BHM artist Don Childers
Many of you may not know about Don Childers, Backwoods Home Magazine’s cover artist and inside-article illustrator since our first issue in 1989. Don worked with me at no pay for the six months it took to create that first issue. Some of his friends told him he was a sap for doing so, but Don and I had worked together previously at Vitro Labs in Southern California as a writer-artist team for four years and he knew my intensity and determination could lead to something significant being created. In the end he got a six percent ownership in the magazine, plus regular on-the-side work creating art for BHM ever since.
Don was an artist of some note long before I met him, but much of his art was confined to drawing military equipment. He has several paintings hanging in museums, and others, mainly of cutting edge technology jets and missiles, hanging in the homes of admirals and generals. He spent many years as an IPB (illustrated parts breakdown) artist for defense contractors, and often incurred the wrath of fellow IPB artists because he could do IPB drawings twice, sometimes three times, as fast as the next artist, and his quality was always better. Vitro teamed us up when they had an especially important writer/artist type of task to do for a Navy customer. We worked very well together, and Navy big shots liked our approaches to projects. One such big shot, Roger Jones, one of those rare bureaucrats who was a credit to a government bureaucracy, suggested we quit Vitro and come to work for him at the Port Hueneme Naval Air Station near Oxnard, California. As much as I liked Roger Jones, neither Don nor I were ready for long-term commitment to government work.
I was astonished the other week when I realized Don was now 76 years old. I think of him as my age, even though he is 13 years my senior, and I think of myself as young and full of energy. Don’s age does not reflect his mental outlook on life, that’s for sure. He still gets as excited about new ideas as he ever did. I have a vision of his death: As they are about to close the coffin on him, he’ll reach out a hand and say, “Wait! How’s this for an idea?”
Don has on-again, off-again brilliance. Sometimes he envisions how a cover of an issue of the magazine should be and he’ll draw it up perfectly. Other times he’ll lay an egg, and I’ll just say, “That stinks!” Don has a “tell” when it comes to his art: If he knows he’s hit paydirt with a drawing, he signs it before he shows it to anyone. If he knows it’s just a so-so drawing or painting, he doesn’t sign it.
He is a very patient man. I remember once, just prior to the publication of the first issue in 1989, we were both working late at night in Ventura, California, trying to get the layout and art done correctly when my brain must have short-circuited. I ripped the keyboard away from the computer and stormed outside the building with it. Don quickly gathered his art supplies to drive the few files to his home. As he got in his car, I swung the keyboard over my head by the cord and smashed it against the ground. “Take that, you son of a bitch!” I yelled.
“See you, Duff,” Don said and put his car in reverse and backed out. He knew the best way to handle me was just to leave.
So I grabbed the smashed keyboard and put it under the back of his rear tire. “Back over the son of a bitch!” I demanded.
“You might want to get some sleep too, Duff” he said, and drove away.
Don never got crazy and mad like I did. He was a good anchor for my living-at-full-intensity style. This was before Lenie came along and
really provided anchorage or me.
Don is always full of ideas, not just for the magazine but all kinds of little inventions that he would sketch up or booklets for various cartoons he would undertake with other people. He never really made much money in those other endeavors. That may be why some people thought he was wasting his time during the early stages of BHM. They saw me as just another crazy guy with a crazy idea who wanted his talent for free. Six percent ownership looks pretty good to them right now.
I think people with dreams and a work ethic like Don are very important for the world. Most people are content to only dream, but Don must act on his dreams and ideas. Like me, he simply has no choice.
June 25th, 2007 at 9:44 am
Whew, Dave. You scared me there for a second. This entry kind of opened up like a memorial or obituary. I’m relieved to find out it isn’t.
I have enjoyed Don’s art since discovering BHM on the magazine rack back in the nineties and I would miss it if he were gone. The illustrated covers give BHM a nostalgic feel and attract people’s attention. Your magazine practically jumps out from the myriad photographic covers on the shelves. Maybe its just the way I’m wired, but I’d bet others feel the same.
At any rate, I got the whole sheebang and I am a subscriber now ( I couldn’t bear to miss another issue and wanted the ones I had missed), so I look forward to seeing Don’s ( and the rest of the BFM folk’s) work for a good long time.
August 3rd, 2007 at 9:51 pm
Was wondering what Vitro Labs you worked at? My father worked for a Vitro Labs in Oxnard CA, and I have been unable to find any information about the company. Are we talking about the same company? I thing they were a defense contractor..