Blogging My Art Through the Years with Ron Husband: Men's Fall-Winter 2024 Show

(Photo: Andrew Carnegie Brown)

What do Black Cowboys, Pharrell Williams, Louis Vuitton and Ron Husband have in common?

A line of clothing designed by Pharrell based on the theme-Black Cowboys with artwork supplied by me. I assume a great many of you who read this blog have seen the ad/commercial (link below).

Here is a little behind the scenes leading up to the filming of the piece.

No, no, no and no.

These are the answers I give when asked about the part I played in this entertaining piece backed by Louis Vuitton.

No, I did not meet Pharrell Williams...

no, I did not get to keep any of the merchandise LV supplied...

no, I did not go to Paris for the Fall Fashion show and,

no, I did not design any of the apparel and none of my drawings appear on any of the clothing (when the commercial was shot in December 2023, the clothing line had already been designed).

Now for the yes part... yes,yes,yes it was fun, fun, fun to work on. Every step of the way was paved with great personalities to partner with. Here is how it unfolded:

In November 2023 I bumped into artist, author, and filmmaker Dave Bossert at Creative Talent Network (CTN), Tina Price's wish come true for creatives that she puts on annually in Burbank, CA.

Dave has a popular podcast, Skull Rock Broadcast, that he hosts with Aljon Go. Our conversation that day led Dave to invite me on the show for an interview. A short time later our schedules aligned and our planned one session blossomed into three episodes as we had much to talk about.

The positive insights that permeated the discussions was that the interviewer had the same experiences at Disney Feature Animation that I had. Dave and I contributed to some of the same features, but from different departments. I, as a character animator and he in special effects, as an artistic coordinator, and visual effects supervisor.

A few weeks after the interviews he contacted me and apologized for passing my contact information to a third party without asking first, but..."your name popped into my mind when I heard that they were looking for an artist"...or something to that effect..."they will be in touch".

Days later I was contacted by Consol Studios in London. They represented an 'esteemed client' with a project that dealt with "the rich history of the Black American Cowboy...are you interested?"

Yes, very interested at this initial juncture.

I had not signed a non disclosure agreement at this time and Consol was limited as to what information they could share with me as we dialogued via email and over Zoom.

(Sami Janjer left, me and director Bafic right) Photo?

Creative Concepts Director Sami Janjer (above) of Consol was going to be in Los Angeles on business "would I have time to meet with him?". Of course!

We met at the local IHOP here in San Dimas, CA. Over breakfast he explained that Parrell Williams designed a line of clothing and apparel based on the Black Cowboy theme. "We are going to shoot a commercial for Louis Vuitton as a prelude to the upcoming Fashion Week in Paris in early January 2024...still interested?".

"Yes."

December 16th was set as the date to film.

Leading up to this date I was asked via email for my clothing sizes.

Sami, Bafic (above, African born director, goes by the single name) and creative Andrew Carnegie Brown (no photo, behind the scenes being creative) visited my home studio to scout for authenticity in 'dressing' the studio set. They borrowed some of the nick-nacks that adorn/clutter my desk to capture the environment in which I sketch, draw and animate.

The day before the shoot I had a wardrobe fitting and voice recording session for the narration.

In one of the Happy Place Inc. video recording rooms, Bafic did his best to coach my voice down to the Barry White bass level and smooth out my delivery of the lines. After a few bad takes, I was no longer alone in the sound room. Bafic took a seat on the floor not two feet from the microphone stand to encouragingly say, "lets try it again, this time a little lower"...this time a little slower/faster...more pause/less pause between words/lines."

On the spot he scribbled lines that had nothing to do with the script and had me read them. "Now, read the lines like you read that note." "First few lines are ok, we need to carry that consistency to the end" or vice versa.

After hours of repetition, Bafic had successfully guided me through the lines.

Bafic and Andrew had envisioned close-up shots of my hands as I drew and animated. This would require a manicure. No problem, they had a manicurist on call, just waiting for me in another room. An adventure for me...my very first manicure.

After the pleasantry of the fingernail beautification, on to wardrobe.

(left to right Rita Zebdi wardrobe, Sami, me, Bafic, Dusty Starkes grooming, Ryan Marie Helfant director of photography, Sarah Hartman producer at Happy Place, Inc.)

"Ron's got some big feet" slid from Sami's lips as he saw the cowboy boots LV set over from Paris.

Not quite an accurate description of my feet. These gorgeous, Louis Vuitton designed, chrome tipped boots were three sizes too big.

In fact, everything sent over (jeans, shirts etc.) by LV was too, too big.

In steps wardrobe stylist Rita Zebdi to 'fix' everything. Think of being fitted for a suit or dress, pins and all. She literally tailored overnight.. The next day, everything fit.

Except for the boots. Fortunately, they sent over two pair. The ones I wore were not as fancy. Big, but a size my feet could manage. LV also sent jewelry- rings and watches. I wear rings and a watch. They were attempting to duplicate my natural self adornment. My Disney ring would be problematic on close-up filming of my hands. We are showcasing Louis Vuitton, not Disney.

That great looking cowboy hat was also too big. Again, Rita to the rescue with another 'fix'. The morning of the shoot she arrived with weather stripping to take up the extra room so when I turn my head, the hat will go with me:- ). All preparations for the next day complete, now home for a good night sleep to be rested for full day of filming.

I arrive early to a beehive of activity of perhaps a hundred people on set preparing the soundstage, camera set-ups, lighting and other key elements.

On to the dressing room to be fitted in custom attire. Rita dresses me to look my best.

Dusty Starks is in charge of 'grooming'. Her eagle eyes check between every shot, ensuring there are no unnecessary wrinkles in my clothing, the turtle neck is tucked in just right, the hat is tilted just so etc. for the individual scenes being filmed.

(Photos from here to the end attributed to Andrew Carnegie Brown)

Director Bafic's creative camera angles visually enhance the viewing pleasure. The close-up, under the light table shot of my hands is quite inventive.

More challenging camera work by Bafic (above)...this example, over the shoulder, without the hat for the shot, produced some appealing visuals.

After a full day of filming (above) and sketching on set (below).

Here's a link to the finished product: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIsIvVNtqBg

Backlot fun...

After the filming ended, we sat down to relax from our all our effort. It wasn't too long before someone suggested, "let's get Ron and go outside to the backlot".

These shots were also taken and shared by Andrew Carnegie Brown.