Budding talent
Artist takes step-by-step trek toward goal
-- — II ■ -
Julia Mikolajcik/DN
Jeff Mason peeks over the counter at Cosmic Comics.
0*12'Jeff Mason/DN
Laughing skull Mason/DN
Blackhead Jeff Mmoo/dn
Sam Kepfield
“Drawing was the only thing 1
could do that I didn’t get yelled at
for in school,” said Jeff Mason on
the beginnings of his rising career
as an illustrator.
Mason, who works at Cosmic
Comics, has worked as a free-lance
artist for several years. Recently, he
compiled several portfolios to be
sent out to comic book publishers.
His ambition is to be a comic book
artist. It’s a dream that has been a
long time waiting for the 27-year
old lifelong Lincolnite.
In high school, Mason began
taking seriously his ability as an
artist. Favorite subjects were in the
science fiction/fantasy/horror
genres, such as rocket ships, mon
sters and Schwarzenegger/Conan
types.
After high school, Mason took a
couple of years to figure out his
plans for a career. After deciding
that art would, indeed, be a good
choice, he attended a commercial
arts school in Omaha. He was al
ready so good that instructors al
lowed him to skip the first year’s
curriculum and begin his second
year. He completed the school after
two years.
“I learned there that I hated com
mercial art,” he said of the more
conventional, market-orientedslant
that the school took. "All my art
teachersdiscou raged me from draw
ing monsters, spaceships, and weird
stuff, that has become my most
salable product."
The art school had plenty of
positives, though. Ffis instructors
provided him with plenty of pracli
cal advice on how to sell his art
work, and he learned plenty of
artistic tricks oflhe trade from them
as well — more than he did from
the textbooks.
After a stint as a commercial
artist, Mason settled in to his present
routine, working at a comic book
store to pay the bills, and concen
trating on his art when he has days '
off.
His work has appeared in publi
cations all across the U.S., with one
sale in the United Kingdom. The
pay varies from $2 to $160. Mason’s
art has graced the pages of maga
zines, “underground” publications,
and has found its way to the covers
of some horror anthologies.
Business is picking up lately, he
said.
“The more I do, the more people
get hold of me.”
But, he’s realistic about his near
future prospects.
“I’ve got a long ways to go.”
It’s difficult holding down a day
job to pay the bills, and work on art
at night or on days off.
“By the time you’ve eaten,
washed clothes, cl eaned the house,
and all the other little things you
have to do, there’s little time left.
After working seven or eight hours
a day, and then to come home and
concentrate on something that’s
going to take three or four hours
just to make it look like you did
something — it’s tough.”
Despite his lack of time, though,
heremainsundaunted. Hewillsend
outseveral portfolios in the coming
months, mostly to smaller publish
See KEP FIELD on 15
SOON]
OM
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