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I tend to do my best work under duress. There's something about being under the gun that brings out the best in me and I'll shine the brightest during my darkest hours. This job was no exception.
I had accepted this job, more than anything else, as a favor to an art director who had thrown me some work back when I was trying to break into the industry. Due to the limited financial situation of the company footing the bill, I was only going to receive about a third of my normal fee but, like I said, I owed the art director a favor and besides, from the description over the phone, it seemed a pretty easy assignment. Boy was I wrong. Because the entire project was behind schedule I was under an extremely tight deadline. If that wasn't enough, due to a tragic series of computer failures I completely lost all my work and had to start the painting over, from scratch, no less than three times. Heroically, despite yet another "minor incident" that completely destroyed my cd-rom drive I managed to get the piece done and in just under the monumentally short deadline. Three weeks later I receive a nice form letter politely informing me that the company had gone belly up, the image would no longer be published, and we're real sorry but all your hard work was for nothing. Thank you for your time, good day and good bye. (It was about that time that I came up with the title. It was also around that time that I decided to take a long break from doing freelance.)
Despite all it's problems, the story of "Ra Deal" does have a happy ending. It has been one of the most well received pieces in my repertoire, garnering high praise from peers and fans alike. It was accepted into Spectrum 8, (A yearly juried contest and publication by Underwood Press. Spectrum 8 will be available in fine bookstores around the world November of 2001.) and surprisingly enough, though three months late, I finally got a paid. I guess it just goes to show, all's well that ends well. |
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