Sandy Tew
Artist
Sandy Tew has been delighting BATB fans with her beautifulTell us a little bit about
yourself and your interests in general.
Well, I
came from a big
family and have 4 adult
children (a son
and three daughters) and 5 granddaughters ranging in age from 6 months
to 11
years old. I married when I was not quite 19 and we just celebrated our
34th
anniversary. Feel free to do the math for my age.; ) I also have a
fraternal
twin sister.
I love
anything creative,
lots of different kinds of music, cats, children and reading.
When I was
raising kids I was
an in home daycare provider. Since then I’ve worked as a sign
maker for a short
time and now I teach drawing, knitting, crochet and other craft classes
part
time at a county run
You have created quite an
impressive portfolio of Beauty and the Beast
artwork. What drew you to the BATB TV series and why did you/do you
feel the
need to express yourself in BATB art? Had you worked with art before
being
involved with Beauty and the Beast or did your artwork develop from it?
I was drawn (no pun intended ;
) to the idea of the show even before it
premiered. I’ve always loved fantasy/sci fi type books and TV
etc. When I read
the premise I just knew I had to watch it. And of course after the
pilot I was
hooked. I love the romance and the whole thought of a safe place for
people to
be who they are and also the thought of helping others less fortunate.
Plus, I
was enthralled with Vincent and the amazing job both Rick Baker, Ron
Koslow and
Ron Perlman did to make him “really live”.
Who most influenced and/or
encouraged your talent? Did you have formal
training and where did you study? Or are you self-taught, honing a
natural
talent and working from instinct?
In my home environment we were
always encouraged to be creative. It was
how we entertained ourselves. We weren’t destitute but we
didn’t have a lot of
extra money for toys etc. Drawing and music were a huge part of my
childhood.
Also, my husband has always encouraged me.
I really don’t have
any formal training. I had a good teacher in Junior
High School but the art teacher in High School wasn’t exactly
wonderful. First,
he never liked one of my older brothers and held that against me. Plus
he told
us how many assignments to hand in each semester without giving us
supplies or
much help. I didn’t have money for art supplies and I only
did pencil drawings
because of this so he gave me an F. The only one I ever had. I gave him
up
after my junior year. I then married the November after I graduated
from high
school. I never did go to college even though I had the grades. Maybe
sometime
in the future I’ll give it a try.
Self-taught Isn’t
exactly the phrase I’d use for myself. The word
instead that describes it better is “autodidactic”.
This means self led
learning. I’ve learned mostly from books. I have a large
library of art books
I’ve purchased in the past 20 years. I’ve also
learned a lot from art that
others do and love to see the process they go through even more than
the
finished product. And I’m learning a lot from the students
I’ve been teaching
the past 5 years and I think it can encourage others to create when
they see
that someone can still be good without formal learning.
Does artistic talent run in the
family?
You could definitely say that
since my Mother’s brother was a fine
artist named William Monte Andersen. He painted under the name of Monte
and had
shows in
My husband has artistic talent
as well but hasn’t picked up even a
pencil in a long time. Our son and youngest daughter both draw really
well but
again haven’t done so in a long time.
I would like to add though
that I don’t think artistic talent is only
genetic in a family. It’s hard to know how much is in your
genes and how much
has to do with the environment you were raised and encouraged in. I am more and more convinced as
time goes on that anyone
who is willing to put in the time and has enough desire can learned to
draw
well.
Do you have a special place where
you like to work and can you describe
it for us? Do you ever find yourself drawing at odd times and places,
whenever
and wherever the mood strikes you?
I usually draw in two
different places…
The first is at home in my
reclining chair where I can sit back and
relax and hold a masonite drawing board in my lap. The lamp is on my
left side
so my drawing hand doesn’t cast a shadow across the paper. I
love being able to
work and visit or watch TV with my husband in the evenings. The second
place is
at work in the arts and crafts room. I used to have trouble having
others watch
me work but in 5 years I’ve learned to relax and let them ask
questions.
I do
“doodle” in places like the doctor’s
office etc. and when I was
first trying to hone my skills for portrait drawing I would sketch the
speakers
at church in the women‘s meetings. If my family could tell
who it was I was
happy. I always tell my students to draw when ever and wherever they
can. I’ve
really got to go back to taking my own advise!
You often use pencil for your drawings. Can you
tell us about this
favourite media?
My favorite media will always
be pencil. They’re always available,
immediately ready, easy to take out and put away and their ability to
give a
picture a 3D quality with shading isn’t too hard to do. After
I married I had 4
kids in 7 years and the idea of preparing art supplies and cleaning
them up
afterwards was out of the question with little fingers and inquisitive
minds. I
do though admit that I didn’t do a lot of drawing when the
kids were all little
and I did have some pieces I worked on that were “added
to” by the kids. ; )
What other types of media have
you used, for example colored pencils, crayons,
watercolors, pastels, oils? How do you like using them and how do you
decide
which to use for a particular piece of artwork?
I have
done some watercolors lately, mostly of roses. I’ve also
tried
pastels and pen and ink but haven’t even tried oils since I
was in Junior High.
I’ve lately thought that it’s time to try them
again.
But my
other favorite media are art quality colored pencils. They can
take a lot of time though so I don’t use them as often as
I’d like to. I use a
technique called grisaille where I do the first drawing in regular
pencil so
all the grays and forms are already established and then I print them
out
lightly with my printer and use the color pencils over this. Sometimes
I use a
colored piece of paper which can speed up the process. There are
several
benefits to this method. I can get the likeness first with the pencil
drawing.
It’s almost impossible to erase the color pencil so I can
work out every thing
before I add the color. The best part is that if I mess up I just print
out another
copy and can begin again. And, I can always go back sometime in the
future and
finish any pencil piece I’ve done before in color.
How do you choose the subject of
your art? What inspires the composition
of the drawing, the choice of making a face portrait or a full body
position…the position of the bodies? What do you imagine
first – the content of
the work or the emotion you want to convey?
I try to mix up the new
B&B art that I do between formal portraits,
photo refs from the show, C or V separately or together, full body
images,
romantic, suggestive etc. So it just depends on what I’ve
done lately and what
I feel I want to do at the moment. I have a couple flies of photo refs
I’ve
saved over the years and I usually pick from them. I’m always
on the look out
for something I think will make a great V&C drawing. I do make
any changes
to the refs I feel like making. Artistic license and all.
I do love to do pieces that give us something we
didn’t get in the
series. Things like bed scenes and intimate moments of the two
together.
I think a lot of B&B
artists (if not all) will tell you that
Catherine (Linda) is especially hard to get a great likeness of. Even
after all
these years I struggle a lot with this. Especially when I’m
doing a piece not
from a ref from the show. But just like everyone’s Vincent
doesn’t look the
same, Catherines from different artist have their own different style,
too. ; )
Hate to burst
anyone’s bubble but almost all artists, professional or
not, work from reference photos. Refs can be found from the actual
promo photos
and screen captures of course but it’s a lot of fun (and
help) to use refs from
magazines, romance novel covers, and things found on the internet.
There could
be a copyright issue there but changing several things in a ref makes
it more
‘original’ and I really don’t think
anyone is paying much attention to our
little universe here but us. ; )
I’ve looked for good
possible B&B
refs for 20+ years now and don’t even have to
think about it anymore. I
see a great couple pose or something that would make a great Vincent
and
automatically save them for my files. I’ve been known to
“take, not steal”
pages out of magazines in the doctors office etc.
Also, even though I use to I
don’t usually freehand the basic lines in a
ref anymore. I can do it but it takes a lot more time and I
wouldn’t get much
done in a year. I usually scan a ref and enlarge it to the size I need
and then
use graphite paper (sort of like carbon paper) and put down a few
preliminary
lines on the paper. I don’t need a lot of lines but it gives
me a jumping off
point so I can at least quickly, get all the proportions right. Photos
usually
have some distortion though so I almost always have to change some
lines. Of
course I change lines when I do C & V faces and also I usually
have to
“beef up” the Vincent’s body or make him
taller etc. I have to keep my drawing
board upright pretty much when doing this since a flat picture will be
shorter
when you raise it up vertical. Very disturbing when you think
you’ve got it
just right and find it doesn’t look so good when held up.
Besides drawing, you have used your creativity in many different ways to pay homage to Beauty and the Beast. Could you tell us about some of the more crafty items you've created?
I blame Chan and a few others
for my getting involved in bookmaking and
other crafty items for B&B. Seeing her and others
“color outside the lines”
has gotten me totally addicted to paper crafts of all kinds.
I’m completely
enraptured with the amazing papers and embellishments that are
available now
from the scrap booking industry. Even better is the fact they are
usually
archival. After doing drawings for a lot of years it’s
exciting to go the extra
step and use my art in new imaginative ways.
I just don’t draw
enough new pieces of art each year anymore. It’s still
fun but it’s hard to find anything original and it becomes
too much like work.
I’m always on the lookout for paper crafting ideas that have
a “wow” factor
built in. I get several magazines for paper crafting and I check the
internet a
lot for how tos of special projects. I also get
“kits” from a few places that
just beg me to make them into a B&B project! Some of the things
I’ve done
in the past few years are Jacobs Ladders, a clock, coasters, boxes that
have
surprises in them, a fan and many different types of handmade books. It
will be
a long time if ever before I’m bored with paper projects.
Does personal experience ever
influence a piece of art? Have the images
in your artwork ever been a reflection of yourself or someone you know?
To what
extent?
In B&B I
don’t think I’ve ever done anything like stick
myself in
the back of an art piece or anything like if that’s what you
mean. But the
piece I did last year with Vincent and a unicorn and also the knight,
maiden
and castle pics I drew because of my love for fantasy in general and
the Middle
Ages period in particular. I have collected unicorns for a lot of
years.
Someone told me last year they couldn’t understand what
Vincent had to do with
unicorns. For me they are both magical beings that “are not,
but should be”. Of
course Rilke’s poem “This is the
Creature” that Vincent reads on the Love and
Hope CD is actually about a unicorn but fits Vincent beautifully, too.
I did a
small book for the artshow in LA based on the poem and used it for the
2007
calendar as well with all Vincent pics. I also did a pic years ago that
didn’t
work as good as I’d wanted it to of modern day Catherine in
front of an ornate
mirror with Vincent on the other side in a medieval costume with a
castle in
the background. I just might have to try that one again sometime in the
future.
You have illustrations in several
zines. How did you enjoy doing it and
how did you proceed to create the art for the stories?
Doing illos was interesting
and sometimes frustrating. They were a bit
tougher to do but there are some I really loved doing. If I was working
with a
good editor it was mostly a pleasure and I got to read stories before
they
actually went into a zine. A lot of the time though ,I worked on art
that never
got used or the originals returned. Some zines never actually made it
into
publication. I had fun doing the illos for the BBTV Cyberdreams Zines
and also
loved doing anything for Ann Brown. I miss hearing from her! A lot of
my early
illos and others art from way back are cringe worthy but
that’s one of the
great things about fandom. It’s a safe place to try your
wings out and
eventually, hopefully fly.
Over the years you have produced
many lovely Beauty and the Beast
Calendars. How many have you done and are there unique challenges to
making
them?
Oh, man I had to go look to get the answers to
this one. The first one I
produced was a 16 month calendar for September 2002 through December
2003. This
one included art from Chan, Terrie Milliman and me. It was done as a
fund
raiser for the San Francisco Con. I’ve done one each year
since then of just my
art, with there being two in 2005. One was G-PG rated and the other was
bit
more erotic with a few pics being soft-R. The early calendars were
basically
just the art with some clip art and quotes. But for the 2007, 2008 and
2009
calendars I’ve branched out into a digital scrapbook style
with lots of fun
elements and shadows etc. to make them seem more 3D. Since I only do a
few new
pics a year now I’ve “recycled” past art
and used them in a more creative way,
adding in songs and poems etc.
I really love designing the
calendars and think about ideas for them way
ahead. The actual producing of them
though can be time consuming and insanity causing! I do everything
involved in
their production including printing and binding. I refill my own ink
cartridges
to save money but there are plenty of days when the ink cartridge wins
the war.
I also sometimes have typos etc. that I don’t notice and then
have to redo
pages. This year I had a word left off the page inadvertently when I
made a few
small changes to one of the page files. I had to reprint that page and
rebind
the whole lot of them. I swear each year I’ll never do one
again but I always
seem to forget and they help pay at least a bit of my con expenses.
Do you have a portfolio which
contains all of your original art pieces?
Do you save everything you draw or do you weed things out? If you do,
how do
you decide what to keep and what not to keep? Do you have any idea how
many
drawings you have done over the years?
I have a drawer in my art
supply closet that holds all the originals I
still have. Larger pieces are kept in a portfolio type bag.
I don’t remember
ever throwing anything I’ve finished. I have several
which I’ve never used for anything or really
haven’t shown anyone except maybe
to Cathy Moran . They are pieces I’m not happy with for some
reason or another.
I plan on redoing
them someday since I
do like the poses etc. I have gotten rid of several tries that
didn’t work but
usually went on to finish the pic on another piece of paper. You can
only erase
so much until the paper is ruined.
I no longer own the originals
from quite a few pieces that have been
sold in the con art shows. I always make sure I scan anything I do now
so I
have a file of them if they find new home. I have several pieces from
when I
first had some art in zines that I haven’t scanned and even
though they are not
my best I really need to scan.
Oh, my, a total is almost
impossible but I know it runs in the hundreds.
I checked my file that I keep all my B&B art in and it says
there are 270
files at the moment. But like I mentioned before there are many older
pics I’ve
never actually scanned plus I have older art out there that a few
editors never
returned and I didn’t have a computer back then. In the early
days I felt kind
of guilty that I spent so much time drawing B&B stuff but now I
realize
it’s helped me hone all my drawing skills and I know I
wouldn’t be where I am now
if it wasn’t for B&B.
Do you ever have an artistic
slump? If so, do you have a technique to
get past it?
Yep, I think most
artist’s do. Life gets busy and I just can’t find
the
time or I look through my ref files and don’t know what I
want to do next.
Sometimes there are too many I’d like to start at that moment
but I just can’t
seem to pick one so I stall and don’t get anything done. Also
I hit times where
whatever I draw just doesn’t seem right to me and I get
discouraged and put the
pic away for a while. Most of the time I can come back to it later and
I figure
out what went wrong and try and fix it. Doing portraits is kind of
scary since
the likeness has to be there. When I do a commissioned piece for
someone I
worry about this constantly and don’t relax until the client
lets me know they
like the finished project.
That’s a bit like
asking which of my children are my favorites. But
here’s a list of a few…
There is one pic where C is
looking down into V’s face and her hair is
pulled back. A few
tendrils of her hair
hang into V’s face. Very erotic even though you
don’t see anything you
shouldn’t. This picture drew itself! I swear!
One portrait I did of C alone
turned out just like I wanted. Everyone
says she looks even better than the actual ref. Cathy Moran owns this
one.
A special fav is called
”Come to Me in my dreams”. It’s wild
haired
V&C but it’s not the same as the famous promo. This
one came almost
completely out of my head. I did this in ‘96 and will never
to sell the
original.
Also in “96 I did
one called “For Now” where V&C are just
outside of
the tunnel entrance before they say goodnight for the evening.
I’ve always
loved this one and even Jamie Murray told me he liked a lot.
JoAnn Baca owns one called
“The Power of His Love” which shows a side
view of C’s face looking up to Vincent but we only see part
of his face. C
turned out especially well. JoAnn actually named this piece.
One not seen very much is one
I did for Cathy Moran for a story she did
about V and Charles. It’s of them reading A Tale of
Two Cities at the
end of the episode and it turned out just the way I wanted it to.
Then just a couple
others… Is it Hot in here (of course!), The V &
Unicorn and V & C with the castles that I did last year.
I could go on but
we’ll stop there.
Those I had particular trouble
with?… Let’s see…
There is a larger piece (I
think Lori Hicks owns it now) of the famous C
in the shawl on the balcony with V hiding in the background. I did this
years
ago with a technique where you divide the ref and the paper into
squares drawn
lightly and then you draw one box at a time. It took forever to do all
the
shading for the roses that are growing on the arches. I thought
I’d never
finish it but I’m still proud of it.
Oh, and back to roses again, I
did another illo for a Cathy Moran story
that has roses as a border around V&C. I’ve never
been happy with the
couple themselves in the pic and the roses took forever!…Oh,
and did I tell you
that the roses took forever? ; )
Are you currently working on any
new art pieces or calendars?
I have lots of new ideas for
this years convention art show. I know I’ll
do some kind of pencil things, not sure what yet but
I’ve got a lot of ideas for the artsy/crafty type things.
I’ll
keep them a surprise though. ; ) I’m also helping with the
convention banquet
centerpieces and hope I can live up to the wonderful stuff Chan has
done all
these past years. I have an idea just ready to get started on this
month and
hopefully everyone will love them.
As for the calendars for 2010
I’m really hoping to have one done in time
for the con so people can see it and order it for delivery after the
con. I’d
might get them done in time for the con but you know how the best laid
plans
go.
I appreciate any type of
feedback in anyway I can get it. ; )
Actually a comment I remember
in the Q-Fer that Nan Dibble made about
the art (not just mine) in my first zine I ever contributed to went
something
like this “heartfelt but unpolished”. I’m
glad she could see the heartfelt part
and yes it was very unpolished. But…it was just the start.
As for the greatest
compliment…it wasn’t a B&B pic but a
portrait I
did for a very good friend (you know who you are!) and her mother who
is in her
90‘s. Her mother’s mother had died when she was
just a young girl and she had a
small passport photo taken back when she first came to
Are there any other artists whose
work you especially enjoy?
In the B&B fandom
there are many. I know I’ll forget someone but
here’s the short list.
Early in fandom I was always
blown away by Beth Blighton, Barb Gipson ,
Renate Haller, Rosemary Hauer, and Dragon. I have an original of
Beth’s that
was a favorite from the very first zine I ever bought. Someone resold
it at a
con a few years back and I snatched it up for a song.
Now my favs are Chan (of
course). I love her loose, sketchy and free
pencil pieces. She gets Catherine’s likeness spot on for at least 99.9% of the
time. Am I
jealous!? Hell, yeah! I have a Catherine she did years ago on the wall
in my
bedroom. Okay, she actually gave it to my husband who still reminds me
that
it’s his. ; ) Also, of course Kevin Barnes’ art is
simply amazing. I still also
love Pam Tuck’s pen and ink work. It takes my breath away every time!
I also want to mention that
the digital manipulations done by
There are just too many to
mention but I do think we just don’t have
enough active B&B artist’s anymore. See question
below…
Do you have any advice to budding artists?
I know some of you are hiding
your talents!! Get busy and share it with
us. We all have to start at the beginning. If you can, look at some
early zines
and you’ll find that several of us started out “not
so great” but continuing to
practice and practice and practice is the way to improve. Drawing
something you
love is also the way to improve and I know all of
you love B&B
already. If you can’t buy books on drawing get to your local
library and borrow
some. Just keep at it. Keep a reference file of photos etc. for
inspiration.
Also, remember we all have our own style and it will develop more and
more as
you practice. Sign and date all you do so you can look back and
actually see
the improvement. Just don’t give up.
Learning to draw is more about
desire than it is about any mysterious “talent”.
Why did you decide to make your
art available on line for the enjoyment
of all the BATB fans?
I do B&B art for
myself of course but I also do it for the fans. The
show and fandom are all about sharing with each other the talents and
abilities
we have no matter what they are. At first submitting art to zine
editors was a
way for me to be able to afford zines but now new hard copy zines are
almost
nonexistent. The internet has changed the face of this and pretty much
every
fandom out there. After a piece of my art is used the first time for
something
like a conzine or calendar or tee-shirt I don’t mind at all
having it on the
internet for others to enjoy. Having something to share with others is
a
privilege.
Tell us about the time you were a
newbie and met fandom. How did your
artistic gifts blossom and how were they welcomed by the other fans?
Well, after watching the show
for more than a year and being pretty
obsessed with it I saw an ad
in the
Family Circle Magazine about the International Fan Club. I tore out the ad and kept
it for weeks and
debated with myself about whether this was a silly thing to do or not.
Finally
I sent in my application and received my first B&B newsletter.
I learned
what a zine was and about conventions. I think it was about the time
that South
of Oz was taking place. I
longed to go
and knew I’d never get to but it was still fun to read about
it all. The
International Fan club decided to disband after the end of the show. I
couldn’t
believe this and looked for others to keep in touch with. Back then it
was all
phone calls and letters. I started submitting art for zines and talked
to a few
other fans on the phone. When Tunnelcon II was announced and I found it
was in
Las Vegas I really wanted to go but with us raising 4 kids pretty much
on one
salary I didn’t think I could go. My sweet husband decided
that maybe we could
do it. The plane ticket was about $90 round trip and I had a friend who
said
she’d go and we could share the room cost. I had never been
away from home or
my husband or ever flown on a plane. I told myself that this was a one
time
shot and that would be enough for me. ; ) Famous last words. To make a
long
story short…we had a great time and I met several people I
had only spoken to
on the phone. I do want to stress though that the early cons had lots
more
people attending and being a newbie was a bit uncomfortable some of the
time. I
also attended Tunnelcon III and this time my hubby went with. I then attended the first LA
con with another
friend. These were all great but still nothing like the smaller cons
now.
Then my whole life changed
when I bought a computer and joined BBTV more
than 11 years ago. I planned to attend Minneapolis’s
Reflections. My friend
backed out at the last minute so I accepted an invitation to share two
connecting rooms with people I’d never met. One lived in
Idaho so she came to
Utah so we could meet before
we went to
the con together. Cathy Moran has been coming to visit me off and on
since
then. In fact she was just here this past weekend. : ) Pat King was one
of the
original roomies too. The three of us have picked up a few others along
the
way. My roomies mean the world to me and we have even managed to get
together
occasionally away from the con. We’ve also helped with
planning and running
some of the cons, especially San Francisco and Kansas City and are
looking
forward to putting on the con in 2010 in San Diego. I’m not
the biggest help
with all this but my roomies are amazing when it comes to organizing
and
putting on of a con. I love you guys! But you already know that. ; )
I also have a huge extended
family of so many others who attend the
yearly conventions. I’ve even somehow been adopted into
another set of roomies
along with a very special friendship with a fan from Germany. You guys
also
know I love you a
lot!
And…each year at
the con we keep adding new family members (aka the
Virgins). It’s
so exciting to see these
newbies discover the joys a convention brings as well as the community
we have
all year long, including of course Winterfest online. I want to thank
the
wonderful committee that gives us so much fun and wonder and joy at
this time
of the year. It helps us to remember that we are always connected to
each
other.
And now I’m
beginning to plan for the trip to New Orleans. It’s going to
be wonderful to see everyone again and to hopefully help a little bit.
If
anyone is on the fence about going to their first con, all I can say
is, please
try and make it happen. You’re family is waiting to meet you.
You won’t be
disappointed. Just one warning…one is never enough.
Do all your friends and family
members know you're a fan? How do they
feel about your Beauty and the Beast involvement? Do they worry about
your
sanity?
Yep, they all do.
I’ve never feltt the need reason to hide my
involvement. My husband and kids have always been supportive but
I’m sure they
do wonder about my sanity! ; ) There is always some eye rolling going
on if
someone asks me about my B&B artwork. Especially if they have
to stand
there and listen to me. They do tease me but hey, we all have our
obsessions
etc.
How has Beauty and the Beast
affected your life?
How much room do I have? ; )
Seriously, there is not a single part of my
life that hasn’t been affected by B&B and the fans
themselves. I have done
so many things and been so many places I never would have gone. I have
found
art and creativity again and the desire to improve my talents and
abilities. I
have found courage to do things I never thought I could do. I have
found
friends and family that I would never have even crossed paths with if
not for
the show. I have had two jobs that I’ve loved that I got
simply because someone
else saw my B&B art and asked me to work for them. I believe I
have been a
better mother, wife, friend and person because of the values the show
teaches
us and the encouragement it gives us to give to and accept others,
including
ourselves. The show has helped me through some very hard times, like
the
suicide attempt of my son, the death of my mother and a time that my
husband
was unemployed. I have gotten through a lot knowing that each year I
can look
forward to time spent with my extended family. My life has been
enlarged and
enriched by all that is B&B.
Are you or have you been involved
in other fandoms in the same way?
I’ve never been a
part of organized fandom of anything else but I have
done some art, years ago, for a few
other fandom zines, like Lois and Clark, X-Files and have done a few
never
published pics for Quantum Leap and Highlander.
I really can’t
imagine being involved with anything else like I am with
B&B. But… I do love Sci Fi/Fantasy shows like Star
Trek, Stargate -SG-1 and
at the moment I love Lost.
Do you want to say anything else
to the readers of this interview about
yourself, BATB, the art or fandom?
I would just like to give my
love and thanks to all the fans, old and
new. The part that the show and you all, in particular, have played in
my life
overwhelms me. I
can’t imagine life
without fandom. All my love,
Sandy
Tew