We Need a Pretentious RBG Picture—STAT!!!
Pulling off a last minute request for a movie
Jonathan Guggenheim, an old friend who has built a film career in art direction and production design, called to see if I had time for a fast turnaround piece in the summer of 2022. He was doing production design on a film called American Fiction. He said the script had a character who was a sort of self-righteous writing agent, and as part of showing more about her character, the script said she had the famous meme image of Ruth Bader Ginsburg wearing a crown hanging behind her in her office. The image described is a satirical take on the equally famous Notorious B.I.G. image (i.e. the “Notorious RBG”), both of which have been made into countless iterations on the internet.
Part of Jonathan’s job is making sure the production company can secure rights to any work featured in the movie, so he asked if I could do something similar but equally pretentious of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. I sent back two mock-up ideas, both of which I found funny, but of the two, he probably made the wiser choice.
I am a big fan of vector art, and I am particularly fond of Malika Favre’s work. She is often featured on New Yorker covers and has recently been making covers for classic novels such as Wuthering Heights and the Great Gatsby. Her style seemed like a good fit for a New York upscale office. As an artist and graphic designer, I see the term “RGB” on a nearly daily basis, so it was an obvious go-to to create an image of Ginsburg in red, green, and blue. (I am far from the first artist to make that connection.)
So with the mockup, the style, and the colors in mind, I set to work to find a portrait I could quickly duplicate in Adobe illustrator. I scoured the internet and found an image from a magazine article. (Variety maybe?) I used it thinking that I would be altering the image enough with the colors and parodying it with the boxing gloves enough that it would be safely protected under Fair Use. So I made the image, and I sent three color combinations of the red-blue-green so Jonathan could choose which one he liked best.
However, Jonathan needed to run it through the legal department for approval first, and if you are not aware, in the new age of AI art, fair use of existing images has become a pretty hot topic in the legal world, as demonstrated by the recent Warhol vs. Goldsmith case in the Supreme Court.
With filming starting the next day, Jonathan called me back (on my way to go out for my birthday, I remember) and said that we couldn’t use the portrait I had as a reference. He asked if I thought I could find another one on a stock photo site the company could obtain rights to?
To be quite honest, it was a big ask, and also, a huge pain in the ass for me at the time. If I didn’t love Jonathan as much as I do, I might have been like, “Sorry, just pay me for the work I did. It’s not my fault this was a fast turnaround project.” But, the truth is I DO love my old friend, and I would throw down in a heartbeat to help him be a success. Which is what I did.
The great thing about having years of experience with a program like Adobe Illustrator is that I am fairly confident with all the tools. I knew if I could find a similar but slightly different photo of RBG, I could place it over the old vectors and push around many of the same shadow shapes I created on the first image just enough to match the new portrait. It was a stressful couple of hours of work, but I was able to get him the new image that night.
Jonathan liked all three of the pictures so much, rather than just one, he chose to hang them as a tryptic on the wall behind the agent. He was also kind enough to share with me that the images were a big hit on the set.
I am so proud of Jonathan’s success and grateful I got to have a part in supporting him and the film with my work. If you haven’t seen it yet, it is a fun and poignant movie that covers a wide gamut of emotions examining social perceptions, the ironies of publishing and the movie industry, and dealing with family during the most difficult times. I highly recommend a viewing of it in the theater or someday when you come across it scrolling through a streaming network.
SIDE NOTE:
If you look at the American Fiction IMDB page, you might notice Jonathan’s link is incorrect. I’m not exactly sure what year Jonathan was born, but it was definitely NOT October 31, 1959. The link I shared above is his correct one, but unfortunately, American Fiction has yet to be featured on it.
Sterling Martin is a writer, artist, and designer living in Chicago, IL. His background includes drawing, writing, theatre, teaching, improv & sketch comedy, and whatever else he can get his hands on to be creative. You can find him on the internet at:
Instagram: @sterfest.art (but it’s really starting to test my patience)
Website: sterlingmartin.design
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