What’s going on at Flesk? The June 2012 Update

Three projects are taking up most of my time at the moment.

New Flesk Website

The first is wrapping up the new Flesk website. Outside of a few new features currently being built by the designer, the site is nearly ready to go live. I am very happy with how it is turning out and hope you will all enjoy the new look as much as I do.

Jim Silke Sketchbook

I am working with Jim Silke to wrap up the first volume of his new Sketchbook series. I have designed books 1 & 2 and sent print outs to Jim for his feedback. He is reviewing the pair. He is also writing captions and an introduction for volume one. Once I receive Jim’s thoughts and text, I should be able to complete volume one within a few weeks. Then, we’ll have volume two primed and close to being ready so when we are ready to publish it the work involved will be minimal. I’ll announce the full details and schedule for volume 1 once it is complete. I prefer waiting to announce a street date, allowing the book to dictate its release date rather than a schedule. I don’t like being rushed and like to take my time to make books just right. Good thing I’m the boss and don’t have to be told when to be done.
James Bama: Personal Works

The next book that is near completion is “James Bama: Personal Works.” I designed 110 pages of the 128 page book quite a while ago. The delay has been me trying to find the time to focus in writing the essay for the book. I have an ambitious piece I want to present. I say ambitious since the word count is quite a bit higher than I normally write—actually it’s the longest piece I’ve written. Most of my pieces are 500-1500 words. This one, at the moment is 6900 words. Yesterday it was 9300 words. I’ve been hacking it down as much as possible. Finding the time to focus on this essay has been a challenge. But now, I’ve got a good rhythm going and hope to complete my second draft in July sometime. I expect the book to be available in or around November.
Other News

I have an Edwin Austin Abbey book sitting on the shelf. It’s been gathering dust for many months. The core of the nearly 200 page book is designed and done. What is needed is time to write a piece for the book. I don’t want to force the book. It’ll happen whenever it does. My energies are more geared towards living artists at the moment.

I have two new artist collections to announce. One is with an artist I have worked with before, the other is someone new. Both are exciting. I’ll either announce them just before Comic-Con or at our Flesk panel during the show. I haven’t decided yet. I’ll share the news soon though.

Enjoy,

John

John Fleskes
Flesk Publications
text and photos copyright 2012 John Fleskes. All rights reserved.

Links:
James Bama: Personal Works

John Fleskes Interviews from 2006 and 2010

I’m moving these pair of interview links with me over from my old Flesk site to archive here on my blog. One of which is fro 2006 and the other from 2010. As I skim through them it’s interesting to see how I was thinking back then.

Jason Sacks at Comics Bulletin has interviewed Flesk publisher John Fleskes regarding his working relationship with William Stout and the process that goes into making a Flesk art book. You can read it at the Comics Bulletin website here. From December 2010.

Bill Baker interviews John Fleskes for World Famous Comics web site. Read it here. Originally conducted in October 2006.

Enjoy,

John

John Fleskes
Flesk Publications

 

Mark Schultz “Various Drawings Volume Two” Interview from 2006

Mark Schultz responds to questions about his new book, Various Drawings Volume Two, Xenozoic Tales, and his artistic style. Originally conducted in 2006 by John Fleskes. Moving to my blog for archival purposes.

Flesk Publications: For this second collection of your drawings, how is it different than the first volume?

Mark Schultz: I think there’s more of an emphasis on my recent work in this volume, but the formula remains pretty much the same as in Vol. 1: a variety of preliminary as well as finished works, variously rendered in ink, graphite and carbon pencil. Still, there is some older material, chosen because it has either not been previously published, or was published in a very limited venue. The biggest difference is probably in tone—when I’m choosing work for a given collection, part of the decision-making process involves developing a kind of rhythm and connection between the drawings. Certain drawings and subjects just seem to hang together better than others do. I think the tone of Vol. 2 is noticeably different than that of Vol. 1—it’s somewhat more varied, looser…

FP: Various Drawings Volume Two features a gatefold of your first sequential artwork in years; a thirties Sunday strip featuring a Xenozoic Tales topper, and Flash Gordon main feature. How does it feel to briefly get back to storytelling? Was it challenging?

MS: Storytelling, for me, is the biggest challenge. Producing sequential art has a much higher degree of difficulty than simple illustration. I love telling stories in the comics format, and only wish that I was fast enough to do it more regularly. It’s incredibly time-consuming, drawing all the panels necessary to tell a story with the kind of visual techniques I enjoy using. I am on an eternal quest to simplify my style appropriately for sequential use. Hasn’t happened yet, but I’m trying.

FP: You drew a sultry pin-up style illustration of Hannah, which is included in the book. Is this pin-up style a first for you?

MS: I’m very conscious of the large audience out there that enjoys pin-up type cheesecake. I’m not sure this particular piece is so much something entirely new for me, as it is an evolution. I’ve drawn Hannah and other female characters in sexy poses before, but I’m probably pushing my own envelope here a little. Generally speaking, I like my females to look like they can take care of themselves. I don’t do that “baby doll, let’s-play-dress-up” thing. I’m hoping that while this particular drawing of Hannah maybe pushes the pure sex appeal further than I have done in the past, that she still looks like the real deal.

FP: Who are some of your favorite pin-up artists?

MS: Gil Elvgren is, in my opinion, the best of the best. In addition to him, I’ve always enjoyed Petty. And, more contemporarily, studying Dave Steven’s work has taught me a lot.

FP: Is there a personal favorite piece in VD2, which you are especially proud of?

MS: I’m pretty happy with all of them, or they wouldn’t be in there. (I’ve got a lot of drawings that will never make the cut.) I’m pleased in general with the more recent work, because I can see that my drawing abilities are continuing to develop and grow. The frontispiece—the scuttled SubHuman cover, is particularly interesting to me because I penciled and did some inking on it back in 1998. When I picked it up again to finish it this year, I felt I needed to redo much of the inking because it didn’t work for me anymore. I feel like I now have a much more “solid”—a stronger, more dynamic—inking style.

FP: What are you working on now?

MS: I’m working on a number of private commissions as well as starting in on a storybook tentatively titled Storms At Sea—a combination of text and illustration that will be published by Flesk in 2007. It’s a hardboiled global conspiracy cautionary tale, with lots of opportunities for wildly varying illustrations. I’m writing it, and roughing out the graphics, now.

Beyond that, I continue to write the Prince Valiant strip in the Sunday funnies—gorgeously rendered by Gary Gianni—and draw the occasional comic book cover.

Mark Schultz Interview © 2006 Flesk Publications. All rights reserved.

Mark Schultz “Various Drawings Volume One” Interview from 2005

Mark Schultz responds to questions about his new book, Various Drawings Volume One, Xenozoic Tales, and his artistic style. Originally conducted in 2005 by John Fleskes. Moving to my blog for archival purposes.

Flesk Publications: What prompted you to work on a collection of your drawings?

Mark Schultz: Over the last few years a good number of people who follow my art have expressed their interest in seeing a collection of my sketches. There certainly seems to be a healthy market for such things. What has prevented me from doing a project like this sooner has a lot to do with the fact that it wasn’t till relatively recently that I learned the technological end of reproducing my work. I wanted to be able to control the process of producing the book as far as doing the scanning and cleaning of the art myself. Now that I’m learning how to do that, there’s no holding me back.

FP: With Mark Schultz: Various Drawings being your first collection of artwork, why did it take over twenty years to compile a book?

MS: In addition to the above, I haven’t until recently felt that I had a sufficient body of work that warranted public display—my preliminaries and sketches weren’t of a quality that deserved print. They were for my use as tools in developing finished work only. But, now, in the last few years, I feel that my draftsmanship has progressed to the point where I can live with seeing it in print.

Another important factor that has kept me from doing a Various Drawings before now is that, since the demise of Kitchen Sink Press back in the mid-90’s, I haven’t found a publisher with whom I was completely comfortable. I had been approached by a number of publishers about doing volumes featuring of my work, but the situation never felt quite right to me. That is, until Flesk Publications approached me. I have been a fan of John Fleskes’ imprint from his first publication. He has a concern for quality reproduction and good, clean design that mirrors my own. I knew this was a good fit.

FP: What was your goal for the design of Various Drawings?

MS: The striking design of Various Drawings has everything to do with Randy Dahlk. Randy and I had worked together on some Xenozoic Tales merchandise back in the early ‘90s. He is a top-notch designer, and we are simpatico in our interest in the designs of the 1930s and ‘40s–particularly, in this case, those of textbook jackets and technical manuals. I wanted that look to inform the design of Various Drawings, so Randy was my only choice.

Beyond that, I wanted the art reproduction and paper stocks to be very reflective of what you would see in an art exhibition catalogue—museum quality attention to detail. John and Randy got all these things right.

FP: Inside the book there is a preliminary for the cover to Xenozoic Tales #15. Are you working on XT again?

MS: While I have the next four of so issues of Xenozoic Tales carefully planned out, I am sorry to say that I have no immediate plans to get back to that series. It is never far from my mind, and I am always looking to find a way to make it financially feasible. It is what I want to do more than anything else. Someday it will happen, but in the meantime, I content myself with the occasional preliminary, mapping out what I would like to do.

FP: In recent years, with the exception of your Conan work, your artwork has not been readily available to fans. Can they expect to see any artistic variations or growth, which may surprise them?

MS: Well, I get bored pretty quickly if I’m not exploring some new technique or media. There are a couple of recent pieces in Various Drawings which were done with Wolff carbon pencil, a medium long out of favor, but very popular with illustrators in the pre-color years of the early 20th century. It allows for very rich tonalities—it’s great for creating mood and atmosphere, and I’m having a lot of fun with it. I recently completed the illustrations for The Autobiography of Charles R. Knight, which will be published this summer by G.T.Labs—they were all done in Wolff pencil.

FP: How do you see your artwork growing in the future? What do you hope to achieve through your illustrations?

MS: I’ve never been much good at guessing the future curve of my career. Everything pretty much depends on what jobs I’m offered, or where I find a niche that needs filled. So I might be painting more in the next few years, or I might be back to doing more brush and ink work. The important thing is that I feel I am growing and evolving.

I’d like to evolve a pair of gills, actually.

FP: Which stage of the drawings do you find most enjoyable?

MS: It’s all gawdawful hard. I’ve never found any stage to be easy enough to call enjoyable. In fact, by the time I’m done with my average drawing, I’m usually convinced that I’ve ruined it. I guess what I like best about the whole deal is looking back on a drawing months after I’ve completed it, seeing it with fresh eyes, and realizing that it isn’t nearly so bad as I thought it was.

But, bitching and moaning aside, there’s nothing else I’d rather be doing.

Mark Schultz Interview © 2005 Flesk Publications. All rights reserved.

Gary Gianni Interviewed About Illustrating Michael Chabon’s “Gentlemen of the Road!”

Gary Gianni shares his experiences in illustrating Michael Chabon’s latest book, Gentlemen of the Road. Original interview posted on the Flesk website on October 31, 2007. Now added to my blog for better archival purposes.

Gary Gianni talks with John Fleskes about his recent art duties illustrating Michael Chabon’s Gentlemen of the Road, available now from Del Rey.

John Fleskes: How did you pick up the assignment to illustrate Gentlemen of the Road?

Gary Gianni: It was out of the blue. The editor at Del Rey, Betsy Mitchell, called and asked me if I would be interested in illustrating Michael Chabon’s new book. It wasn’t until sometime later that I found Chabon suggested me as an illustrator for the project; although I understand that Betsy was instrumental in developing the overall look of the book. So both of them (Chabon and Mitchell) had an idea of what they were looking for and called me.

JF: Did they give you a galley of the book allowing you to read the text first?

GG: Yes they gave me a galley of the whole book, which I prefer. There have been times where people give me a synopsis or maybe the first few chapters and I always feel I don’t have enough information. I can’t get quite as involved when I don’t have the whole thing at my fingertips.

JF: So you like to read the whole book first?

GG: Yes I do, I always do. If it’s something that I don’t think I am suited for after the first few chapters I’ll realize that early on and I won’t finish the book. I’ll call and say this project isn’t my strong suit. But in this case, even as I read the first few chapters, I realized a couple of things; it was a genre that I felt familiar with, guys with swords, especially on the heels of working on Prince Valiant and the Robert E. Howard stuff for the last few years. There was a certain similar vein with the adventure material and the period and that it gave me the feeling that I wouldn’t have to do a lot of reference for it because I have so much of that sort of thing at hand. Michael Chabon was kind enough to send me some extra material that he had accumulated when researching the book so I had quite a bit of reference.

JF: How suited is Chabon’s text in describing visuals for you to translate into illustrations?

GG: This book will do equally well if it doesn’t have any accompanying illustrations. He is a very illustrative writer. I think in that sense he certainly didn’t need me or any kind of enhancement to his novel to make it read well. Nevertheless, I thought it was perfect for an illustrator because it is so colorful.

JF: How did you come up with the designs of the main characters, Zelikman and Amram?

GG: Well that was the fun part because I rarely get to work with a living author. Most of my uh…colleagues, working on books have been dead, Jules Verne, Robert E. Howard or Robert Lewis Stevenson. So it was a pleasure to work with a writer that I could actually speak with and talk about his work. We were right on the same page. The minute I talked to him I felt really good about the project.

Even discussing some of the characters. Chabon’s well versed in film, and we were able to talk about characters by using the reference to movie characters; choosing a certain actor who might have fit that role.

For example, as I read the book, one of the characters, reminded me of an obscure actor from the 40s and 50s by the name of Akim Tamiroff. Later, when I asked Chabon how he saw this character, he said “Ah I see sort of an Akim Tamiroff kind of a guy.” I thought wow, how cosmic is this? First of all there can’t be a whole lot of people who know who Akim Tamiroff is and we both see the actor as the character. It says a lot about the power of Chabon’s writing and how well he can communicate with his reader.

JF: When you came up with the designs for the characters did you send them to Chabon for his approval?

GG: I didn’t have a lot of time to do this, it was, what I felt, a tight deadline. Naturally, they wanted to see some pencil roughs, I sent 15 and they were all approved. So it was smooth sailing. I realized how closely aligned we were, the editor, the author, and myself and therefore, I felt much more comfortable about the job.

JF: Especially given the time frame you had to deal with.

GG: Well that was one of my concerns, and I did mention that to Betsy. “You know we don’t have too much time for this? I hope there’s not too much art direction.” And there wasn’t. I think John Huston said this, he was talking about making a movie and he said “…the movies that are the hardest to make, tend to be the ones that don’t turn out so well…” I agree with that. This was very easy to do once I got into it and so the inverse of Huston’s remark, the easy ones are the ones that turn out well, holds true.

JF: How did the approach to these illustrations differ from your Prince Valiant work?

GG: Oh there is a tremendous changing of the guard, stylistically; book illustration and comic strip illustration are two different art forms. You’re asking a really good question. It’s hard to describe without drawing some pictures. Seriously, I think it has something to do with, book illustration having more of a sense of being decorative. You don’t have to spell everything out. They don’t need to be as instrumental, (in the storytelling) as they do in a comic strip. They need to suggest a mood more than anything and in that sense it’s very different from comic strips. Actually, illustrations accompanying a good writer’s text could be downright gratuitous. It’s something that is almost intuitive and I don’t know how else to explain it. So feel free to jump in here and help me out John.

JF: Okay, well I am wondering about the illustrations themselves, there are 15 of them, correct?

GG: There are 15.

JF: Is there one that you particularly liked the most?

GG: I tried to do 15 very different illustrations but they work collectively. I don’t favor one over another. They are well paced and they fall at moments that lend themselves to making it an attractive book.

There is something I want to say here that is a little off the point but, when you are doing this sort of illustration, especially a book like Gentleman of the Road where there are plot twists, you have to be very careful in not tipping your mitt or allowing the reader to see any surprises before they read about them. So again, you want to be somewhat evocative in the pictures and avoid illuminating what’s going on too closely because that’s the author’s job. He knows how to tell his story and certainly doesn’t need any pictures accompanying it. The pictures are additions and I try to be aware of the intent of the author. He goes to great pains to lead the reader a certain way. I don’t want to do anything to jeopardize how the reader is navigating through the book. This is another way that book illustration differs from comic strip art. Does that make sense?

JF: Yeah definitely, I understand what you mean. You are there to decorate, you don’t want your illustrations to overwhelm the text or give any of the stories away.

GG: That’s well put John. Maybe I should be interviewing you.

JF: Maybe when I’ve actually accomplished something worth talking about. Is there anything else you would like to share about working with Chabon?

GG: Aside from the adventure I feel the romance in Chabon’s writing. I know some critics have made parallels with Fritz Leiber, who wrote Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser and others have mentioned Raphael Sabatini and Dumas. There are other 19th century writers of adventure like Talbot Mundy and even Rudyard Kipling. I’d add Joseph Conrad as another kindred spirit. On the other hand, Gentlemen of the Road has a whimsical touch that reminds me more of certain adventure films, like Gunga Din with Cary Grant and Victor Mclaughlin. And the Man Who Would Be King I, myself, respond strongly to these kind of influences and it made this project a nice match. He dedicates the novel to Michael Moorcock so Chabon isn’t just tipping his hat to the past masters. I will stress this is not a full-out fantasy. It’s set within a historical time frame and a politically complex period. Just like we live in today.

JF: 10th century Khazaria. The only Jewish state prior to Israel, I believe.

GG: A Jewish region snuggled in between the Christian and the Muslim empires. This area has not been explored much in popular fiction. Not only does Chabon bring it to our attention, but he has fun with it. So will his readers.

JF: Thanks for your time Gary.

 Artwork copyright © 2007 by Gary Gianni. Used with Permission.
Gary Gianni Interview © 2007 Flesk Publications. All rights reserved.

Petar Meseldžija “The Legend of Steel Bashaw” Interview

This interview with Petar Meseldžija was original posted on the Flesk website on April 7, 2010. I am migrating all of the interviews off of our old site to my blog as I am preparing to launch our new Flesk website. Enjoy again!

Introduction by John Fleskes.

Welcome to a special in-depth interview focusing on Petar Meseldžija.

I first became aware of Petar Meseldžija in November 2009 when I received a copy of Spectrum 16. Petar was awarded a Gold award in the Book category for one of his paintings from The Legend of Steel Bashaw, published as Baš Čelik by the Serbian publisher Zmaj.

A visit to Petar’s website educated me on the fact that he lived in the Netherlands. With my planned trip to the Stripbeurs comic show in Breda, Netherlands coming up in early March 2010, I wrote an email to Mark Thelosen, my contact and host for our upcoming adventure, if he was aware of Petar. With Mark’s help, Petar and I were communicating through email two days later. Within a few weeks of my first noticing Petar’s work, I developed a relationship with him, received a copy of the Serbian edition of The Legend of Steel Bashaw, and we came to an agreement for my publishing his book in the U.S. (Please visit the book details on our website here.) Furthermore, it was a pleasure to meet Petar and his wife, Anita, and have the opportunity to visit their home and see his original paintings a few days after the Stripbeurs Breda show.

Petar’s work is a successful blend of fine art and illustration. I was in awe at how impressionistic his paintings were up close. At a short distance away and in reproduction the pieces appear tight, but then walk up for a detailed viewing and they again become abstract with thick paint raised from the surface, with deliberate powerful strokes. It also turns out that Petar is a wonderful, kind person, who can be witty and humorous, as well as deep and compelling. One thing is for certain; we are all the better for his desire to paint, in that we have more beauty in the world.

I asked Petar if he was willing to write a little about himself, his painting technique and about The Legend of Steel Bashaw. He came back with the following intriguing and sophisticated responses to each question, proving behind his funny exterior and joy for life, the inner artist is contemplative and tireless in his efforts to improve his work and in producing the stories he wants to share. I have included pictures throughout from my enjoyable visit to his home and our time spent together in Breda.

Without further ado, I would like to introduce Mr. Petar Meseldžija. The following text is written in his own hand.

How and why The Legend of Steel Bashaw is conceived, and a little bit about my beginnings in the Netherlands:

In 1991 the civil war broke out in former Yugoslavia. Because I did not want to take part in that terrible carnage between the brotherly nations, I decided to leave the country. Blown by the winds of destiny I sailed off towards the Netherlands.

I left my homeland only with a bag and a few original paintings, leaving 26 years of my life forever behind. The change was so sudden that, years later while thinking about that, it felt as if one life abruptly ended that day and the new one started. I came out of the train at the Amsterdam Central Station as a baby comes out of the mother’s womb. Only, in my case there was nobody to welcome me to this new life… This sounds a little bit sentimental and even pathetic, but that is exactly how it felt.

For the next few years I fought a battle of survival only with my talent, artistic skills (which were still developing) and eagerness to stay in life and make something of it, as my only weapons. I have to admit that I take pride in the fact that, from the very beginning, I was able to earn my living only through use of brushes and pencils. Of course, I must not forget the importance of the concept of ‘luck’ and the assistance, which came from some good Dutch people. However, the assignments I did in those days were the commercial ones, quite different from things I would normally do. But they provided me with the means for making the living, though very meagre, and gave me the opportunity to practice, learn and to further develop my abilities, which was great.

After two years of this kind of work I started to feel urge to do something just for myself. I was, also, terribly homesick. Eventually, the solution presented itself in the form of an idea of illustrating a well-known Serbian folk tale Baš Čelik. By the way, in 1916 the legendary French/English illustrator Edmund Dulac illustrated the same tale within the book Edmund Dulac’s Fairy BookFairy Tales of the Allied Nations. Within a few exciting weeks I did the painting which satisfied not only my need for doing something different and new, but also filled the hole within me which came into being after I left my homeland and therefore broke the ties with my people, culture and my past in general. Simultaneously I started to rewrite the original tale trying to make it more contemporary, at the same time preserving the mythological truth and the ancient wisdom, which was embedded in it. A few months later I did the second painting and then, because of the certain reasons, I stopped. I seriously came back to this project seven years later, working steadily on it in my spare time, and finally finishing the book in August 2008.

The Legend of Steel Bashaw, what is it about?

The Legend of Steel Bashaw is a tale about the wonders of life, the joys and pains of living; it’s about love, responsibility, dedication and compassion. It is a story which does not promote the sharp division line between good and bad, but rather sees these opposites as the indissoluble parts of the whole.

Unlike the original folk tale, where the line between black and white is clear, a notion which was aligned with the ways and thoughts of old times, this retold version reflects more contemporary, democratic, so to say, approach to these topics, which relativize the problem by giving the concept of “grey area” the right to exists. This basic message is thoroughly buried under the layer of archetypal symbols (and the interaction between them) like; brave and compassionate hero, beautiful and clever princess, mighty dragons, ruthless beasts, wise old men and women, animals with mysterious powers, majestic nature and the strange places. However, the backbone of the story is a journey, for as we all know, there is no good story without an epic journey, probably because it is reminiscent of the greatest journey of all, the Life itself.

When I started to write the story I did not have any particular idea about how I should do it. I just followed my instincts trying to change the parts from the original tale, which were too violent, or not any more ‘up to date’ belonging to the mind frame of the past times. I tried, more intuitively then rationally, to make the story more appealing to the contemporary reader and by doing so to give him the chance to identify with the characters and situations.

Fortunately, I did not rewrite the tale immediately. The story grew slowly as I was developing my artistic abilities and gaining life experience. The process of writing took years and went simultaneously with the creation of the paintings. All the time there was a kind of dialog, an interaction between them. The story triggered the creation of the pictures; while the pictures caused the story to take unexpected turns and twists. There are several examples when a composition pushed itself through and won the place in the book, forcing me to write an addition to already finished story.

For instance, being a great fan of South Limburg (Zuid Limburg), an enchantingly beautiful southern province of the Netherlands, my wife and I often went there to hike over the rolling countryside. Once we came across a beautiful, old, very small, traditional South Limburg house with a majestic chestnuts tree just in front of the entrance. It was a pleasant autumn day and the warm golden light was hitting the treetop casting shadows onto the house walls. It looked like a scene from Brothers Grimm fairytale. I was so struck by the charming beauty of the scene that I had to stop and make a great number of photos, until the battery of my camera was completely empty. The next day I came back and made some more photos. I was so inspired by the energy of the place that I wanted to absorb as much as possible of the atmosphere and carry it home, with me, in order to make it into a painting. Back home, I immediately started to make the preparations for painting. The only thing I was certain about was that I must paint that small house and the big tree, but apart from that I did not have any idea about the context. I considered a couple of ideas but none of them turned to make any sense. After many weeks of despair, one morning I went to my studio, took the enlarged photo of the little house with the tree and looked at it for a while, as I often did. Suddenly I realized that it has to be a painting from The Legend of Steel Bashaw. I envisioned the scene and the story, which would go with it, fell into place. When it was finished it became one of my favourite paintings from the book. The text lines, which went with it, became an important element in adding a certain realistic quality to the character of the monstrous dragon, Steel Bashaw.

About Baš Čelik as starting point of The Legend of Steel Bashaw. This is actually the lead-in text for “The Making Of…” section for the upcoming book. 

The story of The Legend of Steel Bashaw is based on a well known Serbian folk tale Baš Čelik.

This ancient fairytale can also be found in the Russian folklore under the name of Marja Morevna, though in slightly different form, due to the historical and cultural differences between these two nations. This fascinating similarity, and the fact that I did not come across a tale of the same kind within the literal heritage of other European nations, led me to the conclusion that this tale might be a distant echo or remnant of an ancient Slavic myth.

However, while preparing myself to embark on the adventure of recreating the fairytale, which will eventually become a long-term project and a wondrous voyage into the dominion of mythological and archetypal, I intuitively reached towards the sources of inspiration from the culture and art of East and South-East Europe.

The initial inspiration for envisioning the world within which my story was about to take place, came from two great Russian artists, Victor Vasnetsov (1848 – 1926) and Ivan Bilibin (1876 – 1942). As my path led me deeper into the details, especially in connection with the main characters, I found myself being drawn to the paintings of Paja Jovanović (1859 – 1957) and Uroš Predić (1857 – 1953), two great Serbian masters.

In order to add a certain archaic quality to it I started to dig into the medieval past of the ancient city of Novgorod. The beauty of the medieval Serbian monastic architecture and its frescos helped me infuse the book with the spiritual symbolism and harmony.

Being a great fan of Western art, I found the additional inspiration and support in the works of art from such masters as Rembrandt, Gerard Terborch, Akseli Gallen-Kallela, William Waterhouse, John Singer Sargent, Joachim Sorolla, Norman Rockwell, Arthur Rackham, Frank Frazetta, Alan Lee, among others.

Apart from the visual arts and architecture a significant inspiration boost came from the wonderfully picturesque music of Alexander Borodin, Nikolaj Rimski-Korsakov, Edvard Grieg and alike. Their music helped me remain in contact with the mythological past.

At last, but not least, a permanent flow of inspiration, sometimes subtle and sometimes euphoric, came from Mother Nature. Being, in fact, a grand stage on which the epic drama of The Legend of Steel Bashaw is unfolding, nature and her various forms, especially the trees, provided me with infinite stimulus, joy and elation, inevitable ingredients of the process of creation of this book. It was of no importance whether it were the impenetrable Balkan woods, the graceful hills of Dutch South Limburg, majestic fells and lakes of England’s Lake District, or elegant birch forests of North America, as long as it was the nature from the northern hemisphere. And as long as that nature helped me transport my mind to the archetypal level of humane existence, where all human beings, no matter what gender, race or culture, come together and sit around the ancient fire of their common, divine origin.

About my painting technique:

In order to properly describe my approach to illustration and painting I have to place it within the right context. When compared to free art forms, let’s take fine art painting as an example, the illustration as an art form is quite limited and even in some ways “handicapped”. The reason for that is the very nature of it. The main purpose of the illustration is to illustrate the text lines, with other words it is meant to describe things by creating the pictorial forms. While the main aim of the fine art painting, especially the good one, is to be suggestive and to imply the underlining content rather than describing what is on the surface. One might ask; why do I think that the suggestiveness is more valuable then the description? The answer, perhaps, could be found in the following comparison; imagine a good journalist who writes the newspaper articles on one side, and a good poet on the other. The main purpose of the journalist is to inform (describe to) the public, as accurate and objective as possible, a particular event or a situation. As for the purpose of that, if we put the unavoidable aspect of sensationalism on the side for a moment, the next is to gain a certain knowledge and, if necessary, to prevent an unpleasant event from repeating itself. On the other side we have a poet who approaches the same subject from a different angle. He is trying to discover the essence of the problem, at the same time searching for the underlying aspects that connect all the past, present and future situations of the same kind. He tries to gain the understanding of the basic dynamics, which cause these things to happen. And, as we all know, before we are able to completely solve a certain problem we must first have fundamental understanding of it. Instead of a conclusion here is a question; why the people remember great poets and their writings long after they have perished together with the concerns of their times, while the great journalists and their articles are seldom remembered?

Great art is able to withstand the judgment of time. It has a certain universal quality, which connects people and societies from different times and places.

This is perhaps a bit too philosophical introduction to the description of my technique, but I hope that it places it within the necessary context. First of all, let me be clear about one thing. I am not trying to minimize the purpose and the importance of illustration as the art form. Although I spent years producing fine art paintings, the illustration is still my favourite form of artistic expression. I am just trying to be objective, as far as I am able to, and to reveal certain problems, which are quite often popping up on the surface of the medium of illustration, in order to explain how I try to deal with the same problem in my own illustrations.

So, the thing I do is to try to combine fine art and illustration. This is of course nothing new. The most illustrators from the first few decades of the 20th century were doing that. Some of the contemporary illustrators are, more or less, trying to do the same. Generally speaking, during the second part of the 20th century illustration lost the connection with fine art and became quite a unique and independent art form. Slowly but surely, the superficiality crept in as a consequence of the changes in the modern society, which developed itself towards the aims of consumption, speed (of any kind) and therefore shallowness. The surface was becoming more important then the content, money more desirable than the knowledge and inner peace. The current computer technology revolution speeded up the process even more, bringing the problem on the completely new level. After the euphoric use of digital technology in creating the art of illustration, especially for the last 10-15 years, there is now a rising need of going back to basics. Many young artists, who were educated in digital image making, are showing interest in classic techniques like oils. Apparently, they felt that the digital technology, although in many ways superb, wonderfully refreshing and new, was lacking something like three-dimensional, primal, human quality.

However, back to my technique; so I combine fine art and illustration, first of all by trying to be suggestive rather then descriptive. This process of suggestiveness penetrates all levels of my work, starting from the choice not to illustrate exactly the text lines but rather that what is between them, through use of the secondary compositional forms to emphasize the primary aspect of the composition, to use of alla-prima, expressive brush work technique in order to imply a sense of dynamic movement and the vitality of life to my paintings.

An example of using the secondary in order to emphasize the primary in The Legend of Steel Bashaw are the trees. From 16 paintings 12 of them contain a tree (or trees) as a prominent compositional element. I love trees and use them whenever the composition permits it. The grandiosity of a tree, the biggest life form on Earth, enables me to strengthen the composition and make it more interesting, and it helps me to emphasize the overwhelming grandeur of the nature. Further, the use of trees helps me emphasize the movement and the drama within the painting and it helps me define the personal qualities of the main characters and the events. But above all, I just love to paint them and to have them around. One could say that the trees are the main silent characters of the pictorial side of The Legend of Steel Bashaw.

The manner I work with, and my painting technique, are very much based on the principles I have mentioned above. Usually, I start with making the rough sketches trying to find the best visual expression of an idea or a feeling I want to capture. Narrowing the choices I am gradually working towards a relatively detailed drawing, which I later use to find the right models, costumes and props.

After that, I do the photo session. With the help of the initial drawing(s), the photo references, and if necessary some props, I start making the final drawing, which is sometimes more and sometimes less detailed. When all the elements of the composition are on the right place and to my satisfaction, and because the drawing is often smaller than the future painting, I enlarge the drawing by photocopy. Then, I copy the drawing onto the wooden panel or canvas, which I have already treated with three layers of Gesso. After that, the real work starts with making a monochrome underpainting, for which I mostly use a kind of red ochre. I noticed that my underpainting has become quite detailed in the recent years. The reason is that my use of the alla-prima technique has grown through the years. Therefore I find it necessary to solve the main problems first, which means that all shapes are defined and that the tonal values and the balance between the light and the dark are satisfactory. This enables me to immediately start painting in the colour and finish the part of the painting I am working on, in one layer. In the other words, I work wet-on-wet. I enjoy the challenge of the wet paint, its fluidity and disobedience. Through the years, I developed a kind of disliking to the second layer of the paint, because I was being more and more attached to the spontaneity and freshness of the first layer.

Theoretically, my aim in painting is quite basic and simple, but extremely hard to achieve in practice. I simply try to put the right colour, on the right place and in the right manner. To apply this technique and achieve desired results one has to work very hard, to practice, learn and to develop the perseverance in order to reach a certain level of understanding of the technique, or a kind of enlightenment in using the colour. I don’t want to sound mystifying about this, but the fact is that after the years of practicing and trying to comprehend the nature of the oil colour and its’ behaviour in the certain situations, one just starts doing it correctly. Your mind and your hand are working together, and know what to do. Suddenly You get the feeling that, as soon as You press the brush, with paint on it, to the painting‘s surface, the ‘magic’ starts happening. It is a wonderful feeling, I have to admit, but the road to it is backbreaking; it was in my case, anyway. Since, nobody in the academy helped me learn these skills, I had to gain it on my own by learning from the great masters of alla-prima technique, like Sargent, Sorolla, Repin, among others. Without their “support,” I think I would never reach my goals as an alla-prima painter.

There is another detail within my technique, which I try to apply in my work. I try to construct the realistic forms from the brush strokes of different kinds in combination with more or less thick paint, so called impasto. If done properly, this gives the painting surface a quality of cultivated roughness, which invites the light to play on it, enhancing the ‘magic’. When seen from a closer distance the painting looks quite abstract. But when a viewer looks at it from a certain distance, all the strokes fall in place and the realistic forms appear. This principle is partly based on the experiments of the impressionists, especially the pointillists, who where not exactly concerned about finding the right colour on their pallet before applying it onto the canvas, but rather applying different colours one next to the other, while the actual mixing happened in the eye, or the brain, more precisely, of the viewer. This method appears to be highly effective in convincing the viewer that what he is viewing is almost as real and as vibrant as the reality itself.

About me:

I was born in Novi Sad, Yugoslavia (Serbia) in 1965.

When I was a little child I was often ill. While my friends played outside I was forced to stay indoors and spent my time drawing. In those days my favourites were Walt Disney characters as well as the characters from comics, Lucky Luke and Asterix. After some practicing, I was able to draw them by heart, to my satisfaction. As most of the boys, I, also, enjoyed drawing cowboys and Indians and the various kinds of warriors and heroes. I presume that if I was a bit healthier, in those days, I would not, perhaps, learn to draw. But, one never knows.

Anyway, I published my first comic strip named Krampi, in 1981, in Stripoteka, the best-known comic magazine in the country. During the next 10 years, I produced about 300 comic pages, including a series of the short comics, four episodes of Tarzan and my first and, at the same time, the last comic book, Kanoo, for which the synopsis was written by Sergio Aragones.

In the mid eighties, I went to study painting at the art academy. During the studies, I continued to do the comics, but I also, started to feel the attraction towards the illustration, which resulted in the publishing of my first illustrated book Peter Enkorak, in 1991, written by Terry Jones.

Since the Former Yugoslavia was very much west orientated country, and quite open, unlike the most of the other East European countries, we were able to get in contact with the western art and popular culture. In 1981, a Yugoslav publisher published the legendary book Fairies by Alan Lee and Brian Froud. This was one of the most important books I have seen in my life. It helped me define my artistic goals; it inspired me and gave me a tremendous joy. The next book, which was extremely important for my development as an illustrator, was The Fantastic Art of Frank Frazetta, published by Pan Books. It was a revelation and such an inspirational boost that, from that moment on, I became a life long fan of Frazetta’s work. The third book which helped me shape my artistic profile was Norman Rockwell – My Adventures as an Illustrator. A beautiful book I accidentally came upon in the American Bookstore in Belgrade, and bought it. At that time, I was already studying painting at the art academy. The analyses of the paintings of Norman Rockwell helped me develop my painting abilities. I am immensely grateful to these geniuses of the contemporary illustration art. My life was changed and thoroughly enriched by their majestic art. I will never be able to express my gratitude just for the existence of their art and the impact it had on me.

At the end of 1991 I moved to the Netherlands. Soon after, I stopped working on the comics and dedicated myself to illustration and painting.

During the 1990s I painted about 120 posters and greeting cards, mostly for Verkerke Reproduktie from Holland. For Grimm Press, a publisher from Taiwan, I illustrated the book, King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. My first one-man exhibition of illustrations and paintings was held in 1998 in the Tjalf Sparnaay Gallery in Amsterdam.

From the beginning of 2000 I have dedicated the most of my time to the gallery art. In addition to painting, I continued to do illustrations. Since a few years ago, I spend my time painting illustrations, and I enjoy it immensely.

To learn more about Petar Meseldžija, visit his website by clicking here.

 Artwork copyright © 2010 by Petar Meseldžija. Used with Permission.
Petar Meseldžija Interview © 2010 Petar Meseldžija and John Fleskes. All rights reserved.

 

Flesk at “Spectrum Fantastic Art Live!” Part 5.

Scott Gustafson, Randy Dahlk, Jonathan Leveck, Jim & Ruth Keegan, James Walker II, Mark Schultz, Thomas Gianni and John Fleskes

“Arnie’s penciled in the event for next year on the calendar, he just needs to ink it in,” shares “Spectrum Fantastic Art Live!” planning coordinator, Bunny Muchmore. Her prediction on the Sunday eve of the show is proven accurate. Arnie Fenner announced on the Muddy Colors blog that the show will go on. I’m stoked with this news. Heck, I’m sure a lot of people are. Not just for those who made it, but for those who didn’t and can attend next time.

Here’s an interesting statistic. It has become public knowledge that just over 2000 people came through the door in Kansas City. Comic-Con International in San Diego has 125,000 people attending. When I factor all of my costs associated with the Spectrum show a few weeks ago and Comic-Con in 2011 they almost match. There is less than a $500 difference. At Comic-Con I have two booths. At Spectrum I have an island (four corner booths). I drive in my books and staff for Comic-Con. At Spectrum I shipped our books in advance, then flew in my staff and three artists and covered the hotel rooms for us. Now here’s the kicker. The money brought in from book sales between Comic-Con and Spectrum Fantastic Art Live! (SFAL!) is a difference of $300.

There’s been a lot of talk about the power of the one percent over the last year. Given that 2000 people rounds up to 2% of the Comic-Con attendance, I think I can still make a point. I’ve always felt that 1% of the Comic-Con crowd is our core audience. The rest are there for the pop-culture elements. Reflecting on the two shows creates some legitimacy to my gut feeling. Big crowds do not translate to big sales. The Alternative Press Expo (APE) in San Francisco is another show that entices a focused crowd and does very well for us.

A good balance, to me, is that core 2%, then another few thousand people with peripheral interests that we can meet and introduce ourselves to for the first time. While I like to sell books at a show, it is my third goal. My first goal is to meet and interact with new people and existing fans. Basically, promoting Flesk, the artists we publish and the arts in general.

Getting back to some observations, keep in mind that Comic-Con is a five day show and SFAL! is three. The bonus with SFAL!  is that with a shorter show, that gives me two extra days back home working on and selling books. Every day gone from the office is a lost day of productivity, which I need to factor into the value of exhibiting at any show. The promotional value of any event should supplement the lost days back home. I feel both Comic-Con and SFAL! do this, yet SFAL! is a mellow environment and is not the marathon that Comic-Con is.

Why am I referencing Comic-Con? I’ve been either attending or exhibiting at the show since 1994. I know it well. It is a major venue for an artist, or in my case an art book publisher, to promote himself. During the last five years, especially, I have seen many artists drop out of the show for reasons such as it becoming too expensive to attend, sales are down, the increased jobs picked up at the show have become less frequent, the longer hours requiring extra help at the booth and the perceived focus of the show that has gone more mainstream pop-culture. And what I mean by more expensive is not the booth costs, which I feel is a deal for what you get (Comic-Con keeps the booth prices very reasonable when compared to other trade shows I have been too, like BEA—which is a total waste of time and money in my opinion), but instead the hotel costs that have been driven up over the years. Besides this, there’s been a feeling by the artists of their not being relevant to Comic-Con anymore. The Comic-Con organizers keep the focus of the program book, panels, guests and name of the show all very much focused on comics and the people in the comic industry, but the large film studios, game companies and other peripheral pop culture genres cast a shadow over the theme a bit too much, contributing to the perception that Comic-Con doesn’t care about the artists, which I don’t think is true. I think they do care, but they are in a pickle dealing with the perceptions and the mass of people that attend and exhibit at the show. I don’t envy what they have to deal with. It’s like chasing King Kong and trying to tie him down with a few dozen people and a rope.

Getting back to SFAL!, I feel it can only grow from here. The core audience that supports and sustains us was there. For this, I am very grateful. I feel with each new year more core fans will arrive, followed by those with a mild-curiosity for what is going on. The very fact that the focus is on the artists, not the products they create, is refreshing. The artists don’t have to compete with the cast of Glee near them. (I had this happen at Comic-Con one year. There was a massive line blocking the entrance to my aisle. No joke. I’m like, what the #*!#& is Glee?) Or, the carnival antics of major studios with bullhorns, gaming companies blasting explosion sound effects, sword dealers—OK, don’t get me started. You get my point. SFAL! is all about the artists and King Kong is not running amok on the show floor.

So why was I there with a big booth? I’m not an artist, but a book publisher? Why did I get such a primo spot right up front? We’ll, I feel my mission in publishing fits the theme of the show. We are all about the artists. I’m not publishing books on genres and products. I publish artist individual collections and make sure they are about them. I had six artists at my booth, and not just books. About the space: When I heard about the show, I immediately signed up and asked for a big spot. In knew the show would be a success and would grow. I decided to grab my space when I could, knowing later that it might not be possible. I had faith early on. That, and Stout encouraged me with this decision as well.

The SFAL! show organizers have been honest about what they felt went well, and listed out areas for improvement. I respect those that can point out his or her flaws and work to correct them. I look forward to continuing to support the show and to see where it goes.

I will end this blog series about the show with some random pictures; both at the show and around downtown Kansas City.
Petar Meseldzija sketching in a copy of Flesk Prime. Taking pictures of Petar is like trying to take a picture of a five-year-old boy. He rarely stops moving around and likes to make silly faces at the camera. This is a grab shot that I took while he was focused on drawing.

Bob Self of Baby Tattoo Books with his life-sized mascot.

Gary Gianni (right) signing bookplates for his adaptation of Twenty-Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. Gary was kind enough to offer his hand. These bookplates will come with all future orders direct form us for the book. We also have a separate exclusive for the Prince Valiant Page.

On Sunday evening a small group of us had a relaxing and fun dinner. I snapped some pictures during the meal. The lighting was dim, with an assortment of interesting lights and colors. I prefer not to use a flash. Here are a few of the results.

Mark Schultz playing the role of Mr. Fantastic

Jonathan Leveck

Randall Dahlk

James Walker II

Randy with Jonathan.

See you next year!

Enjoy,

John

John Fleskes
Flesk Publications
text and photos copyright 2012 John Fleskes. All rights reserved.

Links:
Spectrum Fantastic Art Live! commemorative book
Spectrum Fantastic Art Live! official website