Skip to content
  • Home
  • Geezers Roll Call
  • Not Forgotten
  • Gatherings
  • Contact

Geezers’ Gallery

San Francisco's Golden Age of Advertising and the people who created it.

  • Home
    • Privacy Policy
  • Pages
    • Geezers Roll Call
    • Not Forgotten
  • Who was Where
    • Agencies
    • Copywriters
    • Photographic
    • Reps
    • Staff Creatives
    • Studios & Freelancers
    • Publications
  • Gatherings
    • Gathering 2022
    • Gathering 2021
    • Gathering 2020
    • Gathering 2019
    • Gathering 2018
    • Gathering 2017
    • Gathering 2016
    • Gathering 2015
    • Gathering 2014
    • Gathering 2013
    • Gathering 2012
    • Gathering 2011
    • Gathering 2009
    • Gathering 2008
    • Gathering 2007
    • Gathering 2006
    • Gathering 2005
    • Gathering 2004
    • Gathering 2003
    • Gathering 2002
    • Gathering 2001
    • Gathering 2000
    • Gathering 2010
    • Gathering 1999
    • Gathering 1993
  • Contact Us

A Day at the Races

Posted on September 22, 2019August 15, 2020 By Ann Thompson

Marc Ericksen’s First San Fran­cisco Free­lance Inter­view: A Day at the Races.

As a young illus­trator, I found myself working at Artworks at 50 Gold Street in North Beach. I had grad­u­ated from Art Center in 1975, worked a year as a staff illus­trator in Chicago at O’Grady Graphics at 333 Michigan Avenue. While it was a great shop, and I had appre­ci­ated all I had learned there, the weather was brutal.

After some degree of delib­er­a­tion, part of which involved my working late on a dead­line during a bliz­zard, walking at 9 PM to the North­west Station to catch the last train to Arlington Heights Station, only to arrive to find all the locks on my ancient Alpha Romeo 4 door frozen solid. By the time I had walked a mile or two to our apart­ment in my street shoes, Levis, shirt, and light jacket – – my face was also frozen solid.

I terri­fied my wife by tapping on the back patio sliding glass door, because I was pretty sure I wouldn’t survive walking the rest of the way to the front door.

So I moved with my wife Dianne and our two sons, to the Golden West: San Francisco.

1
Djalgrade
Djalgrade 
3-Review_1_78-84
Stan Fleming US Open
Stan Fleming US Open 
Self Promo
Self Promo 

Artworks was a wonderful shop. Don McKee had a great cast of talent there, and I learned from folks like the great Stan Fleming, another Chicago trans­plant, who gave me an appre­ci­a­tion for the myriad aspects of prelim­i­nary art as well as tips for dealing with clients, art direc­tors and designers. I met my future studio mate of 35 years, Robert Evans there who showed up one day in a work-study capacity from The Academy of Art. Dennis Ziemienski was another major talent at the shop. I was about ready to launch out on my own after 3 terrific years at Artworks when I was approached by Dennis about sharing rent on a studio he had located just up Sansome Street and right around the corner on Broadway. It was a 2nd floor walkup above a little Chinese restau­rant, over­looking the hustle and bustle of North Beach. It was a little tight for the two of us, but Dennis wanted to use it as a satel­lite site, while he worked out of his Palo Alto studio.

Marc Early 80s

I found the place to be perfect for the work I was doing, a mix of finished illus­tra­tions for smaller tech clients and startup gaming compa­nies, as well as a fair amount of prelim­i­nary art for all the local agen­cies: Story­boards and compre­hen­sive sketches. I was very comfort­able with the mix, given that I had paid half my way through Art center doing similar work for agen­cies in LA while a student. I had my drafting table, lights and a chair. The traffic outside helped me to feel a part of the local art scene, and the redo­lent aroma of Chinese cooking right beneath me. What could be more San Fran­cisco? I would even duck below into the eatery a couple of times a week for a quick lunch. It was always busy.
One of the groups I had not worked with was D’Arcy-MacManus, so, as was the custom, I called and asked whether I could show my port­folio. I had only been on my own at this point for a week or so, so this would mark my emer­gence as a true free lancer, my dream come true! My first on-my-own appear­ance before a creative!
I took my port­folio case containing samples of my profes­sional work, and walked down Sansome to the neigh­bor­hood for D’Arcy and entered the lobby. The recep­tionist made a call to find out who might be avail­able to review my work. An Art Director named Chris Short agreed and an intern led me through the pris­tine walls and hip archi­tec­ture of the agency to Chris’s office. I entered into the stylish bright white high rise office, Chris was nattily dressed, in a white shirt, stylish tie, and pressed slacks, and stood to reach across his long white desk to welcome me with a hand­shake and a smile. I thanked him for his will­ing­ness to review my work, and he was a perfect gentleman, as he replied ​“no problem at all, welcome to my office, and please, let’s take a look at your work“.

I lifted my port­folio, and with a quick glance for his permis­sion placed the 20”x30” folio on the end of his spot­less long white desk which was nearest him as he sat in his beau­tiful artic­u­lated leather exec­u­tive office chair.

As I drew open the zipper of the folio, I began telling him a bit about my back­ground and the nature of the illus­tra­tion samples I was preparing to show, and he assumed a more comfort­able posi­tion, and leaned forward for a better look as I lifted the unzipped cover. Upon the final opening, and as I was in mid sentence, a very large and gorgeously shining mahogany insect with swept back antennae and I suspect, smelling of Chinese cuisine, leapt from the center of my port­folio with the fervor of a stal­lion at the drop­ping of the gates at Churchill Downs. Racing the length of my open port­folio, he leaped off the zippered edge onto Chris’s pris­tine bright white tabletop, and ran in a perfectly straight line the entire length of the table and sailed off, disap­pearing from sight.

I was aghast, …and petrified.

Like an idiot I continued to stare at the point of last view of the roach. I’m actu­ally laughing to myself now, 40 years later, at how I must have looked to Chris.

For his own part, the man was a saint. When I regained my senses, and looked back to his face, he sat looking at me with a twinkle in his eye, with a very slight smile. Raising his eyebrows, and much to my eternal grat­i­tude, he then said, ​“So, Marc, tell me about this first piece.”

We spoke together that day for about 20 minutes of his valu­able schedule. He was kind in his appraisal of my work, and I thanked him for his time.

A week later Chris called with a job, and we commenced fifteen years or more of working together, and he never mentioned our day at the races.

A talented Art Director. And, a more perfect gentleman.

Marc Ericksen


(Note: Marc sent us this story above, but I must add a short bio.:
Marc Ericksen
1966 – 1972: Age 18, Para­trooper, U.S. Army. 1966 – 1972: Age 18, 2 tours in Vietnam, Left active duty age 24 with the rank of Captain in May 1972.
1972 – 1975: Age 25. Attended Art Center College of Design, Los Angeles. Grad­u­ated with a schol­ar­ship, and Bach­elor of Fine Art with honors.
1975 – 1978: Illus­trator, O’Grady Graphics, Artworks,S.F.
1982 to 1987: Chair­person, Chairman, and Pres­i­dent, San Fran­cisco Society of Illus­tra­tors, (2 years.)
1986 to 1995: Chairman of the SFSI Air Force Art Program, (9 years.)
1978 – 2015: Marc Ericksen Illustration.

Baltic Clogs
Baltic Clogs 
Baltic Garden
Baltic Garden 
Cathernine Palace domes
Cath­er­nine Palace domes 
Chef
Chef 
Crystal Symphony San Blas
Crystal Symphony San Blas 
Crystal Symphony
Crystal Symphony 
Geirager Fiord
Geirager Fiord 
Glacer Bay Serenity
Glacer Bay Serenity 
Golden Gate Serenity
Golden Gate Serenity 
Monte Carlo Symphony
Monte Carlo Symphony 
Quebec Serenity
Quebec Serenity 
Rio Sugarloaf Serenity
Rio Sugar­loaf Serenity 
Singapore Merlion
Singa­pore Merlion 
Stockholm Harbor
Stock­holm Harbor 
Sydney Harbor
Sydney Harbor 

Crystal Cruise Lines Watercolors:
2015 – Water­color illus­tra­tions for Crystal Cruise Lines, Agency: DDB West — Creative Director: Joe Kayser.
Shown are 15 of 19 pieces (20” x 30” each) required to be created within 14 days without fail.

Ancient Football PC Mag
Ancient Foot­ball PC Mag 
Ballantine Publishing Case of Curiosities
Ballan­tine Publishing Case of Curiosities 
Baltimore Sun - Catch 22
Balti­more Sun — Catch 22 
Communication World, Russian Bear
Commu­ni­ca­tion World, Russian Bear 
Sharks, Bernie Nichols Goal
Sharks, Bernie Nichols Goal 
USAF Collection P51D
USAF Collec­tion P51D 
Varian, Silicon Chip
Varian, Silicon Chip 

Publi­ca­tion Illustration:
Publi­ca­tion Illus­tra­tions above: Ancient Football-PC Maga­zine, Ballan­tine Publishing-Case of Curiosi­ties, Balti­more Sun-Catch 22, Commu­ni­ca­tion World-Russian Bear, Sharks-Bernie Nichols-Goal 1000, USAF Collec­tion P‑51D – – Drop Tanks and Engage, Varian Silicon Chip Disc Autoclave

Anheuiser Busch Shocktop
Anheuiser Busch Shocktop 
Intel Manufacturing
Intel Manufacturing 
Chex Quest
Chex Quest 
Galá Atari
Galá Atari 
MegaMan
MegaMan 

Product illus­tra­tions:
Product Illus­tra­tions above:
Anheuser-Busch Shock Top — Belgian-style wheat ale,
Intel Manufacturing
Video Games: Chex Quest- Galaga-Atari, MegaMan-Cannon Arm PRGE 2018
See also, this 2012 video: Game Box Art:
https://​www​.youtube​.com/​w​a​t​c​h​?​v​=​E​6​C​1​X​c​d​L​HjI

and, at the right – – Artist’s Sites:
Marc Ericksen’s link shows his many styles of finished art and prelim­i­nary art – – from 1978 to the present day.

Ann Thompson

Still in the Game

Post navigation

Previous Post: Jack Allen — Ad Man + Photographer + Painter
Next Post: AFA, AAW nor the AAF

Artist's Sites

  • Allan and Carol Hayes
  • Bill and Nina Stewart
  • Bill Cone
  • Bill Schwob art
  • Bob Bausch
  • Bob Porter and Patricia Reed Porter
  • Bruce Lauritzen
  • Bruce Wolfe
  • Bryn Craig
  • Caleb Whitbeck
  • Charles Pyle
  • Chris Blum
  • Chuck Eckart
  • Dugald Stermer
  • Frank Ansley
  • Fred Lyon
  • Gale McKee
  • Hans Halberstadt
  • Jack Allen
  • Janet Jones
  • Jeff Leedy
  • Jerry Huff
  • Jim Stitt
  • John Hyatt Illustration
  • John Mattos
  • Larry Keenan
  • Lowell Herrero
  • Marc Ericksen
  • Mark Keller
  • Mark Schroeder
  • Mik Kitagawa
  • Robert Arnold
  • Robert Evans
  • Robert Gantt Steele
  • Roger Shelly
  • Stan Dann
  • Tom Whitworth
  • Ward Schumaker

Artist Galleries

  • Tom Watson
  • Keehn Gray
  • John Pratt
  • Chuck Eckart
  • Jerry Huff
  • Al Davidson
  • Bill Nellor
  • Jim Stitt Designs

Copy Writers

  • Joel Fugazzotto
  • Samm Coombs
  • Todd Miller

Still In The Game

  • Bill and Nina Stewart
  • Bill Schwob work
  • Bob Bausch
  • Chris Blum
  • David Johnson
  • Fred Lyon
  • Hans Halberstadt
  • Jack Tom
  • Jeff Leedy
  • Jim Stitt
  • John Hyatt
  • John Mattos
  • Kirk Henderson
  • Lars Melander
  • Marc Ericksen
  • Mark Keller
  • Mark Schroeder
  • Peter Thompson
  • Robert Arnold
  • Robert Holmes
  • Rory Phoenix
  • Scott Simpkin
  • Steve Rustad
  • Tom Whitworth
  • Ward Schumaker

Places We Like

  • Patterson Hall Early History
  • Piet Halberstadt
  • Printing Films
  • The Museum of Forgotten Art Supplies

Copyright © 2023 Geezers’ Gallery.

Powered by PressBook Premium theme