A Mime is Born

mime: 1: the art or technique of portraying a character, mood, idea,
or narration by gestures and bodily movements; pantomime. - Dictionary.com

mime: 2: a performer who relies on gesture, facial expression,
and action rather than the voice. -Encarta

When Gary began the first official PENMEN® poster in late winter 1989 he was committed to
never using a pencil. From beginning to end what he drew on the poster was there to stay. It
took six months to complete the poster between his duties as the locker room supervisor at the
Broadmoor Golf Club in Colorado Springs, Colorado and commercial art classes at Pikes Peak
Community College in the evenings.

Winters were long sitting in the shoe room at the golf club. Gary would sit in the shoe
room until the gin players would ring the buzzer for him to run food and drink up the
giant staircase to the card room. To pass the time, Gary would sit in the shoe room
creating individual PENMEN® designs that would be added to the poster later that
night after college art classes at the college. Passing his time in that quiet shoe room
Gary would grade his designs with 1 to 4 stars and spread out the best designs equally
around the poster to keep even flow and continuity. These designs were the success
of the poster. They were the images that would connect with people as they searched
for the identical Penmen. These particular designs would become the pantomime comic strip.

As the character evolved over the six month project, Gary would grow more in touch
with the pantomime qualities of this hieroglyphic form of communicating without words
using a simple stick figure with an extremely happy smile. The character did those things
that we enjoy as a child and still enjoy as adults. Before completion of the poster the
PENMEN® pantomime comic strip was born. The poster was published in August, 1989,
and the trademark "PENMEN®" was registered. By the end of that year Gary had sold
5,000 posters and had the comic strip running regularly in local weekly magazines. By
1995 Gary would sign a national newspaper syndication contract with Creators Syndicate, Inc.

Penman raking leaves in 1989.

Penman with his dog in 1989.

Penman smiling on his bike in 1989.

Penman surfing in 1989.

Penman in his jeep in 1989.

Penman target head in 1989.

The poster found its way to many college dorms. Gary would receive letters from
college students about their friends huddled around the poster at parties. Somewhere
on the poster there was a design for everyone. People would pick out the Penman on a
bike, or the guy with the guitar, drums, bathtub, backpack, the guy on the ground roasting
a marsh mellow over a campfire, golfing, surfing, skateboards, daisies, peace signs,
frisbees, the guy with the target for a head, kicking back in a float tube, mowing the lawn,
football, baseball, basketball, scuba diving, bird watching, and fishing. Gary recorded all
the things that he personally had done growing up in Colorado. It was as though he had
recorded his life in hieroglyph. Penman was now an official mime.

Since 1990, Gary has tried to keep two pens and business cards on his person at all times.
In the past year and a half he has drawn PENMEN® on the back of these cards for 1,500
people and counting. He will ask someone what they like to do and draw a Penman doing
just that. The rule is that he draws what you like to do, not what you do for a living.

The first personal autograph cards in 1990.

Shown above is a caricature of Gary wearing his signature beret in 1990.