There’s no better feeling than coming across your artwork in the marketplace—especially by surprise. One day as the wife, kids, and I were strolling through Borders, we hit a trifecta and saw three unsuspecting products hosting artwork supplied by yours truly.
- On the clearance table leftover from the holidays was a box containing a jigsaw puzzle of the legendary leg lamp from the movie A Christmas Story. I could tell right away the cover illustration of the lamp on the box and the puzzle itself was from art I created for Warner Bros.’ Consumer Products Division several months before.
- Then we saw The Game of Life (board game) customized with artwork I did for the Wizard of Oz 50th Anniversary.
- Finally, we came across a logo design book called The Secret Life of Logos that featured a three of my logos as case studies a few years back. I had totally forgotten about it and there it was just sitting there on the table.
Honestly I think this is one of the best perks of what I do. Sure, I get to kick back and draw all day as a means to put some food on the table and some gasoline in the car, which is pretty great. But it gets even better when you’re out with friends and come across your artwork in the marketplace. It’s raw evidence that the work you do every day in the confines of your studio all alone, day after day, in sequential hours of isolation is actually circulating in society and contributing to the ebb and flow of the consumer conditioned society in which we thrive. Plus it’s cool to say while pointing to a billboard that towers stark and triumphant against the summer sky, , "Hey, I did that."
