I've been posting a series of illustrations that I did for a special SpongeBob issue of New York's Village Voice magazine. If you missed the last post, you can check it out right here: SpongeBob illustrations for the Village Voice.
In case you're wondering why there's so much empty space in the drawing above, it's because this was the table of contents for the special "Best of New York City" issue.
I drew SpongeBob writing on top of a jellyfish because I wanted to get him high up in the composition. I added Gary the snail in the lower left-hand corner because I knew that Gary is such a fan favorite.
This is my favorite picture in the entire series -- it illustrated the article on "The Best Art in New York City."
It was fun to draw the diametrically opposed attitudes toward art expressed by Squidward and SpongeBob. Squidward is all uptight and pretentious about his artwork, put SpongeBob just expresses himself for the pure joy of it.
Here's the cover from the issue -- I was trying to create a very congested busy version of Bikini Bottom to represent New York City. As usual, SpongeBob is "above it all" and just having a good time despite all of the stressed-out people stuck in traffic below.
Finally, this last oddball drawing is illustrating an article on the best pastimes in New York City. This was definitely the most vague topic in the bunch, so I just tried to show a bunch of characters engaging in all kinds of nonsense.
I hadn't posted these images before because I had no idea where to find them. Luckily, I came across some folders of scanned artwork recently while I was trying to clear out some room in my hard drives. The good news is that I found a whole bunch of stuff that I'll be posting in the near future. Stay tuned!
Drawing and Inking by Sherm Cohen
Color and Painting by Peter Bennett
Color and Painting by Peter Bennett
SpongeBob © 2009 Viacom International Inc. All rights reserved. NICKELODEON, SpongeBob SquarePants, and all related titles, logos, and characters are trademarks of Viacom International Inc. SpongeBob Created by Stephen Hillenburg.
8 comments:
these are FANTASTIC! man, i REALLY wish you were still around by the time i came aboard the show. i would have loved to learn some techniques from you. but i hear great stuff about you all the time!
wish some of these were available as prints!
Hi Kris...thanks for all those happy words!
Regarding prints...if you click on the blog images, they're linked to much bigger versions which should print out nicely on a color copier!
Thanks again, and say HI to the SB gang for me ^_^
Wow...I never saw those illustrations before. They look like they came right out of Steve's head, but Steve doesn't have your chops. I can't get over the line quality; it's exquisite.
Nobody draws these characters as well as you do, Sherm, and nobody ever will.
--Jay
The characters and their expressions are as good as it gets.
But really, the backgrounds are what demand a ton of respect. Overall composition and the like. Especially the congested city. That ain't easy. You didn't skimp on any of the details.
I may have to print out a few of these :)
Hey, Bob... I sure appreciate your nice comments -- means a lot coming from a fine cartoonist such as you! I saw the teaser of your latest SpongeBob comic (on your blog), and I'm glad to see more of your personal style coming thru.
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Um, Jay...you're making me blush!
Wow, that must have been pretty exciting to get to work on a project like that. All the drawings are awesome - although I'd have to say the illustration for "The Best Art in New York City" is my favorite also.
Hi Tanya -- it was pretty exciting to get the Village Voice gig. I often take the time to remind myself how fortunate I've been to be making a living in cartoons ^_^
This is what I would expect from you Sherm! TOP QUALITY stuff as usual! BEAUTIFUL!!!!! STOP making me envious will ya already!?!?
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