I really wanted to be like Norman Rockwell—not work like him but be a well-known illustrator. Maybe it comes from primal insecurity. I was shy in school and drew in my books all the time. I felt it was the one thing I could do well.
Huge Sale, Elwood H. Smith. Illustration for Barron’s, 2009. ©2009 Elwood H. Smith. All rights reserved.
—Elwood H. Smith
As a boy growing up in Alpena, Michigan, Elwood H. Smith loved comic books and early twentieth-century cartoon characters, particularly those drawn by George Herriman, the creator of Krazy Kat. Encouraged by his parents and his high school art teacher, Nancy Boyer-Feindt, he developed his drawing ability, taking the Famous Artists School cartoon correspondence course and attending art school at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts. After working as an advertising art director in Chicago, illustration brought him to New York and his own comic style began to take form.
An acclaimed humorous illustrator, Smith is best known for his whimsical comic characters that lend pointed perspectives to the written word. His intelligent, inventive drawings have appeared on the covers and pages of Forbes, Fortune, Time, Newsweek, Bloomberg, GQ, Money, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal, among other noted publications, and have enhanced the corporate profiles of Sony, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Pizza Hut, AT&T, McDonald’s, Cellular One, and Bell Atlantic. Stalling, Hot Diggity Dog, Catfish Kate and the Sweet Swamp Band, See How They Run, The Truth About Poop, Raise the Roof!, and Bug Muldoon are among his many illustrated children’s books. He has also enjoyed exploring the world of animation in creative productions like Kyoti Kapers, Little Green Monkey, and Sweet Dreams, which bring the artist’s drawings to life.
Fee: $12,000 for eight to twelve week exhibition period
Insurance: all risk fine arts, wall to wall
Contents: approximately 240 original artworks in 108 frames; introductory and biographical panels and object/extended identification labels; dvd
Security: high, all works must be within sight of a trained security officer/staff member at all times during public hours
Environment: light level -18 to 22 foot candles for paintings and 5 to 7 foot candles for works on paper and other light restricted objects; Humidity -50% plus or minus 5% and temperature 68 – 72 degrees, no direct sunlight and no direct contact with light fixtures or heating, air conditioning, ventilation, or electrical outlets
Space: 1800 square feet
Shipping: Air ride, climate controlled vehicle