By Allen Duncan
Accomplished illustrator Carter Goodrich showed images of his work while he related to students and other audience members his sundry projects and successful career, April 1.
Goodrich has done print work for publications such as “The New Yorker,” “Playboy,” “Forbes,” “Newsweek” and “Time.” He is perhaps best known by his covers for “The New Yorker,” which opened offers for him to work out west on character design for various animated movies. He has recently started writing and illustrating his own stories.
Goodrich described a beginning where he was heavily influenced by illustrators like his father, Saul Steinberg, and Hal Foster. He studied illustration at Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). There Goodrich was most affected by two instructors that used a very labor-intensive pencil method.
“I got a little too married to that—and that has had a lot to do with my personal journey, my work. My father was always telling me ‘work loose, work loose. Loosen up, have fun,’” said Goodrich. “When I started coming home with these [pieces] … I think he was starting to wonder whether it was a good idea that I had gone to RISD.”
Goodrich showed the progression of a “New Yorker” cover to illustrate the changes and the give and take that comes from the process. He said there are compromises he’s made, but he’s willing to “play ball to get [his] stuff in print.”
Some of his newest endeavors include writing and illustrating his own books. His newest story “Say Hello to Zorro!” was published earlier this year as the introduction of a new series. Goodrich said he was excited about its loose, fun drawing style that is “completely character driven” with little attention to environment.
“I don’t know if I’m just being lazy, or if maybe I’m beginning to see the light. Maybe it’s both,” he said. “But I think I’m finally returning to what my father was always trying to beat into my thick skull.”
For the prospective character designer, he advised that students avoid hunting for work if it is possible.
“I have to sort of keep myself from going and beating on the door because I think that the minute you knock, they have the upper hand.”
The film industry, said Goodrich, is a place where it is hard work to strive to better your position. If a designer starts off at a low beginning wage, it can take him many years to work his way up. He believes starting off in illustration was his saving grace.
“If you have something that they somehow get wind of it and then they make an approach, you’re just starting off in such a better place,” Goodrich said. “Then they’re not treating you like s***. And they will treat you like s***.”