FAS Alumnus: Don C. Smith
Don C. Smith, a graduate of FAS. [click to enlarge]
When reflecting on my career as an artist, I invariably recognize September 29, 1950 as the turning point of my life. To begin with, the “golden age” of illustration was flourishing while I on the other hand had just graduated from college with a degree in journalism and a dream of becoming not a writer, but a professional illustrator. Adding to this conundrum was the fact that I had no art training whatsoever since none of the schools I attended offered it.
And so it was that on that September day, while at home scanning the classifieds for employment opportunities, a curious thing occurred: there was an unexpected knock at the front door. It was an elderly gentleman whose car had become disabled and who wished to call a garage for assistance. I invited him in and while he was making his call he observed some pencil sketches nearby and asked if I were an art student. When I explained my untoward situation, he encouraged me to speak to a friend of his who represented a new home-study course developed by the most prominent illustrators of that time and called the “Famous Artists School.”
My curiosity was so aroused that, upon my insistence, he telephoned his friend and arranged an appointment for that evening. Upon seeing the printed material and the overall quality of the program, I enrolled immediately. From that moment, my life was changed forever.
An addendum to this tale is that upon completing the course, I received a call from Al Dorne, the founder of FAS, who invited me to appear in a full-page magazine advertisement extolling its merits. Needless to say I was honored to offer my endorsement since, without the Famous Artist School, I would never have realized my dream of becoming an illustrator, and art director, and subsequently the president of a major advertising agency.
Now that I have retired from those commercial genres, my time is spent exclusively in fine-art painting and sculpting. My life as an artist is still as exciting, at age eighty-one, as it ever was. And the curious thing is that it all began with a providential knock at the front door.
[You can see more of Don Smith’s artwork at www.doncsmithart.com]
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