By Jeff Kurrus
Despite being an artist for Nebraskaland Magazine for 38 years, having contributed hundreds of science-based illustrations through that time, nothing makes one laugh more — especially during a staff meeting — than to see Tim “taking notes” from the speaker. Would the Nebraskaland editor be portrayed as a caveman? Or George Washington crossing the Potomac with the rest of the magazine staff? One delights in finding out.
“I’ve always loved cartoons,” Tim said during a recent interview. “Even when I was a little kid. I still have a drawing of the Tin Man from the Wizard of Oz when I was 3-years-old.” As he grew up, Tim was encouraged by teachers and continued to draw, knowing he would become an artist.
Tim then fell in love with MAD Magazine cartoons, underground comics and artists like Jack Davis and Al Jaffee. He continued to draw throughout his teenage years and into college, where he graduated with a degree in art from Nebraska Wesleyan University.
From there he worked odds and ends jobs in the art field, eventually landing at the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission in 1988 and with the magazine that same year.
His cartoons continued through the years, most often appearing on Page 49 — a staple essay column for Nebraskaland for many years — as well as supporting pieces by author Roger Welsch, longtime Nebraskaland staffer Jon Farrar and others. But cartoons were just a small part.
“I’ve always used the National Geographic Magazine theory regarding illustrations,” said Tim. “When you can, use a photograph to illustrate something. Otherwise, use artwork.”
With this philosophy, Tim’s depictions have been shown in the magazine since 1988 and have been included in fiction, humor, remembrance, diagrammatic and numerous other stories where artwork was beneficial.
His drawings have included various animal species from a scientific perspective — detailing, for example, how the poisonous false morel mushroom differs from a morel. “For scientific illustrations, I have always observed the species or would use photo references. Illustration is very beneficial if it helps to explain. Do a diagram if you don’t have a photo.”
He has also created watercolor visuals for DIY projects, types of knots and the imaginative visuals for essays that have appeared in the magazine.
With a background of hunting and fishing as a kid to observing various artists who have done work for Nebraskaland through the years, Tim’s versatility was endless, from showing what it looks like beneath the water in a beaver lodge to depicting Nebraskaland regional editor Eric Fowler as an armored knight from Camelot besieging a castle with a fishing pole in his hand.
He, and his work for the entire Nebraska Game and Parks Commission for the past 38 years, is one of a kind.
