I had always disliked the 1960’s barpic from the first series. I messed up in a few spots,
it was kind of sloppily thrown together, but mostly it just lacked that certain indefinable “something”.
So when I came across some old yearbooks from the 60’s, it got me fired up to make another one. I think
this one came out as one of my better ones, partly because a number of the people are based on actual
photos but mostly because it’s much more tightly controlled and I spent much more time on it.
I started off by using a different kind of paper on this one rather than the usual typing paper.
I thought I’d use some “good” paper but it turned out to be too grainy. I attempted to smooth out as
many areas as I could but could still see that graininess throughout, so I trashed it and started over
on my usual nice, smooth typing paper. From now on, I’m sticking to regular old typing paper. It’s
cheap, I have plenty of it, doesn’t have any “tooth” to it and if it’s treated right, it can last
indefinitely. Well, long enough. (When I’m finished with each barpic, I spray hairspray on them to
fix the image and keep them in plastic sleeves, which I keep in a portfolio).
I kept the chick dancing on the far right from the first picture. Everyone who saw the first one
laughed at her hairy armpits. The guy to the right of her is some pervert smelling her armpits.
The guy on the other side of her started off to be Sonny Bono but lost some of his likeness when I
inked him.
Whenever I have some kind of empty space in the foreground that a person won’t fit into and I’ve
already drawn the bird I always put in (in this case, a California Thrasher), I look at the shape
of the area then try to think of something unusual and funny to put there. On the far right, I
needed something kind of long and vertical to put there and bare feet and legs immediately came to me.
I haven’t thought of a story for that yet. On the right I used chihuahuas. I had used a chihuahua in
one of my previous barpics (the early Elizabethan one, 1530-80) but since they’re such funny little dogs,
I wanted to use them again. The fact that one is pooping was inspired by a movie I had recently seen
wherein a dog did that in the background.
By the late 60’s, interracial relationships were becoming more accepted, but there were still some holdouts.
The woman above the chihuahuas likes the black guy. Her friend is telling her “Ewwww, but that’s a…”
(then she whispers) “…negro.” Her friend replies “I don’t care, there’s just something about him I like.”
The placement of the sausage on the bar is intentional.
The background is largely based on “The Purple Pit”, the nightclub featured in the original “Nutty Professor”.
He and a character from that movie are in the left background under the dark doorway.
