Punk #1 cover: Lou Reed
Punk #4 cover: Iggy Pop
Client: PUNK magazine
Media: Strathmore Bristol paper,
pen and ink, overlays used for color
Creative Process
This was the first record cover I ever drew, back when that
was a huge deal. (Record covers and national magazine
covers were the highway to fame and fortune for artists back
in the late twentieth century.) I had drawn the inside cover
art and back cover for The Ramones’ Rocket to Russia album.
The people at the record label showed me a sketch by Gus
MacDonald, a Ramones fan from Scotland, that they thought
would make a good cover, and I agreed that someone else
should draw it.
I suggested Wally Wood, but he turned it down, and
suggested one of his assistants. I still wish he’d drawn it.
Anyhow, The Ramones were unhappy with the sketches that
his assistant turned in and called me in at the last minute.
They needed this fan sketch turned into a professional record
cover and pleaded with me to accept the assignment. Worst
of all, they needed the finished artwork by the next day.
78
I
n 1972 John Holmstrom moved from Connecticut
to New York City to attend the School of Visual Arts.
There, he studied under comic legends Harvey
Kurtzman and Will Eisner. In 1975 he founded PUNK
magazine, which launched the punk movement and
kick-started the careers of Blondie, The Ramones, and
The Dead Boys, and inspired the London punk rock scene
as well as many crudely designed fanzines. PUNK also
helped launch “punk art,” a short-lived movement that
inspired the East Village art scene in New York.
In the 1980s, after PUNK folded, Holmstrom started
Comical Funnies with Peter Bagge, and Stop! Magazine
with J.D. King. He introduced his character Bosko in both
’zines and in 2006 published Bosko, his first-ever complete
comic book, for Punk Magazine, Inc.
Over the years he has designed posters, t-shirts,
records, books, and CD artwork for The Ramones,
Blondie, The Dandy Warhols, Murphy’s Law, Richard Lloyd,
and others. He also did artwork for Scholastic’s Bananas,
the Village Voice, High Times, Heavy Metal, Video Games,
and others. His artwork has been included in several
gallery shows.
John Holmstrom
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John Holmstrom
John Holmstrom
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(Text)
I recalled how Jack Davis, one of the greatest illustrators of
the twentieth century, told me how he had waited twenty years
to draw a Time magazine cover, and when he was offered the
opportunity to draw one he had to produce it overnight. Well, this
was the same deal. So I stayed up all night and finished the draw-
ing. I did a lot of research. Luckily, working in the PUNK magazine
office I had plenty of photos for reference, so I could draw the
sneakers, ripped blue jeans, leather jackets, and musical instru-
ments and amplifiers correctly. For the bombed-out buildings I just
looked out the window—our office was on the twelfth floor of an
old office building (where twenty-five years earlier MAD Magazine
and EC comics were produced a few floors below).
When I submitted the final artwork, Johnny and Dee Dee
weren’t happy with their faces, so I had to go back to the drawing
board and produce a blander version of their look. The record did
all right, but it didn’t sell as well as the band had hoped, and I
think they blamed the artwork, so I was never offered the chance
at another Ramones record cover. On the other hand, the artwork
has been used so often ever since (such as in the film Rock ‘N’ Roll
High School), that I think the quality of Gus
MacDonald’s original idea, and my rendering
of it, has withstood the test of time. The artwork
was even the basis for a Joey Ramone bobble-
head doll!
It’s a weird feeling, seeing your artwork
turned into a 3-D rendition. But it’s also very
flattering.
[below]
Punk #3 cover: Joey Ramone
Client: PUNK magazine
Media: Strathmore Bristol paper, pen and ink, overlays used for color
[to the right]
Title: Road to Ruin record cover
Client: Sire Records, 1978
Album Design: Spencer Drate
Media: Pen on paper
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