I took a portfolio down to the Washington Post for the first time on May 14, 1985 to show it to the wonderful Francis Tanabe, who was then the art director of Book World. I was mostly ignorant of what an art director really was, or exactly where I was supposed to be going, except I knew we had a 1:30 appointment. I saw this door as I walked down L Street, and it had a sign that said Washington Post so I ducked in, not knowing it was the side door for employees only. I somehow completely missed seeing the security office or the guard (who also missed seeing me), jumped onto the elevator and got off on the 5th floor, practically right at Francis's desk. He wasn't there. I was early and he was out. So I sat and soaked up the awesome grandeur of the place for a while and tried to look like I fit in.
He eventually showed up, apologized for being a few minutes late, and I showed him my portfolio.
7 comments:
Congrats on such a long career in doing what you love the most. I wish a had one percent of your amazing art skills.
And now you've got a blog!
And a syndicated comic strip!
I can honestly say my May 14, 1985 was not nearly as productive.
Happy anniversary, with many more to come.
You did better than I did. That's about the time I met the new features editor at the local paper. I was recently divorced and she was very cute. After writing three or four articles for her, I got up the nerve to ask her out, only to learn in the course of what turned out to be a very long evening full of such revelations that her favorite strip was "Marmaduke." I never asked her out again and, after a while, she stopped giving me assignments.
What a career I might have had if she had only said, "You know, my friend at the Washington Post just hired this incredible artist ... "
...and then what happened?
By the sounds of it Richard, if cartooning hadn't worked out you could have become a ninja. It's impressive how you slipped through the employee entrance and past the guards.
Congratulations on your long and impressive career.
Happy anniversary, Richard! Thanks for not getting too lost at the WP and drawing all those great drawings for all of us!
Awesome Richard - congrats on a long and GREAT career ^_^
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