Steve Martin


 * This page is about the member of the furry fandom. For the US comedian, see the Wikipedia's entry.

Steve Martin, formerly known as El Spooky (born in June 11, 1958), is an artist from Southern California, USA, who lives in Santa Ana, California. Since the early 1980s, he has made a reputation for himself both with his painting skills, and his work's adult-themed content.

Fandom involvement
Originally involved in Los Angeles-area anime and cartoon fandoms, he became involved in the furry fandom through such various individuals as Mark Merlino, Fred Patten, Bob Hill, Wendell Washer and Marc "Schirm" Schirmeister, who were also involved in the same science fiction, cartoon and anime circles.

Martin was a member of Rowrbrazzle (see also Wikipedia) for many years, contributing comics such as Space Mouse and Christian Critters. His trademark works were elaborate airbrushed paintings, usually of adult subjects, which he would then make photo prints of for sale. His professional furry publication credits include The American Journal of Anthropomorphics, Wild Side, and Demi's Wild Kingdom.

His house has hosted a number of artists over the years, receiving the now popular nickname of "Hotel Yorba". These included Robert Guthrie and Doug Winger. Often, these artists collaborated with him on his various projects. Martin used to sell his original artwork and prints at the many furry conventions hosted around the United States, especially Further Confusion and Anthrocon.

At one point he used the alias El Spooky as his "name" in most of his risque artworks.

Professional non-furry credits
Martin has worked, or continues to work, as a freelance artist for such companies as Mattel, Playmates, WB Toys, Warner Bros. Consumer Products, Disney Consumer Products, Disney Imagineering, Uncle Milton Industries, Nickelodeon, and Playstorm Toys.

Filmography

 * NickToons Network
 * 2004 - Dora The Explorer. (background artist [unaccredited])

Warner Bros.
Steve's work interview at Warner Bros. TV Animation in 1991 turned into a now-classic fiasco when he showed TazMania director Douglas McCarthy adult furry artwork during the course of an animation portfolio review, assuming that the director wouldn't have a problem with it. A lot of furry fandom detractors have used this incident to bolster the theory of furry blacklisting within the animation industry. An alternate version of this story has Martin trying to pitch a complete storyboard for an adult episode of Tiny Toons at the same interview, but Steve claims that this is not true.

Canada
Steve was stopped and temporarily detained at the Canadian border in July of 2002 on his way to see fellow furry artist Taral Wayne, while traveling to Anthrocon 2002. He was charged with trying to smuggle "sellable goods" into Canadian territory but was released within days after the confiscation of most of his merchandise. Again, alternate inaccurate variants of this incident exist, claiming that he was detained for trying to smuggle adult furry art and/or just pornographic material in general. In fact, the material was merely passing through the country via Toronto, en route to Anthrocon. The final bulk of the confiscated merchandise was finally returned by Canada Customs on 16 October 2006.

Did you know? The giant purple rabbit monster on Eric W. Schwartz's Red Shetland animation project is a parody of Steve Martin.
 * Eric W. Schwartz's Red Shetland (Part #1)
 * Eric W. Schwartz's Red Shetland (Part #2)

The color scheme of the character is not random, as purple (mauve) is Martin's favorite color, and the color scheme for his best-known character, Mauvette.