Jose Gee Dirty Skivvies Heist” of 2021. 💔
(Yes, I’m writing about it. HF06)
I remember checking the mail on the way out to a friend’s house and finding my comp issues. The comps were then gifted at the BBQ, as was whatever we bought at Gelson’s (I happened to see this issue there as well 🤣). At that time, it had been 6 years since I had seen my work printed in MAD. This job kicked off a little run that lasted until 2017, when the MAD offices moved to Burbank, CA under a new team. It was such a blast to work with the New York crew, and I miss them. I appreciate Sam, Patty, Ryan, Kenny, & the writers and designers and production people I got to work with, and I appreciate them putting their trust in me and including me in their team. The Burbank/DC crew is also great! I worked with them in 2019, and got a tour of the offices (pssst – I got to see Al Jaffee art). Sadly, I don’t know the exact status of the magazine as of this writing. I know they are republishing material with occasional new work. It’s a great magazine. It’s an institution and a staple of my life.
The reason i’m posting about this piece is because I’m slowly rebooting josegaribaldi.com and stumbled upon the files for it. I’m reworking the designs of the site and pieces, and adding new art. I’m doing my best to make everything pretty, your boy and his boys gotta eat!
I recently reworked this entry. I’m still really proud of the piece 10 years later, and I wanted to work it into the reformatting.
Thanks for joining me on this little walk (with a side of rant). I’m on a roll here haha, so I’m happy about that at least. I don’t know how long this streak is gonna last, but so far I’m having fun again. I miss posting blogs regularly. I do believe this is the proper route going forward, putting the effort spent on social media into up these posts. And THANKS for reading- This site is meant more for my creator owned work, but I enjoy getting into some of these old pro pieces, especially when it’s MAD. Since this is also the archive for every blog I’ve had, from Blogspot (blogger? both?🤷🏼♂️) to MySpace to WordPress, and whatever, I think it’s ok to post sketches and behind the scenes from jobs of long ago. I’m finding so many sketches and alternate versions of art while updating the portfolio site. You’ll see more soon!
Also, It’s not my intent to brag about the late nights/early mornings/weekends and working through struggle & pain. I was dumb and I regret pushing myself past my limits. Not saying there aren’t tough moments to push through, but It’s incredibly irresponsible to not listen to your body and your mind. I’ve spent the last few years feeling as if I’ve atrophied and I’m learning to crawl again. At times, it’s a struggle keeping up with work, but I’m getting there day by day💪🏼! Take time off when and if it’s available. Take a step back and breathe when you are able. I love working with the people that I’ve worked with. I can’t believe what I’ve been allowed to be a part of. At the end, though, it’s a job. It’s not your body. It’s not your loved ones. It’s not touching grass.
Love,
Jose Gee,
Herms & Spanky
