Posted By Dan Greenfield on Jul 28, 2025 | 6 comments

A MORRISON MONDAYS (early) birthday tribute…

By BILL MORRISON

This week, in celebration of tomorrow’s birthdate of the late, great Rocketeer creator Dave Stevens, I thought I’d share an artistic collaboration I had with the master illustrator.

Shortly after Dave’s untimely death in 2008, I was approached by a friend, Kelvin Mao, with a request regarding one of Dave’s unfinished drawings. Kelvin, who was also a friend of Dave’s and went on to direct the award-winning documentary, “Dave Stevens: Drawn to Perfection,” had acquired a few prelims that Dave had drawn/painted for a planned pin-up of a sexy woman zooming off on a vintage-style Rocket bike.

Kelvin showed the drawings to me and asked if I could take what was there and turn it into a finished, inked piece in the iconic Stevens style. Dave was a friend of mine too, and I’m a huge fan of his work, so I couldn’t resist this request to honor him by finishing one of his pieces!

It was a daunting task, but one I took on with loads of enthusiasm. Though I enjoy mimicking the styles of other artists, to capture Dave’s exquisite brush and pen style felt a bit beyond my range. Still, what existed in the prelims was fun and exciting, so I dove in head first, deciding to forget my own misgivings and just have a blast! Dave was a fan of my Roswell: Little Green Man comics series, and my confidence was bolstered by the knowledge that he had liked and respected me as a fellow artist.

Luckily, most of the important work was done by Dave in the prelims, such as the general outline of the figure, a detailed hand, and a very finished face. The bike design was mostly there, so I just had to expand on the bits that were merely roughed in. I had the outline of the woman’s flowing hair, so I just had to figure out what Dave might have done to flesh out the details by looking at other drawings of his. The same with the costume. I also referenced other “Stevens Girls” for help in adding detail to Dave’s minimal suggestions of her musculature, particularly in the left arm and leg.

Once I was reasonably happy with my added details, I did a tight pencil drawing on tracing paper, traced it down onto a sheet of Bristol board, and steeled myself for the most nerve-wracking part… the final inking! Everything up to that point was trial and error with an eraser always at the ready, but now I had to attempt to capture Dave’s iconic inking style and get it right the first time, or else scrap it and start over. I had a self-imposed rule — no white-out!

I was satisfied with the end result, at least enough to turn it over to Kelvin, who seemed very pleased. The big question is, would Dave have liked it? Of course, I’ll never know, but when I look at the piece I fantasize about showing it to him and getting his feedback.

He might tell me he would have done a few things differently, or that one of my choices wasn’t exactly what he’d intended, or that he would have used a certain pen over the one I chose. And I would hang on every word, filing away his advice for reference on future works. I lament the fact that I had access to this master illustrator and could have hung out in his studio to get such drawing tips in real life. But I always seemed to be too busy, and thought I had plenty of time for such a visit in the future.

Of course, I still miss my friend Dave, these 17 years later, but I’m grateful that he was in my life and that we shared some time together here on Earth. And I’m doubly gratified to have had this collaboration with him, even if it was from beyond the grave.

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