JOHNNY AND STEPHANIE

I drew a lot of pictures of Number Five and his best friend Stephanie. I had this idea that they were inseperable and sort of protected each other. Their relationship was a fairytale, at least in my mind, where everything was pure and true, the best kind of friendship.

I also really liked the imagery of the dance, because it was so pure and joyful for them. This picture is a pen and ink pointelism which I made from a photograph. I did it in art class when I was 14. It was a pretty ambitious project, seeing as our work was limited to class time. I only had about a week to do it, so I would sneak it home at night and work on it in the evenings. I wonder if my art teacher ever realized what was going on.

This is a much later rendiition of the dance, obviously post Short Circuit 2. Believe it or not, the original of this belongs to director Tim Burton. I met him once, and he looked at a bunch of my art. He liked it so much that I framed it and sent it to him. Who knows where it is now. But I was smart enough to keep a photocopy of it.

This is a sweet one that I did when I was 16. It probably originated as a daydream when I should have been listening in some class. Most of these drawings started out as little stories in my head. Sometimes I had trouble going to sleep at night, so I told myself stories. I often imagined Stephanie and Five living out in Montana with lots of flowers and nature and stuff, just enjoying a cool breezy day.

Here's a Bloom County style cartoon Five and Stephanie. It has that whole "characters looking plaintively out over scenic view" thing going on. I used to love to draw these things.

I think this one was partially based on a photo that I had. Probably the most realistic picture of Stephane I drew besides the pointelism. Not really too much to it. I just thought it was cute.