Dave Stevens
Dave Stevens | |
---|---|
Signature | |
Dave Lee Stevens (July 29, 1955 – March 11, 2008) was an American
Early life
Stevens was born July 29, 1955, in
Career
Early work
Stevens's first professional comic work was inking Russ Manning's pencils for the Tarzan newspaper comic strip and two European Tarzan graphic novels in 1975; he later assisted Manning on the Star Wars newspaper strip.[4]
He began doing occasional comic book work, including providing illustrations for
Starting in 1977, he drew
The Rocketeer
The Rocketeer series was an adventure story set in a
Stevens was a longtime admirer of 1950s glamour and pin-up model Bettie Page; he modeled the look of the Rocketeer's girlfriend after her and featured her image in other illustrations too, which helped contribute to the renewed public interest in Page and her modeling career. After discovering that the retired Page was still alive and lived nearby, Stevens became friends with her, providing both personal assistance and helping to arrange financial compensation to her from various publishers for the use of her image and reprints of her many glamor and pin-up photos.[5] Two other characters that show up in the Rocketeer stories were based on personal acquaintances of Stevens: the "Peevy" character, based on cartoonist Doug Wildey, and the sleazy "Marco of Hollywood" character, based on real life glamour and porn photographer Ken Marcus.[4]
Comic book series
The first comic book featuring the
In 2011 IDW launched an all-new Rocketeer comic book series, illustrated by various artists, called Rocketeer Adventures.
Other work
Stevens began developing a Rocketeer theatrical film proposal in 1985 and then sold the rights to his character to the
Following The Rocketeer, Stevens worked primarily as an illustrator, doing a variety of ink and painted illustrations for book and comic book covers, posters, prints, portfolios, and private commissions, including a number of covers for
Before his death in 2008 from hairy cell leukemia, Stevens was working on a career retrospective collection of his work to be titled Brush with Passion – The Life and Art of Dave Stevens.[10] The book was published the same year in a regular hardcover, as well a deluxe slipcased hardcover edition. In addition, very limited signed and leather-bound proof copies were also published, all from Underwood Books.
Personal life and death
In 1980 Stevens married longtime girlfriend Charlene Brinkman, later known as horror film scream queen Brinke Stevens; their marriage ended in divorce just six months later, though she later modeled for Stevens.[11]
Following several years of struggling with uncommon hairy cell leukemia, which caused a gradual reduction in his artistic output, Stevens died on March 11, 2008, in Turlock, California.[12][13][14][15]
Legacy
Stevens's work has had a significant influence on comic book and fantasy illustrators,[7] among them Adam Hughes.[16]
Artist Laura Molina, with whom Stevens had a romantic relationship in the late 1970s,[17] used him as the subject of her controversial Naked Dave series of paintings.[18]
On November 3, 2022, Samuel Goldwyn films announced they acquired distribution right to the feature length documentary "Dave Stevens: Drawn to Perfection"
Quotes
expanded into an encyclopedic article, rather than a list of quotations, please do so and remove this message. |
"Dave had more artistic integrity than anyone I've ever known. He always marched to his own drummer whether it benefited him financially or not. He turned down many lucrative job offers—including a monthly pin-up assignment for Playboy offered by Hugh Hefner as a replacement for their regular Alberto Vargas feature—when they didn't jibe with his own highly personal vision of what he should be doing. As a businessman, Dave often drove his close friends nuts. We'd watch in astonishment at the riches passing him by." – William Stout[4]
"Dave was truly one of the nicest people I have ever met in my life ... and was certainly among the most gifted. Our first encounter was at Jack Kirby's house around 1971 when he came to visit and show Jack some of his work. As I said, Kirby was very encouraging and he urged Dave not to try and draw like anyone else but to follow his own passions. This was advice Dave took to heart, which probably explains why he took so long with every drawing. They were rarely just jobs to Dave. Most of the time, what emerged from his drawing board or easel was a deeply personal effort. He was truly in love with every beautiful woman he drew, at least insofar as the paper versions were concerned." – Mark Evanier[3]
"Well, I do expect a lot of myself. I'm a harsh critic because I know what I'm capable of. I have hit those occasional peaks amongst the valleys, but the peaks are so few—things like genuine flashes of virtuoso brush inking, like I've never executed before or since—I can count on one hand the number of jobs where I've been able to hit that mark. The same with penciling. Sometimes it just flows, but more often than not, it's pure physical and spiritual torment just to get something decent on paper. I often get very discouraged with the whole creative process." – Dave Stevens[5]
Selected works
- The Rocketeer, Eclipse books (1990). ISBN 1-56060-088-8
- Just Teasing, Ursus Imprints (1991). ISBN 0-942681-12-6
- The Rocketeer: Cliff's New York Adventure, Dark Horse (1997). ISBN 1-56971-092-9
- Vamps and Vixens: The Seductive Art of Dave Stevens, Verotik (1998). ISBN 1-885730-10-1
- Dave Stevens: Selected Sketches and Studies, (Vols. 1–4), Bulldog Studios. No ISBN
- Brush with Passion: The Art and Life of Dave Stevens, Underwood Books (2008). ISBN 1-59929-010-3
- Dave Steven's The Rocketeer: The Complete Adventures, IDW Publishing (2010).
References
- ^ "United States Social Security Death Index," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/VS31-C4Q : accessed March 4, 2013), David Lee Stevens, March 11, 2008.
- ^ "First Comics News – 2022 Inkwell Awards Lifetime Achievement Winners"
- ^ a b c d "Dave Stevens R.I.P." News from ME. Mark Evanier. March 11, 2008. Archived from the original on March 13, 2008. Retrieved March 14, 2008.
- ^ Stout, William (March 11, 2008). "DAVE STEVENS 1955 – 2008". "Journal". The Worlds of William Stout. Archived August 20, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b c Comic Book Artist Magazine #15 – Dave Stevens Interview – TwoMorrows Publishing
- ^ "About Dave Stevens – The Dave Stevens Web Site". Archived from the original on March 16, 2008. Retrieved March 13, 2008.
- ^ a b c d The Comics Reporter
- ^ "IDW Resurrects The Rocketeer". IGN. February 28, 2009. Retrieved September 8, 2011.
- ^ "Comics Warehouse Index of Eclipse Posters, Portfolios, and Miscellanea" Published 1995. Retrieved July 30, 2014.
- ^ Spectrum Fantastic Art – http://www.spectrumfantasticart.com Archived March 14, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Brinke Stevens
- ^ "Dave Stevens 1955–2008". The Beat. Reed Elsevier. March 11, 2008. Archived from the original on July 13, 2012. Retrieved March 11, 2008.
- ^ Comic artist Dave Stevens dies – Created The Rocketeer, Daily Variety – Posted: Wed., March 12, 2008, 2:57pm PT.
- UPI– Published: March 31, 2008, at 9:52 PM.
- ^ "Dave Stevens, 52, Artist Who Created the Rocketeer, Dies" by George Gene Gustines – The New York Times, Published: March 30, 2008
- ^ Cooke, John B., "Adam Hughes bares all", Comic Book Artist #21 (Aug. 2002), p. 22-A.
- ^ Laura Molina: Not Just The World's Angriest Woman
- ^ Naked Dave
External links
- Official website
- Dave Stevens at Find a Grave
- Dave Stevens at IMDb