Category: Ramblings & Reviews

Wiki-Wonderfulness

Post author By Jim Keefe
Post date

My wikipedia page was recently brought to my attention again…

And since it is once again on my radar, I thought I would address the inaccuracies so I can then once again ignore it.

Note: I actually tried to correct it many years ago – not knowing that editing your own wiki page is strictly prohibited – and was promptly booted off the site.

So here it is in its most recent incarnation (2/29/16).

First off under Personal information…

…he attended Joe Kubert’s School of Cartoon and Graphic Art after a very brief career at a more traditional institution.

Since when does going to school get referred to as “a very brief career”?

What actually happened was that before attending the Joe Kubert School I tried out a number of other art schools that didn’t quite fit the bill as far as the career I was looking for.

First off was a summer program at Atelier Lack in Minneapolis, which gave me a good grounding in the traditional methods of drawing. Next up was a brief stint at Atelier Hathaway (one of Richard Lack’s students), then a semester at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design.

Now for Career…

Keefe started his career coloring comic strips such as Blondie, Beetle Bailey and Hägar the Horrible. He was the head colorist in the King Features Syndicate comic art department. Keefe’s tenure lasted from January, 1996 to March 2003. Unfortunately he was unable to continue his work for King Features because of economic issues.

Stilted sentence structure notwithstanding, I actually worked on staff at King from 1989-1998. 1996-2003 refers to when I wrote and drew Flash Gordon.

And those “economic issues” were actually King Features’ economic issues – as they laid off my entire department as a cost cutting measure.

Since he has left his coloring job, Keefe has taught, taken part in freelance assignments, promoted the National Cartoonists Society and worked on a graphic novel. His graphic novel exemplifies his Father’s service in World War II as a member of Patton’s Third Army. Keefe’s work on Flash Gordon continues to appear in syndication.

This reads like it was translated from japanese using Mac’s translation app.

“…taken part in freelance assignments”
My name is Jim Keefe. And yes, I admit it – I have taken part in freelance assignments.

And as for the Graphic Novel that I have not actually completed, may I suggest the word chronicles instead of exemplifies.

Keefe has taught and spoken at the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan, Malloy College, and Hofstra University’s UCCE Youth Programs in Long Island, New York.

Keefe has taught and spoken at, he has.

Keefe currently provides the artwork for the syndicated comic strip Sally Forth, as well as performs freelance assignments and also provides graphic art for a number of different companies.

Note: When I perform my freelance assignments, it’s usually an interpretive dance.

Here’s how I list this same info…

A graduate of the Joe Kubert School, Jim Keefe started his career as the head colorist in the King Features Syndicate comic art department, coloring such world-renowned strips as Blondie, Beetle Bailey and Hagar the Horrible.

From 1996-2003 he was the writer and artist of Flash Gordon for King Features Syndicate – currently available online at FlashGordon.com.

Teaching and speaking engagements include the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan, Malloy College and Hofstra’s UCCE Youth Programs in Long Island, New York – and most recently as an Adjunct Teacher at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design.

Keefe currently is the artist of the Sally Forth comic strip, written by Francesco Marciuliano. Sally Forth is syndicated worldwide by King Features and appears in nearly 700 newspapers.

My thanks for indulging me and letting me get this off my chest.

This is by no means a huge concern, but it does make me wonder how inaccurate the rest of wikipedia is…

All for now – back to deadlines…

Update:
Thanks to Genevieve Gendron-perso (from the Creative Focus Workshop offered by Jessica Abel) my wiki page has been corrected.

Thank you! It’s greatly appreciated…

Ramblings & Reviews

Wishes and More – Superhero Winter Ball 2016

Post author By Jim Keefe
Post date

Marriott City Center - Minneapolis, MN - February 27, 2016 — Marriott City Center, Minneapolis, MN – February 27, 2016

Throwing the spotlight on Karla Blomberg and all the hard working staff and volunteers at Wishes and More®, a Minnesota based charity group that grants wishes to children with terminal and life-threatening illnesses.

Held at the Marriott City Center in downtown Minneapolis, this year’s Winter Ball theme was a Gathering of Superheroes. Guests were encouraged to dress the part in their favorite costume or attend in black-tie style for a Bruce Wayne Gala.

In attendance was former Minnesota Viking, celebrity chef and singer (turned incredible Hulk) – Esera Tuaolo

He not only donated a chef dinner for the auction (that went for $4,000), but lent his singing talent to the entertainment for the evening as well.

Here’s some quick pics of some of the other volunteers and guests in costume…

My donation to the live auction was a drawing of Rey from Star Wars. With a starting bid of $65, it was over $150 before bidding closed.

And even though the Winter Ball is over, you can still help out by just going to wishesandmore.org

And last but not least I want to thank David and Jen Bresler for the invite to the gala, and also their generosity in hosting a table.

You guys are the best!

Quick note that all pictures were taken by Daily Bugle staff photographer, Peter Parker and copyrighted 2016 to the Daily Bugle.

Tags Wishes and More

Business of Cartooning Ramblings & Reviews

Cartoon Art Scams

Post author By Jim Keefe
Post date

When you work on comic character that’s known worldwide the door to scam artists suddenly gets thrown wide open. Take the following…

Years ago, when I was doing Flash Gordon, I received a request for some drawings from a guy who had a sick grandma who grew up reading (insert character’s name here) – it was one of her favorites! He wanted one Flash Gordon drawing for his Grandma, and if possible, another two for his kids. The weird part? He wanted it on uncirculated sheets of two dollar bills.

Sounds fishy I know…

Regardless, I rolled the dice and thought it was quirky enough that it might actually be true – drawings sent.

Months later I got a letter from Popeye cartoonist Hy Eisman (one of my teachers from the Kubert School) informing me I had just been scammed. Enclosed with the letter was an insert from a catalog with cartoon art for sale. The art was drawn on (wait for it)… uncirculated sheets of two dollar bills.

Web version of catalog page - via sarasotanumismatics.com — Web version of catalog page.

And how did Hy Eisman find out about it?

Suffice it to say, my days of giving people the benefit of the doubt was over.

Now some people argue that once you give away a piece of art to a fan, what they then do with it is out of your hands. Well… that’s true – but to intentionally misrepresent why you want the art (sick relative) in order to flip it for profit is where that line of reasoning goes off the rails.

Al Williamson once told me a story of his disillusionment when he gave away a drawing to a young fan at a convention – only to find out later that the kid was a plant that a comic art dealer was sending around to scam cartoonists out of as much free art as possible.

Al Williamson in his studio inking a Star Wars movie adaptation – October 1998.

Now Al was known as one of the nicest guys in comics, so the kind of individual who would take advantage of his generosity can best be described with one word…

I’d also like to add that back in the day, it actually took some effort to scam artists as you had to resort to mass mailings, postage, etcetera. Today they can reach hundreds with just copy, paste, send.

And some of these scammers are just plain lazy.
When I was doing Flash Gordon sometimes I would get email from a “fan” asking for artwork that never mentioned my name or the strip I did, but it would clearly state that they read my strip every day (it only appeared on Sunday) and they thought it was “one of the funniest strips around!”

Because Flash Gordon is primarily remembered for it’s zany slapstick gags…

That said, I’m not in the spotlight like some of the hot artists currently out there, so I can only imagine the headaches they have to deal with – be it Adam Hughes having to put a halt on convention sketches or Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner announcing a 5 book free signing limit. You can only be jerked around so much before you have to start putting up fences to safeguard yourself.

Another headache for cartoonists are hacks blatantly stealing their work and selling it as their own. The poster child for this kind of plagiarism being Rob Granito.

Countless examples of this keep cropping up – most recently spotted was Hakan Ozcan ripping off Ron Garney.

And for the outright bizarre there’s the case of Shia LaBeouf plagiarizing Daniel Clowes back in 2013 – then apologizing via a skywriter and tweeting a cryptic message…

CLOUD:
– vapor floating in the atmosphere
– remote servers used to SHARE DATA
– to make LESS CLEAR or TRANSPARENT pic.twitter.com/jw9JlEi791

— Shia LaBeouf (@thecampaignbook) January 1, 2014

And I haven’t even touched on all the fake comic art on ebay…

These kind of activities have been brought to light more and more of late due to vigilant fans and pros putting a spotlight on these hacks via posts on the internet. And as the number of comic cons grow more needs to be done on the part of convention organizers to weed out these crooks.

But I digress…

Back to drawing requests…
For the most part, time constraints prohibit me from fulfilling requests for sketches and donations for auctions. With the advent of e-mail, there are just too many requests and too little time.

And the thought of neglecting paying work so I can draw something for a “fan” who just wants something he can flip and put on ebay that he got from me for free..?

UPDATE…
Commentary I’ve come across online since posting.

From Larry Hama’s Facebook page.

From Ray Billingsley, creator of Curtis:

From Don O’Malley (Off of Facebook):

I am sorry that a few have ruined it for the rest of us.
Years ago I was a comic con and Paul Gulacy was a guest. He was working on Shang-Chi for Marvel. My brother, and two of my cousins along with my self stood in line to get him to sign a book for us. We were 14 at the most. Two large men told all of us that Mr Gulacy had only time to sign one book each and we were to ask no questions of him. A third man with them was talking to Paul as we were waiting. He was having Paul draw a Shang -Chi. I had Mr. Gulacy sign one of my books and as I asked him if he would ever work on a Shadow book? I was glared at by all three as Paul stopped to speak to me.

Years later at a comic store the same man was showing off his collections of art, he was so proud of the fact that he would go to cons and have his two friends block others from asking for a sketch, autograph or ask questions, so he could have more time with the artist. It takes all kind!!

Tags Al Williamson, Hy Eisman, scam

Ramblings & Reviews

Keefe Studios – 20 Years and Counting

Post author By Jim Keefe
Post date

I’ve been doing freelance since I attended the Kubert School back in the late 1980’s. I started working at King Features Syndicate on staff after graduating the Kubert School in ’89 – so as far as job sites and resumes, I always listed my freelance as officially starting in 1996 with my first big gig, Flash Gordon.

So when I recently started getting congrats on 20 years at Keefe Studios from LinkedIn, two things sprung to mind.

1. Wow, it’s been twenty years already.
2. How do I turn that feature on LinkedIn off?

As a special treat I thought I’d post some of the pics of the office party here at Keefe Studios in celebration of 20 years. Enjoy!

So here’s to 20 years at Keefe Studios! GO TEAM KEEFE-WOOOHOOOOO!

Due to popular demand
– One person (Terry Beatty) suggested it –
Here’s an action packed animated gif
that captures the office party in all it’s glory!

ENJOY!!!

Tags Keefe Studios

Ramblings & Reviews

Motivational Misinformation

Post author By Jim Keefe
Post date

Just saw this recently on Facebook…

I HATE memes like this.
Like Rickman woke up on his 46th birthday after being a plumber all his life and decided to become an actor.

WRONG…

Here’s the real scoop…

As a teenager Rickman won a scholarship to Latymer Upper School in London, where he appeared in several school plays. He then studied graphic design at Chelsea College of Art and Design and the Royal College of Art. After graduating, he started a graphic design company, Graphiti, with some friends. He met his lifetime partner Rima Horton at age 19 while in the amateur Group Court Drama Club.

At age 26, Rickman decided to apply to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Rickman supported himself through his two years at the RADA by taking freelance design jobs and by working as a set dresser.

At age 32, Rickman joined the prestigious Royal Shakespeare Company, appearing in The Tempest and Love’s Labour’s Lost, among others. Moving on from the RSC, Rickman spent much of the rest of the 1980s acting in BBC serials, radio dramas and repertory theater.

At 39 Rickman had the starring role of Le Vicomte de Valmont in Les Liaisons Dangereuses, a part that playwright Christopher Hampton (who adapted the script from an 18th century French novel) developed with the actor specifically in mind – Rickman then performed the unforgettably villainous role first in London and then on Broadway, earning a Tony Award nomination.

At age 46, Rickman was tapped for his first Hollywood film role as the evil terrorist Hans Gruber in Die Hard (1988). “I got Die Hard,” Rickman later recalled, “because I came cheap. They were paying Willis $7 million so they had to find people they could pay nothing.”

All info from Biography.com – Alan Rickman

Then, if you are aware of Rickman’s prior work there’s the added insult that none of that mattered until he “made it” on the big screen – Tinseltown – HOLLYWOOD!

They do the same meme about Jack Kirby…

Skipping over co-creating Captain America at the age of 23, and his wealth of work and artistic innovations in the 1940s and 50s.

Drives me CRAZY! – makes me want to find whoever wrote such simplistic drivel and knock some sense into them…

Marvelmasterworks.com has posted a sequential timeline of Jack Kirby’s comic book work. It’s too long to post here, but just for fun check out Kirby’s published work prior to the 1960s and the Marvel Age of comics (the images don’t seem to load, but the list is all there).

JACK KIRBY: A By-the-month Chronology 1938-1949
JACK KIRBY: A By-the-month Chronology 1950-1959

The lesson to be learned?

No, that’s not it either…

Just try to remember that it’s a lifetime of work that goes into a career, not necessarily the fleeting moments the public remembers.

Also there’s the old “one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration” saying of Thomas Edison’s. (Just try not to think about that whole Edison/Tesla debate too much regarding that.)

That’s all for now as deadlines are looming. But before I go I want to leave you with these words of wisdom from LinkedIn…

My link to what I think of that line of gibberish can be found here.