RIP Bo Obama

Former president Barack Obama and his family’s Portuguese water dog Bo passed away last week. They got the dog as a puppy shortly after they moved into the White House. I am reluctantly reminded of the first book I ever illustrated for the MAD gang, Bo Confidential: The Secret Files of America’s First Dog.

Bo moved into the White House on April 14th of 2009, and he got a LOT of media attention. Naturally the folks at MAD thought that was ridiculous, so they quickly wrote a short book and it was rushed to press… and I mean RUSHED. I got the assignment in late April of 2009. The working title was “Bo Obama: The First 100 Days”. It was a book about the Obama’s new pet and his introduction into the White House, filled with gags about politics, the Obamas in general and of course, dog poop. It was going to be 96 pages calling for 59 total illustrations (a mix of two-page full color spreads and one page full color, vignette spot illustrations in both color and black and white) plus a cover. There was a catch, though (there always is). They wanted the art completed in just over three weeks.

Yes, you read that right. THREE WEEKS. The publication date was to be the end of July.

I don’t remember the exact reason for the incredibly short deadline. I think it was a combination of two factors. First, a bunch of books about the Obama family and Bo were coming out that summer and getting the book into that mix would get it placed on end cap and table displays in the big bookstores. Second, there was a huge publisher’s book fair event right after Memorial Day, and having the book completed by then would allow the publisher to promote it fully at said fair.

Regardless, I got the final book script/layout on May 1st and had until May 26th to get the book completely illustrated. Worse yet, I had plans to go to the National Cartoonists Society’s Reuben Awards in L.A. on May 22nd, so essentially I had 21 days to get it all done.

I did it in 21 days. 25 full color two page spreads, 21 full color single page/large spot illustrations and 13 monochrome spots. Oh, and I had just had rotator cuff surgery in March of that year, so my left arm was in a sling.

The one thing I had going for me was the book was pretty small at only 5 x 7.25 inches, so the art did not need to be highly detailed. Otherwise I would never have been able to do it. I’d be lying if I said it was my best work… but some of it turned out decent.

I’ve done a lot of tough jobs in my time, but this one really did nearly break me. I got about 2 or 3 hours of sleep a night for three weeks straight, with only the occasional night of more due to sheer necessity. I had to place everything else on hold including canceling trips to both my out-of-state theme parks. I finished and FTP’d the last page at about 4 a.m. on May 22nd, and then got on the plane to L.A. 5 hours later. It was a very tired me who attended the NCS Reubens that year.

Anyway, very sorry the Obama’s lost their dog. I also don’t like being reminded of this job, since it still gives me the cold sweats. Here’s a few more spot illustrations from the book: