The Fine Art of This Art: Part III
Part 1 of this Blog Series is available below this entry (see Saturday, September 9, 2006). If you missed the second part, Read Otto’s Blog to read that.
Toward the end of July, Otto and I officially agreed to collaborate. Neither of us knew how to do it, but we were sure that his Fine Art would somehow make its way into the book. As Otto explained in his Blog, we originally considered a series of paintings, based upon the figure waves that Mego released. To that end, I sent him all four Super-Foes and the four original Super-Gals (i.e. not including Isis), as reference material.
On August 9th, 2006, everything changed. The legal issues surrounding the use of copyrighted characters brought the entire project to a screeching halt (see my Blog from Friday, August 9, 2006).
With the understanding that I could be held liable for legal action, I contacted the publisher and explained that I couldn’t move forward with the project, the way things stood at the time. They understood, and offered to work with me to resolve the issues.
The publisher agreed that we should seek permission to depict the characters, and they suggested I prepare a special pitch/presentation for each of the four license-holders. The biggest concern, at the time, was Marvel. It seemed they would be the most difficult to persuade. Further, I wanted to include Otto’s work in any such prototype, giving the licensors the option to nix the inclusion of his art.
In a panic, I called Otto to tell him that we needed to focus on Marvel.
“Dude. Put down the paint brush!”
“Relax. What’s going on?” he asked.
I explained the situation, and Otto nonchalantly said, “No problem. Who should I paint?”
We talked about the different Marvel characters available, and concluded that Captain America was the perfect choice. Otto never had Captain America as a child, so he was pleased with the decision. The next morning, I packed up a mint, loose Captain America and shipped it off to Georgia.
On August 24th, Otto Emailed me. “Hey Man,” it started. “I took a few hundred picks of Cap. Tell me if any of these appeal to you. I like the dynamic feet on some of these, but I really like the one of him standing up straight. Man, he looks like a real person in that one. I started drawing from these, and thought I might check first.”
I reviewed the photos and agreed with Otto’s assessment of the best reference photo (pictured at right). Otto and I talked until about 1:00 in the morning (that’s freakin’ 4:00am to him), and he concluded with, “Well, I gotta go, man. I’m makin’ some coffee and I got some paintin’ to do!”
On August 28th, I got an Email from Otto. “Hey man,” it began. “I’ve been listening to Shatner’s Star Trek Memories, and in it he was talking about all the angst in the show’s production. He said Roddenberry was pushed off until the last minute to get his special effects, and when he did…they sucked. My opinion was he should have been more pushy about seeing some work, but…”
The Email was actually about a Mego Captain America, but I also got Otto’s random opinion about the hypothetical mistakes of a television show producer. Oh, that is SO OTTO. For example, Otto expressed how much he enjoys working on this stuff, and that painting the shield gave him chills. That sentiment was followed immediately by the sentence, “I need to send you a copy of the ‘78 pilot for Captain America. It’s fucking horrible, and great too!”
That is SO OTTO. He writes exactly the way he speaks, and you need a speedometer to keep up with him. As you can imagine, he’s a blast to talk to.
“Behave, Otto.”
“I am bein’ hayve!”
I have had the privilege of seeing Otto’s preliminary work, and it’s fantastic. I’ll bounce the Blog over to him. Otto has promised to share his process, and keep us all updated on his progress. I, for one, cannot wait to see what he does.
Benjamin
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