Very pleased indeed to let loose the 2nd Drawger Annual. The first one in 2006 was so much fun, it was clear that Drawger should give it another go. 52 Drawgers made it happen for 2007.
You learn a few things putting together a show like this. One is that illustrators can't do anything without a deadline. When I sent word that the show was being planned, I gave Drawgers a somewhat generous deadline for entries of about a month and a half. With almost no exceptions, every single piece arrived on the last day. So rule number one when dealing with illustrators: Deadlines rule.
Another thing. By and large illustrators have weird names. I defy anyone to spell Burckhardt the same way twice or Vasconcelos, Witschonke or Ciardello. I have unresolved spelling issues, and putting this together required cut-and-paste skills like I've never employed them before. For some reason, I had Brian Stauffer's name spelled three different ways on the same page at one point. He was kind enough to help me through that. New admiration goes out for all those art directors setting illustrator names in 4 point type for the margins of magazines. I've never seen one spelled incorrectly.
Third and lastly, illustrators are an amazingly generous lot. If you ask them nicely and have even a measure of sincerity, they will bend over three ways to Sunday to make good things happen. The 2007 Drawger Annual is testimony to that.
The show was a real pleasure to have all to myself for a while. It was like sitting alone with an unreleased classic. I've looked at each individual entry dozens of times - some of the works were much larger, with much higher resolution than I can display at Drawger, so I had the benefit of zooming in, for what I must admit to as many hours spent marveling at the skills and dedication to the art form these great people have in bewildering abundance.
I hope everyone enjoys the show! If we can keep good ship Drawger afloat, we'll do it all again in 2008.
