The Importance of Art In Print

 July 23, 2026

   This weekend I will be at the Phippen Art Museum in Prescott talking about a subject that is near and dear to my heart: "The importance of Art in Print" at 11:30 and I will lead another discussion on "The art of Bronze & Patina" at 1:30. 

   Of course, if you are going to get all technical there is one cover theme I am kind of partial to:

Mega-Earp O.K. Coverage

(20 covers out of 260)

The main objective of art in my world is to inspire people to buy magazines. It's hard to define but it's pretty easy to spot when you see it in action. I got my first lesson in art appreciation in this little Arizona community.

Desert Drugs in downtown Kingman, Arizona
 

When to Use Art When to Use Photos?
   Someone on our staff asked, “Why wouldn’t you just run a photo of Bass Reeves on the cover?” Well, it’s what we call “The Banker Shot Problem.” A formal, bust portrait sometimes works, but, it’s ultimately just, nyeh. Looks like a boring banker. As a wing-ding long-shot, I told Dan about my idea to cut the Lone Ranger down the middle, with Clayton Moore on the left and Bass Reeves on the right. Of course, Dan did a full on version of this, but his version ultimately knocks it out of the park. Great job! A classic cover.

The Bass Reeves Lone Ranger Cover

   But, on the other hand, here is a "banker shot" of Reeves that we used later that falls somewhere in between and works just fine.

   Some of the old True West issues—before my time—tried to go to the net (see analogy below) but I'm not sure it worked.

   We often use the tennis analogy: go to the net, stay behind the baseline, don't get caught in the middle. Here's a cover that didn't get caught in the middle.

   And, here's another one. . .

      My original partner, Bob McCubbin hated, no he loathed this cover. And, here's another go to the net cover. . .

   At the end of the day, I agree with this guy:

"The biggest risk of all is to play it safe."

—Chris Nolan, the director of "The Odyssey"