I remember back at Art Center, the cool thing to do was to search all the bookstores on Hollywood Blvd to seek out old books and magazines. That's how I found my treasured copy of Andrew Loomis,"Creative Illustration", which for most illustrators is a classic and a must to own. I used it quite extensively when I was teaching at Art Center a few years later. For whatever reason, we art students thought National Geographics were the top of the line especially at used bookstore prices.
I had them neatly stacked wherever I had my studio. Long after I graduated, those magazines were my pride and joy. I had a pretty good stash of file cabinets just full of reference material. Old habits are hard to change. One of my favorite instructors, Jack Leynnwood, gave me a xeroxed outline of his filing system which broke down just about everything from the "girl next door look" to that "exotic hussie" look. I spent years updating and keeping track of all hands and emotions and fashions... not to mention all the aircraft breakdowns. ( Jack Leynnwood is well known for his 650 plus Revell boxtop covers. )
With all the time invested, there's no way I'm getting rid of my morgue. But never once did I take an x-acto knife to the National Geographics for quick reference. It would have been a heresy!
Five years ago, when I turned the car garage into my studio, I found that I had to purge myself of stuff I no longer had room for or use of. I decided my use for anything in those magazines had waned. I pretty much knew, like you know exactly what Beatles tune comes next on the Sgt. Peppers album, what each magazine contained. I still couldn't bear the thought of cutting them up and filing them away. It now seemed to be just a big waste of time. So, I moved them to our larger outside garage and stacked them neatly in the corner of the garage... and there they stayed, out of sight and out of mind, until yesterday.
Talk about "sweet sorrow"...
Copyright 2016/ Ben Bensen III
