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| Artie Romero is our Featured Artist
for August, 1997 |
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In 1973, Frank M. Robinson wrote a
short story titled "Downhill All the Way" about his encounter with dishonesty in the Haight
of the late 1960s. My friend and collaborator Rick
Berry was planning to illustrate it. Rick didn't
get around to it for a while, so I picked it up and knocked out this tempera painting in
about two weeks. In Touch magazine published this in its first issue, June of 1974. The
original is 8.5 x 11" on masonite. It's actually two panels joined together at the
top of the dark grey field, which is heavy graphite. |
What can I say about psychedelic art. Stippling was something that I enjoyed, and I paid for it with nearsightedness. This image is titled "Big Bang," and it appeared on the back cover of the first printing of Realm 6 in 1976. Darrel Anderson and I hand-printed (silkscreened) the covers in our kitchen. Sergio Aragones of Mad fame walked up to our
table at the 1976 Berkeley Con, an underground comix convention, and yelled "Hey Harvey! Look at these
comic books with the hand-printed covers!" I was pumped. That was where I met Harvey Kurtzman. He mailed me a flattering cartoon afterward, and I published it in Scrabbis Treno Comics, our second all comix, full color tabloid. |
I call this "Nightmare." It's
ball-point pen on paper, about 7 x 7". Science Fiction fans may recognize some George
Barr influence in this piece, both in technique and in the reflective globules. It was
drawn in 1971 or '72. |
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I became something of a
radical during college in the early Seventies. This cartoon shows a slight shift in
attitude as well as appearance. |
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Darrel Anderson and I did several covers for Eternity Science Fiction in the mid-Seventies. Darrel pencilled this one, and I inked it and did the red overlay in pencil. Shown below is the base art.
I very much admired Darrel's style of
the day, and I wasn't alone in my admiration. When I published Darrel's work in Realm,
we received great letters of praise from Michael Kaluta, Vaughn Bode and many others.
Darrel continues to collaborate quite a bit, especially with Rick Berry. |
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I was inspired when I
drew this in 1975; I was in love. I found a great old tree downtown for the heart of the
illustration, then added the fantasy elements. It's brush and ink with white-out on paper,
about 6 x 9". Ellie Youngblut, where are you now? |
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In the 1970s, I liked to paint landscapes. This is an impression of a view I had during a flight from Colorado Springs to Denver in the fall, when the scrub oaks look like Trix cereal. Do you see any psychedelic influence in this painting? How about if I invert the colors...?
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Some figure drawings from college, circa 1971-72. I learned a lot about drawing and anatomy in George Rose's classes at Southwest Missouri State University. By now you might be convinced that I haven't done any art since the
1970s. Not true! I've channelled my creative energies into animation and multimedia. Also
check out my comics, cartoons, and animations. |
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