Interview with Ross MacDonald, illustrator of "Boys of Steel"

I consider myself lucky that Ross MacDonald illustrated Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman. 

He was exceptional to work with and is now a friend.

 

But the book came out in 2008. Why interview him now?

Because I should have done it then. With respect to Bill Finger, I often say “Justice has no expiration date.” Same is true with good content.

Besides, the book is still a book... 

What attracted you to illustrating Boys of Steel? 

It’s a great story about the guys—boys, really—who [created] arguably the first, and certainly the most iconic, superhero.

I had grown up reading the Superman comics of the ‘60s. They were fun when I was young. The art in those was clean and accomplished, but a little bland. [But] the stories had devolved (degenerated?) into these convoluted yet simplistic plots involving time travel, Superman trying to keep Lois from finding out his secret identity, Mr. Mxyzptlk, and an ever-expanding rainbow of Kryptonites.

As an adult, I came to really appreciate the artwork and storylines of the early, dark comic books and Sunday comics of the ‘40s. Joe Shuster’s art and the dark gripping plots of the early Superman comics came as a huge revelation. 

You used brown for Jerry Siegel’s clothes and green for Joe Shuster’s. Did you incorporate any other recurring visual motifs? 

Jerry is kinda tubby and Joe was rail thin. But they almost looked like brothers in many ways. Both had similar glasses and hair, and like every single male American of the time, they wore suits. All the time. They even have the same initials, so keeping their names straight is difficult, too.

They looked similar enough that just making one heavy and one skinny wasn’t quite enough to tell them apart. So I gave them each their own color scheme. That was something you saw in the old comics—the characters often only had one suit (I guess that was probably true in real life at the time, too), and it helped make the comic panels a quicker read. Villains often had purple or orange suits, and Clark Kent’s was always true blue.

Another thing I tried to do was to make the illustrations that showed Joe and Jerry’s real life have a nice muted color scheme but the scenes they imagine are bright, pulpy, comic colors. 

What is your favorite piece of art from Boys of Steel? 

Much as I liked drawing Superman, my favorite piece is Joe sketching on the back of wallpaper scraps in the unheated kitchen of his mother’s apartment while she washes dishes in the background. 

What piece of Boys of Steel art was the most challenging to create? 

Another fave—Jerry sitting at his typewriter in front of his bedroom window while the neighborhood kids play outside. 

What was the most annoying request I made? 

All of them—just kidding. I don’t remember any requests, frankly. Maybe they were so annoying I blanked them out! 

Do you have any unused art you can share, especially cover sketches? 

Like most of the book, the cover was a one-sketch kinda deal. There are a couple of alternate versions of the title page, though. 

Any particularly memorable feedback you’ve gotten for your work on the book? 

Charlie Kochman, formerly an editor at DC Comics, now at Abrams Image, really loved the book. It felt good getting praise from someone who worked at the house that published Superman comics from the very beginning. 

Anything else about the experience you’d like to add? 

Great working with you on this, and it was fun helping to tell the interesting creation story of one of my childhood heroes.

"Boys of Steel" illustrator Ross MacDonald grabs the gold!

On 2/4/11, at the Society of Illustrators awards gala in New York, Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman illustrator Ross MacDonald was given the gold. Congratulations, Ross!

Four of his illustrations were chosen for inclusion in their annual competition, Illustrators 53. All four are from the wickedly non-kid-friendly book In and Out with Dick and Jane: A Loving Parody, co-written by Ross and “the mighty” James Victore, and due out 4/1/11 from Abrams Image.

Here's “Now Billy can concentrate,” the illustration that got the gold:

A library with muscles

After the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators panel I sat on last month, the Coordinator of Youth Services from the Ferguson Library in Stamford, Connecticut, came up to me and shared fun news.

As I understood it, inspired by Ross MacDonald's art for Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman, the library commissioned him to create the centerpiece images to promote their summer reading program. The theme is "Super Readers Summer."

For something else super, compare the endpaper of Boys of Steel with this first drawing:

All images courtesy of (and not to be used in any way without permission from)
Ferguson Library, Stamford, CT, and Ross MacDonald

The books to be in

Just over a month ago, Ross MacDonald told me that one of his illustrations from Boys of Steel was selected to appear in American Illustration 27, out in November.

The tagline on the American Illustration (and American Photography) site is "The Books To Be In." I learned that this hardcover annual is the definitive source for creative directors looking for art talent.

Ross's work has been in the book each of the past 20 years. Of the Ross pieces submitted this year, only the Boys of Steel one made it in. And that piece is a personal favorite. It's the two-page kinetic centerpiece of the story—and the only part of the book that is a visual tribute to the medium Superman debuted in.

The three covers of "Boys of Steel"

In September 2007, I first saw a sketch of Ross MacDonald's cover concept for Boys of Steel:

Notice anything?

(Yes, besides the misspelling of my last name. Together we can get through that.)

Notice anything missing?

Yes. Superman. There is no trace of the Man of Steel, the creation of whom is the subject of the book.

Granted, we would not necessarily have had approval to put Superman in full form on the cover, nor would that necessarily have been the way to go even if we did, but I felt his presence had to be there somehow.

I suggested a red and blue blur streaking across the sky behind the Boys of Steel. Superman is often depicted this way in comics and, as far as I know, you can’t trademark colorful streaks.

In November, I saw Ross had gone in a different direction, but I immediately bummed a ride that way:

We can all be grateful my original concept (from 2005) was delicately dismissed:

However, I do still like that masthead treatment because it's meant to be a tribute to this:

© Joanne Siegel and Laura Siegel Larson, DC Comics

Dog with cape

The logos of most companies, including book publishers, remain the same no matter where they appear.

However, one imprint that does allow modification of its brand's appearance from book to book is Knopf, whose Borzoi (that's a dog) has been known to adapt to suit the subject of certain books whose spine s/he races down.

So I asked my editor if the Borzoi on Boys of Steel could have a red cape. To my surprise, she did not tell me to knock it off. Instead she passed the suggestion to Ross MacDonald, the book's esteemed illustrator.

Assuming that Ross had better things to do than draw a pet with a cloak, I preemptively drew one of my own. Even before doing so, I further assumed it was a lost cause, for one of three reasons:

a. Ross would do it, and do it better
b. My editor would decide against using such an image, no matter who did it
c. Knopf would change its mascot to a Weimaraner (also a dog)

Therefore, this blog gets the dubious distinction of world-premiering the Knopf Borzoi's secret identity:

Please do not use/repost this (or any other image on my blog) without permission. I am not naive. I know the huge online demand for black market caped canine clip art.