We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Rick Lundeen a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Rick, appreciate you joining us today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

Although I learned some fundamentals in art school, it was only after I’d become gainfully employed doing storyboards for advertising agencies that I started my real education. I learned quite a bit about drawing from my first boss, Rudy Klimpert. The man was a master illustrator, creating detailed scenes, and being able to draw things from out of his head with minimal reference- a valuable skill when it comes to drawing situations, people, and items while on a deadline. I started out full time/freelance, so essentially made your own schedule, but that only means you must step up and say yes to whatever project that comes up if at all possible. You want to try and foster those relationships. If you say no to someone, you may not get offered another job from them again. As far as making progress, learning and growing as an illustrator, your only obstacle is yourself.

Rick, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I’d just gotten engaged, and realized that I had to get a real job! I’d been drawing all my life– it was the only thing I was ever any good at. My friend Mike Edsey got me an interview at an advertising agency, and they kept me on, illustrating boards for Sears. After a few years, I was contacted by another agency to come in for an interview. Upon showing them my portfolio and performing a speed test, I was hired full time as the primary Coca Cola illustrator. For the next few years, I was doing Coca Cola promotional material. Eventually, Coke moved to another agency and I was out of a gig, so I ended up going totally freelance in 1998 and I’ve been so ever since. I’ve got a few representatives like Paul Eberhardt that have gotten me quite a bit of work in the past. I’ve got my own independent clients as well. Over the years, I’ve forged ongoing relationships with hundreds of art directors, who’ve kept coming back. When being briefed on an advertising project, I make a point to ask as many questions as possible, and present as many options as possible to provide the best possible outcome. This has all been in service to doing storyboards, comp art, finished illustration, storyboards for film, and cartoons. I guess one of the more prestigious highlights in advertising was having a few of the commercials I worked on showcased during the SuperBowl. This might have been in 2015. Parallel to all this over the years, I’ve been creating my own comics, self publishing them, either by print on demand, through worldwide distributors, or online at places like Amazon. Possibly my proudest achievement in the comics world was adapting the 12 part Doctor Who adventure The Daleks Master Plan. A comic book version of the old black and white Doctor Who story that has mostly been missing since the late ’60’s. I did it as a labor of love for the show’s 50th anniversary, and it was printed up and sold, with all proceeds going to the Children in Need charity in 2013. I’ve also collaborated with many writers for projects with various comic companies over the years. I just finished up a new 4 issue miniseries through my own Epoch imprint called The Bombardier.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

As far as working through health issues, I have two stories that might interest people. The first had to be around the turn of the century, after I had surgery on my nasal passages. The upshot was that after the procedure, I had to have two, four inch metal spikes placed all the way up my nose– for a week– to keep the nose aligned. I was so miserable that I banished myself away from the family and stayed down in the basement because I was unable to sleep, I was so uncomfortable. I got a call from another of my reps asking if I could do 30 frames for a client. Now, I could have easily said no, especially considering I just got out of the hospital, but I said yes. I reasoned that hey, I wasn’t sleeping anyway, so I may as well start drawing and make some money. That was a long week.
Two: In January of 2019, I was diagnosed with stage four cancer. Mantle Cell Lymphoma. I’d heard of a lot of cancers over the years but I’d never heard of this one. I’d begun chemotherapy, which is never much fun. (it did go into remission and I’ve been cancer free since). This also happened to be when I was doing a couple rare, on-site jobs for an agency, sketching up ideas as the creative team came up with them. When I was briefed on the product, ironically, it was some new cancer drug. First time I’d ever worked on a project related to a cancer drug. In fact, the creative team was learning all about the bizarre tidbits of different cancers, like how some tumors grow teeth, etc. I nodded attentively–how about that? But the cherry on the cake…With one sketch in particular, I had to incorporate big 3D letters of a particular type of a cancer’s name into the illustration. The writer gave me the name I’d be drawing. Mantle Cell Lymphoma. I laughed out loud. I wasn’t letting anyone there know I had cancer at the time, much less MCL. The writer must have thought I was nuts.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The mere notion that I can produce visual stories, that I can execute the old adage “A picture paints a thousand words” is a rewarding challenge in itself. In fact, I even did a graphic novel called “100 Covers” where I featured the exploits of a superhero group called The Battalion, told *only* by the covers of what would have been their comic run. It was a wonderful exercise in comic book shorthand mixed with the picture painting a thousand words. I occasionally travel to schools and talk to them about drawing in general, how to successfully tell a story visually, whether it be in commercial art or comic books. In fact, I lead it off with “You can create a universe with your pencil.”

Contact Info:

• Website: https://rickjlundeen.wordpress.com/
• Instagram: @ricklundeen
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rick.lundeen.7
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-lundeen-5236a87/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBnP39iwApcqFzB8jzeF6fA
• Other: TikTok: @rick.lundeen

  My comics on Indy Planet: https://www.indyplanet.com/epoch

  My amazon author’s page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Rick-J-Lundeen/author/B07CL8LQWR?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

  My TeePublic designs: https://www.teepublic.com/user/rick-lundeen

  My Redbubble designs: https://www.redbubble.com/people/Rick714/shop?asc=u&ref=account-nav-dropdown

  My school talks: https://lundeendemos.wordpress.com/