March 25, 2004

Award-winning illustrator Jim Hummel joins Almaden Times Weekly

By Lorraine Gabbert
Staff Writer

The Almaden Times Weekly is excited to welcome to its staff renowned cartoonist, illustrator, and artist Jim Hummel.

In 2003, Hummel was presented with the illustrious Reuben's Award from the National Cartoonists Society in the Advertising and Illustration Division. The “Reuben,” named for cartoonist Rube Goldberg, is the equivalent of an Oscar to members of this highly prestigious organization. “I was elated to be chosen by my peers as the winner of this award,” remarks Hummel. Hummel is also the recipient of the California Publishers Award, DINA Award, Headliners Award, Joey Award, Newspaper Design Award, Print Annual, Publication Design Award, and the Society of Illustrators Humor Award.

Hummel is especially looking forward to collaborating with his old friend, Murry Frymer, with whom he has worked at San Jose Magazine, the San Jose Mercury News, and Web-based TheColumnists.com. “We've been friends for years,” shares Hummel. “Working together is like breathing for us.”

Illustration has been a life-long love of Hummel's, who first became entranced with imagery at the tender age of four. “I used sit on my mother's lap, and she would draw cartoons out of the newspaper for me,” he recalls. “I was fascinated by them.”

Creating entertaining cartoons and characterizations comes naturally for Hummel, who possesses a wonderful sense of humor. “If you're doing something you really like to do, that always reflects,” he comments. He enjoys the variety of work that freelancing brings his way. “You never know what's coming up next,” he says.

Hummel's detailed depictions have featured just about every politician and celebrity there is—he is currently working on a Schwarzenegger piece—but one of his favorite works is a caricature of himself and his wife, Haruko, fighting over stocks. Beloved portrayals of his daughter Kathy and granddaughter Morgan have also graced family Christmas cards. Haruko occasionally models for Hummel. “She puts up with it,” he laughs. He also notes that Kathy is a good painter, and he's trying to teach Morgan to draw.

Although he started out as an aviation electrician in the Navy, illustrating remained a passion of Hummel's, and he composed pictures for base newspapers on the side. After the intervention of an admiral who was impressed with his work, Hummel became a journalist/artist/specialist, a job that was one of a kind. “From there, I went on to Vietnam and worked for an admiral as an art director for his programs in Vietnam, and Thailand,” Hummel says. “In Vietnam, I drew pictures regarding cross-cultural situations. It was 98 percent artwork because people could understand it, and I did all the visuals for it. We educated our own people, as well as the Vietnamese, to save lives.” Overseas, Hummel also freelanced for the Bangkok Post, Saigon Post, and the Yomiuri Shinbun Newspaper before becoming an illustrator and art director for Pacific Stars and Stripes in Tokyo, Japan. “It was very exciting,” he reports.

Following his 20-year naval career, Hummel joined the Associated Press in New York, where he was a distinguished promotional art director. “Every week, I only had 45 minutes to get the stories, draw the illustrations, and put them on the wire,” he recalls. In New York, he also professes to having been a ‘strap-hanger.' “I'd get on a bus and hang onto the strap, as there was never a seat,” he laughs.

Next, Hummel relocated to California, and became a celebrated illustrator for the San Jose Mercury News, where he remained for 20 years. His work there included pen and ink drawings with watercolor wash backgrounds, and full-page artwork of the Olympics, and many others. Hummel not only continued freelancing for such publications as Marvel Comics, San Jose Magazine, and Burlingame Daily News, but also created full-page spreads for the Dallas Morning News, and a series of illustrations for the San Francisco Aviation Museum.

One of his cartoons for the aviation museum depicts a big-chinned, heroic pilot posing by a bi-plane, with a cat and duck dressed in turn-of-the-century bomber jackets and leather helmets and goggles. According to Hummel, when the Navy started flying airplanes in the early 1900s, they had no instruments in their aircraft, and so they carried a duck and a cat onboard. “They watched the cat to see how it balanced itself, so they knew how the altitude of the aircraft was,” he notes. “When they couldn't see anything at all, they threw the duck out, and if the duck turned upside down and started flying, they knew they were in trouble.”

He draws his inspiration from copy, visualizing what people have put into words. His imagery speaks for itself, but there are times that people ask him to explain his work. “If they ever catch me, people ask me questions,” he laughs.

Hummel has lectured extensively at Bay Area high schools, and has taught illustration at San Jose State University for 21 years. “You need to have 100 percent commitment,” he advises upcoming illustrators and cartoonists. “It's a tough trade and it takes a lot of guts. You have to really love it, because it comes with a lot of heartbreak and disillusionment that you have to override, but if you have a lot of love for it, it won't matter.”

One of the most exciting jobs he ever had was conceiving national ads for Quality Semiconductor. “Whatever the project was, I made it into a character, and they even made statues of them,” he relates.

Besides joining Times Media, Inc., Hummel has continued to freelance through his agent at American Artists in New York. He has recently illustrated a children's book for a client in Georgia entitled, “Silly Billy,” and is currently working on a story of his life history. “I'm kept pretty busy,” he reflects. “It looks like I'm going to be busier now than I've been before!”

Besides illustrating, Hummel is active with the San Jose Rotary Club, and enjoys spending time with his granddaughter. He has no plans of retiring, which is great for the rest of us. “I feel that if you don't draw pictures, you're not an artist, so you have to keep drawing,” he says.

For a glimpse into his creative genius, check out Hummel's Web site at: http://home.pacbell.net/k2it