FINAL ARTWORK BY POUND — COLOUR ROUGH BY MARK NEWGARDEN —
MORE INFORMATION ON THE OS1 PAGE

2. Because
of one unpublished Wacky Packages final artwork piece completed by you —
a parody poking fun at the Cabbage Patch Kids dolls, Topps chose your concept
artwork out of three potential artists ,to create a whole new card product called
the Garbage Pail Kids — in which Arthur Shorin has been stated as saying
“is the craziest thing that has ever happened at Topps”. Taking on a
complete series by yourself, how daunting was this task — and how surreal
was this period in your life once the card series craze took off?

BEGIN GPKS:
From doing fantasy art covers and underground covers, I was
used to paintings taking weeks or sometimes months to complete. Spiegelman said
he wanted one artist, myself, to do all 44 cards, so that the set would have a
consistent style and feeling. He asked if I thought I could do it. Topps had a
2-month deadline. I had done a sample piece, Baby Barfy, to show Topps what these
little kids could look like. I realized I would have to do a painting a day to
meet their deadline. I gulped and said “OK, I’ll see if I can do it”.
I was nervous about whether I could keep up with the schedule.

VISIT OS1 PAGE FOR MORE INFORMATION

The
strategy I found for doing the first series GPKs was to break each painting down
into little 1-hour tasks. I started with the layout, pencilling, and color rough.
Then the painting: flesh, clothing, props, and airbrush background. Having 1 hour
for each part, it was like a jigsaw puzzle, finishing one section at a time —
I had painted differently on my fantasy art pieces. I worked all over the painting
at the same time, intuitively, but not methodically, in a very confusing process.
Having a simple system for painting each GPK allowed me to stay sane. But sometimes
revisions were needed, and a revision here or there pushed all the remaining pieces
an hour or so further behind the original schedule. So the days got longer and
longer toward the end of those 2 months.

The
newer GPKs take much longer to draw and paint. The pencilling sometimes has to
be redone, until the picture feels right. The backgrounds have more details, and
the art is painted more carefully, with more blending.

AFTER
THE RELEASE:
After the series 1 deadline, all went quiet from Topps. I painted
a couple fantasy book cover jobs that turned out awful. Like I could no longer
paint in my older fantasy style. The main problem was, I was all worn out, from
that 2-month GPK marathon. About the begining of summer, 1985, Topps called again
and said that GPK sales were taking off, like a rocket, which I had never expected.
They asked about starting on Series 2. By then I was glad to do it again. Making
GPK was hard work, but it was so darn fun, and so subversive!

Topps
sent me all these clippings about GPK and the uproar they caused. They wanted
to preserve their artist’s anonymity, which I was thankful for, as I could only
imagine the hundreds of calls I could have gotten from angry parents and conservative
groups. And there was the lawsuit from Cabbage Patch Kids, in which I had to do
a deposition, and later fly to Atlanta to wait for the court case. It was settled
out of court, and Topps kept on making GPK.

3.
Fast forward to 1998. To bring up another amazing parody card set by Comic Images,
you created a wonderful set titled Meanie Babies – a humorous approach to the
popular Beanie Babies animals at the time. Were you approached for this project
based on the GPK success? – and how different was this experience developing 61
images (including one bonus card) for the entire set, compared to the work you
did for the original 1st and 2nd series GPK for Topps in the ’80’s?

Meanie Babies was just like Garbage Pail Kids.

I
knew Dave Scroggy from Pacific Comics — They published comics and fantasy art
portfolios, and pioneered new distribution methods for comics. And he was an artists’
agent for several years — I was one of the artists he found art jobs for. Dave
Scroggy joined Dark Horse Comics in Portland. One day Dave called me, and said
the owner of Dark Horse had the idea to do a Meanie Babies card series, like Garbage
Pail Kids, only based on Beanie Babies. They knew of my work with GPK. It sounded
like a perfect card series idea. I was all for it. It turned out to be some really
fun work. And another tight deadline situation, too.

One
difference in making the Meanie Babies was that I came up with all the character
ideas and names (except ROTO ROOSTER). I’d fax in my idea sketches, and Dave would
go over them, and pick out the best ones. Whereas with the Garbage Pail Kids,
about half the ideas I painted up came from other Topps artists, like Art Spiegelman
and Mark Newgarden.

On
Meanie Babies, I recommended Jay Lynch as the writer for the card backs. I love
the stuff he came up with. Dark Horse then had Jay and I do a 3-page Meanie Babies
comic strip for their new GUFF comic. Jay’s storyboard for that was so good, so
detailed, that there was nothing you could change without ruining it. I just redrew
it in my style, staying as close as I could. I found that true with Jay’s Wacky
ideas, too — they were so clear and well-thought out.

NOTE: SEE ‘PARODY PAGES’ SECTION FOR MORE INFORMATION ON MB
& TCT

4.
I always hoped for another Meanie Babies card set… not to mention another
Trash Can Trolls or Bathroom Buddies set. Though, there exists finished pieces
for the unpublished 2nd series Bathroom Buddies set, are there any unpublished
Meanie Babies, TCT or other pieces of art you worked on that the public hasn’t
seen?

All
the Meanie Babies painting were printed. Of those three projects, only the Bathroom
Buddies had some unpublished paintings. But when Mark Newgarden was art directing
at Topps, in the early 1990’s, there were several projects that never got published.
Loco Motion was one. A few of those were used in MadCaps, a pog series. And some
other unpublished jobs under Mark Newgarden had Drew Friedman drawings made into
paintings, by Bunk, Piggott, and myself. Besides Toxic High, which was eventually
published.

NOTE: SEE ‘PARODY PAGES’ BATHROOM BUDDIES SECTION FOR RELEASED
BB SERIES 2 MATERIAL, POST INTERVIEW

5.
Starting with the original 3rd series Garbage Pail Kids, artist Tom Bunk helped
out with some of the card fronts… was this help welcomed, or rather, did
the workload for this franchise become too demanding where extra help was needed?
Were you able to work on any non-Topps projects at the time?

I
didn’t know Topps had any other artists working on paintings until I saw the 3rd
Series printed. At first I was a little taken aback. My ego liked the idea of
being able to say I had done all the paintings. And Spiegelman had said they wanted
paintings all done by one artist. But I also quickly saw that Topps needed more
art, as fast as possible. And they also needed a backup plan in case I became
difficult, sick, or dead. I later met Tom Bunk at a Silly CDs signing, and I liked
him a lot. He’s done some really amazing work, with great detail and wild humor.

During
the GPK years, I did a few side jobs — a couple comic covers, a poster (1986
Festival Of Animation), and the GROUND POUND comic collection of some of
my old underground comix work. And maybe a couple personal paintings. But the
GPK schedule was pretty demanding.

6.
Speaking of the original 3rd Series GPK — I was able to purchase the final
artwork for card 104 Silent SANDY / Barren AARON from the Topps Vault via eBay
[NOTE: SINCE SOLD] and the pencil / ink and color rough artwork for this
piece directly from you from your website (http://www.poundart.com).
While I was in New York in the Fall of 2005, I had the opportunity to sift through
Mark Newgarden’s filing cabinet of GPK nostalgia from the time that he worked
at Topps. He told me a very interesting story about this piece… how the piece
was accepted, but afterwards the art department made some touch-up ‘improvements’
to lighten up the face. Do you remember this incident and has any other pieces
of artwork of yours been defaced or manipulated that you’re aware of?

Maybe
Topps thought the GPK ‘receding chin’ was too dark for printing so they repainted
the chin and face on the sphinx lighter. I don’t like how they repainted it, but
that’s how it goes. Here’s how it looked when I turned it in:

POUND
ORIGINAL PHOTO SLIDE ARTWORK VS. FINAL ALTERED ARTWORK

7.
There exists two ‘approved’ artwork pieces that were not published that you painted
(not including unpublished ‘unapproved’ concepts / finals) – an original 3rd Series
final art for 118 Glandular ANGELA / Half-NELSON and an original 6th Series final
artwork piece for cards 248 HECTOR Collector / G.P. KAY (which hangs in the house
of Mark Newgarden) … both pieces were redone by other artists for the two
sets. Are there any other Pound pieces that met the same fate? – and can you shed
any light on the story of these two pieces?

I
think Topps used my version of 118 Glandular ANGELA / Half-NELSON as reference,
for a “training piece”, for another GPK artist to try out on. Changes
were made — a “split” background color, and arm up for a muscle —
which improved the piece. But the paint handling feels weaker on the 2nd version.

POUND
FINAL ARTWORK [NOTE: RELEASED WITHIN 30TH ANNIV SET] VS. MAE JEON FINAL ARTWORK

And
on 248 HECTOR Collector / G.P. KAY, I had the GPK facing away from the viewer,
looking back over a shoulder. Maybe that angle felt odd to someone at Topps. A
reverse situation was with #346 (original 9th Series Peeled PAUL / Skin LES),
a kid peels off his skin. They sent me someone’s painting, to do another version
of.

POUND
FINAL ARTWORK [NOTE:
RELEASED WITHIN 30TH ANNIV SET] VS. WARHOLA FINAL
ARTWORK

8.
Were you surprised to find yourself working on GPK again in 2001? How did Topps
approach you for this second GPK incarnation?

In
spring 2003, John Williams at Topps called Tom Bunk and myself about each of us
doing 6 new pieces to go with the unpublished Series 16 art. Topps wanted to test
out GPK. I was glad to hear from Topps again. It’s great to work on a job as fun
as GPK. Who would have thought it could happen again?

Topps
had to scan Series 16 color proof sheets for the older ANS1 art, as the unpublished
originals were not found at Topps (except a rejected ‘Gun and Mirror’ piece, which
was sold on Ebay, by Topps Vault). I’d be curious to know what happened to the
other Series 16 art. I was really glad to hear the new GPK sold well enough that
Topps wanted to do more All-New Series kids. John Williams had Jeff Zapata take
over the art directing, I think starting with the ANS2 GPK.

9.
Like with Jeff Zapata, as previously with Mark Newgarden, your method of bouncing
ideas back and forth with the art director on concepts seem to be the beginning
process of you creating GPK. How different is it working on the All-New Series
GPK compared to the characters you worked on in the eighties (minus the obvious
lawsuit restrictions – or with)?

Actually,
it was not too different. In both cases, I started by drawing up pages of rough
idea sketches — I like to do several on a page — and send them in to Topps.
They pick some of them for me to paint. And they also give me other ideas that
they want me to paint. The ideas I have painted have been about half from my sketches,
and half from others’ ideas.

As
with Spiegelman and Newgarden, working with Jeff has been a lot of fun — great
sense of humor, and his comments for revisions have been right on. One thing Jeff
has said repeatedly is: let’s go for gags with a story. Something that has a kind
of twisted sense, as opposed to just nonsense.

One
of my favorite comments from Jeff was on revising (ANS6 #1) Orange JULIUS (and
Peeled NEAL). I showed Jeff a scan. It had the grass and clouds. He said it needs
something — how about some orange trees. When I added those, it took it to another
level. It usually helps to collaborate with an editor or art director. We’re both
working to make the piece stronger, and often one sees something the other one
missed. Like using two eyes instead of one.

10.
At the recent Philly show in Allentown , PA – ran by the Toser’s of Non-Sport
Update, a question was raised during the Wacky Packages and Garbage Pail Kids
Topps panel about sketch cards being a possibility for the hopefully planned All-New
Series 8 set. I know the ANS4 sketch cards, which celebrated the 20th GPK anniversary,
was a tedious ‘side project’ for you… but would you consider doing sketch
cards again, maybe a lower number of cards for an upcoming set?

With
ANS4, at first I didn’t like the idea of doing sketch cards. I prefer to do art
that will be printed. But in talking with someone, they pointed out that a sketch
card could be really quick, like doing an autograph, rather than an illustration.
That idea got me over my initial resistance, and then I found it was pretty easy
to do them. I worked out a few basic images that I liked, and just had fun with
it. I had to make sure to stop every so often, to not trash my arms. I wouldn’t
mind doing more sketch cards for Topps for ANS8.

One
little thing I wonder is why nobody seems to have the ‘green barf’ sketch cards
I did. I did 250. You’d think some would show up on Ebay. Unless those cards were
never put into the GPK boxes in the first place? (editor’s note : Pound’s ‘green
barf’ sketches along with Jay Lynch’s unreleased ‘ADAM bomb’ sketches were intended
to be placed in later hobby boxes for ANS4 during further printing; the cards
have either been destroyed per contract with manufacturer, since no future sketch
card series was planned; or if the cards survived, they could be saved for the
potential ANS8 sketch card inserts — only three ‘green barf’ cards exist, sold
outside of the hobby boxes from the artist — who received a small stack of consolation
sketches from Topps to sell on eBay, etc.) They were like this one:

SEE ANS4 PAGE FOR MORE INFORMATION

11. What
other types of work has kept you busy over the years? What future work can we
anticipate?

I’ve
been doing some panorama paintings for Monte Beauchamp’s annual BLAB! magazine,
featuring WOO-WOO eyeball characters, in difficult situations. And I’m
working on a 32-page storybook project also, with Eyewiz, who is one of the main
WOO-WOO characters. That may take a year or two more to get everything
done.

POUND PAINTING, TITLE: STONE MAZE

12.
Do you have a favorite Garbage Pail Kids character? Old or new? Or more than one?

I
like some more than others, but it’s so hard to narrow it down. It’d be fun to
see them all in a book on Garbage Pail Kids.

THANKS
JOHN!
PLEASE VISIT POUNDART
TO SEE JOHN’S COMPUTER CODED ARTWORK AND OTHER GREAT MATERIAL
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