Page 26
INTERVIEW
pilot‘s service in the Korean War on the MiG-15
and admits the possibility that Kleinkönnig got
into space a year before Yuri Gagarin. All of
the stories are written in a somewhat complex
Czech humour with many references to historical
events and characters. Some readers, especially
foreign ones, may find this a somewhat boring
read. I think that in the Czech Republic we do
a lot of things in a complicated way because we
have a complicated language and it affects our
thought process.
Thought processes are also important
for the creation of motifs for drawings.
How difficult is it for you to find
subjects for your drawings? From the
outside, it seems like they jump out
at you without much effort!
Often they do. In some cases you and Jan
Zdiarský give me the scenario and texts for the
drawings, but most of the time I just think of
a rabbit in a situation, make a sketch in pencil
and finish the final drawing with Japanese
Sakura pens. With Eduard, we did several events
that were very challenging for me as an artist.
But I‘m very happy that we prepared them. These
were quick drawings of rabbits on demand.
I did them at a factory open day we used to
have called Novemberfest. And once, during the
E
-
Day exhibition, we organized a fundraising
event around my quick drawings with a voluntary
contribution to the fund for veterans under
the patronage of the Czechoslovak Legionary
Community. At the end of these drawing
marathons I could hardly see and my hands
were shaking, but it was for a good cause. I still
do quick drawings on War Veterans Day at Peace
Square in Prague. Proceeds from our kits and
veteran memorabilia go to the Military Solidarity
Fund of the Czech Army. And once again, thank
you to the organizers and especially to everyone
who came both this year and in previous years.
INFO Eduard and Eduard social media
is not the only platform where your
rabbit appears. How did he get to the
UK?
It was a great pleasure to start working with
the UK‘s Scale Aircraft Modelling magazine
(Guideline Publications Ltd). In late 2012, Jan
Zdiarsky introduced me to magazine Editor Gary
Hatcher as a freetime artist. We agreed to publish
one rabbit drawing regularly in this British
monthly magazine with an international reach,
with focus either on Eduard products or on topics
relevant to SAM readers. Most of the scenarios
and text for my drawings have been prepared by
Gary. I didn‘t realize until now that I have been
drawing rabbits for SAM magazine for ten years.
I hereby apologize to Gary for all the delays and
other rabbit troubles.
Sometimes I really do draw such specific British
topics for Gary and the team at SAM that I don‘t
really understand what the rabbits are actually
up to. But Gary has always been pleased and no
UK modelling club has yet published a “Wanted
Dead or Alive” for me. No complaints have come
in from Commonwealth countries either. I‘m just
not sure whether I didn‘t contribute a little to
the Brexit referendum victory with my cartoons
on the EU‘s excesses in the form of the banana
shape standard and other nonsense when I was
drawing jokes about the coming Brexit years ago.
So in addition to the resistance
against REVI, you also supported
the resistance against the EU! Good
grief! Do you still make do with talent
and experience alone in this activity,
or have you had some professional
training in the meantime?
A rescue swimmer and a waist gunner aboard a PBY Catalina seaplane under Japanese fire after retrieving
an injured pilot from the water. White pastel on black paper, 2016
Color profile of the Bf 109 G-2 of commander II./JG 52 Maj. Johannes
Steinhoff, Russia, spring 1943. Acrylic and tempera on paper, 1995.
INFO Eduard26
January 2024