So it is with this piece, with the integral "Artisan Outlet Market Square Day 10K Road Race" logo. I drew it in 1984, and I am pretty certain that it was while we were living in Dover, NH. To add to that certainty, I did a Google search for "Market Square Day" and Portsmouth (because I also had a vague memory of a Portsmouth, NH connection) and, sure enough, I got 37,800 hits. I only looked at a few of the results on the first page, but apparently there is a long-running (no pun intended) tradition of a road race in Portsmouth, held each June.
So it is very likely that I drew this thing in or around May or June of 1984, just a few months before Jeannine and I packed up our bags and boxes and moved down to Sharon, CT. But…
… WHY did I draw it? It has the look of a piece of art designed to be used on a t-shirt, but I don't recall ever owning a t-shirt with this drawing on it (and if t-shirts had been made with my artwork on them, I would have been sure to get at least one of them). I don't recall being commissioned to draw it, and I can't think of WHO I would have been hired by to do it.
Was it something I did totally on spec, and sent it in to the organizers of the event, hoping it would be used? Possibly. At this point, unless I can find mention of it in my copies of letters and such from that period, it's all conjecture.
But the main reason I am posting this is that the Fugitoid appears in it, and I find that kind of amusing. I can't imagine that anyone outside of me and Kevin and some close friends and family members even knew who or what the Fugitoid was back then. Certainly none of the road race organizers would have. Why did I include him in this design? I have no idea… just like I have no idea why I also included the small and slightly demented-looking Tyrannosaurus.
In any event, whatever the original purpose of this piece, I like it. -- PL
11 comments:
Hello Mr. Laird, I am a student at UCONN SFA (school of fine arts). I was wondering if you do talks or presentations ?
Well, I suppose this brings truth to that old adage "you know you're successful at something when you've forgotten more about it, than some people will ever know of it".
About the best I could say for myself at this point, is that I can retrospectively look at past works and pretend it didn't take an eternity to create them. :-)
Was the intent of the Fugitoid always to have a backstory for him? Maybe you just wanted to use him as a branding icon for Mirage/your work at the time? If I had to speculate based on your recollection, my guess would have to be that it was either a "call for submissions" to make a logo/shirt for the event, or like you said you were hoping they would use it for something, so your work would receive some exposure.
Either way, pretty fun piece!
the picture kind of represents your career.
Demented T-rex: Shows your "twist" on DareDevil and creating a new legacy.
The Female runner: Is April and representing TMNT.
Fugitoid: Is your "time traveler" he represent your blog.
Maybe thats mee looking in to it a little to deep Oh well enjoy your day sir,
Hey, Mr. Laird—
Just wanted to let you know this is actually BFTP #331 (#330 was posted December 23rd).
And actually, technically, it's #332, because I noticed there are two BFTP #252s: one posted November 12th, 2009; the other, November 13th, 2009.
I only know this because I've been saving all your BFTP posts, both the images and the text in Notepad files, and have been doing so in order (each file name begins with "bftp" followed by the number).
:)
—Chris
"Kriztoffer Swank said...
Hey, Mr. Laird—
Just wanted to let you know this is actually BFTP #331 (#330 was posted December 23rd).
And actually, technically, it's #332, because I noticed there are two BFTP #252s: one posted November 12th, 2009; the other, November 13th, 2009.
I only know this because I've been saving all your BFTP posts, both the images and the text in Notepad files, and have been doing so in order (each file name begins with "bftp" followed by the number).
:)
—Chris"
Well, it's a good thing that SOMEBODY'S on the ball! Thanks, Chris -- I know I have screwed up on the numbering of the BftP posts before, once or twice. It's one of those things that seems to be easy for me to get confused about at certain times.
Anyway, I went back and fixed them all (I hope!). Thanks again for pointing that out! -- PL
"Ronin Artist said...
Hello Mr. Laird, I am a student at UCONN SFA (school of fine arts). I was wondering if you do talks or presentations ?"
I never have, though I have considered it a few times. I'm not sure what I would have to say. In any event, while I may get up the courage to do it someday, I have no plans to do so just yet. But you never know... -- PL
"Adam Riches said...
Was the intent of the Fugitoid always to have a backstory for him?"
Adam, I'm not sure I understand that part of your question.
" Maybe you just wanted to use him as a branding icon for Mirage/your work at the time?"
That's possible, although I don't think either Kevin or I were thinking that far ahead back then.
"If I had to speculate based on your recollection, my guess would have to be that it was either a "call for submissions" to make a logo/shirt for the event, or like you said you were hoping they would use it for something, so your work would receive some exposure."
That sounds logical! -- PL
"PL said...
Adam, I'm not sure I understand that part of your question."
What I meant was, did you always intend to flesh out the backstory of the Fugitoid, and turn him in to an ongoing comic series and character in TMNT? Or at the time this art was created was he simply just some unnamed robot character you thought up? Because if that was the case then I thought maybe that would better explain his appearance in this particular illustration.
Adam Riches said...
"PL said... Adam, I'm not sure I understand that part of your question."
" What I meant was, did you always intend to flesh out the backstory of the Fugitoid, and turn him in to an ongoing comic series and character in TMNT? Or at the time this art was created was he simply just some unnamed robot character you thought up? Because if that was the case then I thought maybe that would better explain his appearance in this particular illustration."
Okay, now I get it. The character of the Fugitoid was created probably the same day he was designed (mostly by me, if I remember correctly -- I was a huge fan of the "gooseneck limbs" robot designs in the Russ Manning "Magnus, Robot Fighter" comics back in the old days… and the Fugitoid's specific look was always intended just for him), and i am pretty sure Kevin and I whipped up his basic backstory that day. So it is a virtual certainty that when I included him in this piece of art, his backstory had already been worked out, and we may have even been in the process of drawing those first few chapters in what were intended to be "poster comics", as i have described elsewhere.
The Fugitoid was not originally meant to be a supporting character in TMNT -- as I recall, it was more a case of "Hey, we have all these pages of the Fugitoid story already drawn, and we like the character, so… why not fold him into the TMNT universe?" And as it happened, the storyline we were working on worked well with that approach. -- PL
Very interesting stuff, thanks for sharing that. Learn something new everyday!
"Ronin Artist said...
Hello Mr. Laird, I am a student at UCONN SFA (school of fine arts). I was wondering if you do talks or presentations ?"
I never have, though I have considered it a few times. I'm not sure what I would have to say. In any event, while I may get up the courage to do it someday, I have no plans to do so just yet. But you never know... -- PL
Thankyou very much for responding.
As I said I'm a student at the Uconn School of Fine Arts, I am also an illustration major.
Recently a few of us got together and formed an illustration club. Right now our hot topic is "Artist Talks". Lots of students from our school find it very inspiring to hear from successful artists who didn't give up. We've lucklily had legends like Murray Tinkelman new comers like Bill Thompson.
It was really tough to come up with a list because we had to consider scheduling and the reality of who would actually come.
I was a huge fan of TMNT the 1987 series but at the time I saw it I was like 4 and didnt really know it was orgionally a comic book. It was only like in 2002 when I bought the TMNT trilogy on dvd and saw in the credits "Based on characters created by Keven Eastman and Peter Laird".
Folks from my generation grew up with animation as part of our visual culture. And seeing those characters being re-created in different mediums brings us back to that childhood moment.
I spent quite awhile trying to find contact information until I ran into your blog.
And I am very greatful for your response (kinda feels like I just got an autograph ^_^).
Thankyou once again, I will keep your name active like you said "you never know".
-Ronin Artist
http://www.wix.com/rishibhoodram/portfolio
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