Artist, illustrator, cartoonist Bob Bugg, who died August 9 at the age of 73, arrived on the ski scene with the front cover of Ski Magazine in 1959—a whimsical ski history from Viking times up to the present. Since then, his artwork has had a greater impact on the ski world than that of any other artist.
This truth is not just based on his work over 34 years in Ski, Ski Business, SAM and Snow Country, voluminous though that is, but on the illustrations he did pro bono for NSAA in 1966 to illustrate the Skier’s Responsibility Code. Those, plus a later updated version, have been used in countless posters, area signs, brochures, trail maps and table tents. They are still being used. They have even been picked up and used by industry organizations in other parts of the world.
As an artist, Bob was a total professional, master of the many disciplines involved. But when he turned to skiing, which was but a small part of his total work, he enjoyed a special advantage: he was a superb and stylish skier who had a real passion for the sport. He understood skiers and their foibles and his pen was gloriously able to record the grace of the accomplished, the hilarious awkwardness of the inept.
For years he illustrated Ski’s instruction series, Ski Pointers, and his drawings caught the most subtle nuances of body movement each instructor was trying to explain. These were also released in book form.
For many years he drew Dennis the Menace for the Sunday comic sections—work that paid well, demanded great professionalism, but which lacked the satisfaction of being drawn over his own signature. In recent years he had increasingly turned to portraits in conté crayon—moving, intensely personal work.
Bob Bugg’s last work was SAM’s May cover with the theme, “Snow fun on the mountain.” The exuberance and warmth that fairly jumps off the page belies the pain and fatigue that almost prevented him from finishing.
—D.R.
Skier’s Responsibility Code
There are elements of risk in skiing that common sense and personal awareness can help reduce.
- Ski under control and in such a manner that you can stop or avoid other skiers or objects.
- When skiing downhill or overtaking another skier, you must avoid the skier below you.
- You must not stop where you obstruct a trail or are not visible from above.
- When entering a trail or starting downhill, yield to other skiers.
- All skiers shall use devices to prevent runaway skis.
- You shall keep off closed trails and posted areas and observe all posted signs.
THIS IS A PARTIAL LIST. BE SAFETY CONSCIOUS.
From the portfolio (cartoon & cover captions)
Lift line cartoon: “We’re doing a survey, and … let’s see, shall I put you down as an aficionado or a dilettante?”
Brand-study cartoon: In 1984, the Brand study introduced new vocabulary into ski marketingese. SAM commented unfavorably in an editorial, but Bob Bugg’s cartoon said it all.
On the Responsibility Code drawings: There can scarcely be an American skier in the past 30 years who has not been exposed to these drawings, whether on brochures, trail posters or table tents in bars.
Wildlife-panel cartoon: This is how Bugg illustrated an industry panel consisting of a quartet of wildlife biologists moderated by a regulator.
SAM cover (Winter 1974 / reused 1978): One of Bugg’s covers actually ran twice: once in 1974 when the first energy crunch hit and the industry was facing the impacts of gas shortages, and again in 1978 when the Arab oil embargo hit.
SAM cover (May 1984, “I see the tillers are toiling”): When SAM asked Bob Bugg for a cover to herald the tiller revolution in grooming, he was momentarily stuck. But his irrepressible whimsy quickly came to the rescue.
SAM cover (January 1983, “Unloading”): This cover hilariously takes off from a sentence extracted from a very serious and technical article on unloading ramp design. “Ideally, the run-out should…blend smoothly into an exit area.”
SAM cover (Fall 1976, President Ford): When we visited President Ford in Vail and presented him with a copy of the magazine, he was delighted. “Nice of him to show my skis parallel,” he laughed. (Cover line: “What if President Ford comes to ski at YOUR area?”)
