Vel Jaeger

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Name: Vel Jaeger
Alias(es): Ellen Hulley
Type: fanartist, fanwriter, zine editor
Fandoms: Star Trek: TOS
Communities:
Other:
URL: online bio in 2009
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Contents

Vel Jaeger is a well-known and prolific Star Trek: TOS fanartist and fanwriter.

"This is one of my favorite creations, which became the design for a 9-piece project (portraits of the Kirk/Spock/McCoy triad, based on images from ST:TOS, TMP, and TWOK) during my 4th semester of Printmaking at Mira Costa College in California. I took one semester of Watercolor, during which I labored like Hercules to produce something I didn't want to shred on completion. I'm not a very patient person, and learned why that medium is rightfully considered among the hardest of all."

Vel’s first SciFi con was 1975 in West Palm Beach, Florida, where she made her first Trek encounter: George Takei. She also entered her first costume contest, with her designs placing first and third. She was also asked to be a staff photographer on the very first Star Trek cruise, and then by Joe Motes of Vulkon fame.

Jean Lorrah was the first to publish her art as the back cover of NTM Collected. Vel was published in a section in the early issues of Starlog Magazine called Fan Fare, which introduced fan talent in many forms - her submission consisted of two small pen and ink vignettes of Kirk and McCoy. They were printed in the late 70s, her first and only appearance in a national publication.

Vel is proudest of founding TREKisM, the Star Trek Special Interest Group (SIG) for Mensa, the high IQ society. In addition to 68 issues of varying lengths from 1977 to 1991 were a number of lengthy anthologies and novels known as “TREKisM at Length.” Issue #X has been in limbo, along with a fourth volume of “Trek Encore," a retrospective of the author, Ginna LaCroix. The “Trek Encores’ were a publication of In Case of Emergency Press, the brain child of sometime co-coordinator and co-editor Kim Knapp. “Between the Sheets” (BTS) was published under the aegis of “Encore Enterprises.”

Vel’s hope for the not too distant future is to reestablish the Star Trek SIG in Mensa, now that the web has made communication so much easier than in the days of snail mail. In the meantime, she has given Fanlore permission to reproduce any and all of her artwork, writing, or photos for the purposes of documenting both her involvement in fandom and fandom history in general.

Her K/S Inspiration

In 2007, Vel was interviewed for an article about the history of K/S art. When asked what inspired her to illustrate Kirk/Spock, she replied:
"What inspired me? This is an easy one: the obvious magnetism between them, as complex as an artist/writer wants to delve into and elaborate. On the surface these are damn good lookin’ men in the prime of their lives. Their sexuality positively drips off their bodies.” For someone who talks about bodies here, Vel did a lot of portraits of Kirk, so I asked her about this preference. She explains, “Favouring Kirk is unusual because his (Shatner’s) features are the most difficult to depict; they’re very subtle with no hard lines or unusual characteristics. I always work with copies of photos as guidelines, sometimes exaggerating the contrast to remove the mid-tones and reduce the image to only light and dark." [1]
Another excerpt:
Vel’s style was always very original but she too was influenced by other art she saw. She writes, “when I first began communicating with editors I was very impressed by Gayle F., one of the rare “triple threats”—editor, writer and artist. And very kind and encouraging in responding to a neophyte. She complimented my art as “Bizzarro” in style—referring to my heavy use of darks and contrast, and told me that her intriguing work was heavily influenced by the Art Nouveau and Art Deco periods. After researching these eras I could see where those movements were reflected in her work, especially the bold sensuality.” [2]
More:
“My strongest skill in art is design, which helps liven up a plain portrait with intricate detail as a background. I’ve always loved the challenge of catching the essence of a person’s face; even if the result is garbage, I’m content when someone says, ‘Oh, that’s ______!’ I try to capture the eyes first—if that isn’t accomplished it’s a waste of time and paper to continue. But I mostly stuck to portraits because you know with three young children in the house I had to be careful. Kids already have too many questions without fueling young curiosity. [3]

Source Material

The earliest and most easily available reference sources were Starlog and the Trek calendars. Then came trading cards and collectors’ photos, and eventually lots of clear photos for sale by dealers. But sometimes there was the last resort of taking photos off the TV screen: crude, but workable. Having prints made from the 35 mm film clips that were available in the early days was another option. Remember, this was before everyone had a VCR and computers. Dark ages indeed! [4]

A Favorite Medium

Without a doubt pencil is the easiest medium for drawing: mistakes can be erased and it’s fun to make subtle shadings. But from the editor’s viewpoint it was the most expensive to print. Pencil (and ink with a wash—think black and white photos) have to be screened before they can be printed, a costly process 30 years ago in pre-computer days. Even the best screens lost some of the quality of the original. The best medium for offset printing or photocopy is pen and ink, and over the years I came to appreciate the precision that could be attained with it. I used various drawing ink pens (every possible size of Rapidographs) and brushes with India ink for the large areas (okay—I confess I got lazy and used markers sometimes). A toothbrush for spraying with white ink can produce some interesting effects— stellar fields, for instance. [5]

Vel's Fannish Memories

Vel has given permission for some of her fannish memories to be posted on Fanlore. See Vel Jaeger/Memories.

Some Private Record Keeping

"I guess you could call this stuff from my 'Primitive Period.' I got tired of looking for this list, I suppose, as I changed to writing the zine & story/poem name on the back of the drawings." [6]

  • sample pages of Vel's art records

  • sample pages of Vel's art records

  • sample pages of Vel's art records

  • sample pages of Vel's art records

Zines in Which Vel's Work Has Appeared

art by Vel

Gallery

  • back cover of NTM Collected, her first zine art published

  • interior art from Meridian #1

  • back cover As I Do Thee #4

  • interior art

  • from an unknown zine

  • inside art R & R #13 (inside front cover) From Vel: "It's a depiction of my friend from way back, Karen Spera Shaub. She and I went to our first con in West Palm Beach, and this is taken from a photo of her costume that won first place at the con. It was black with gold braid design and trim, based on a caftan design; we listed it as "Militant Alien Nun."

  • front cover of T'hy'la #1

  • cover First Time #2, 1st edition

  • cover of In Triplicate

  • back cover of In Triplicate

  • cover of issue #14, Jaeger
    "In my active days the printers I used often went nuts over some of the drawings, as happened with the Yoda. They did a two-color print on a nice tan paper (about 11" x 17"); I think they did the lettering in green - spelling out, "Yoda Does It In The Swamp!" Who knows how many they ran off - something printers love to do. I imagine it helps to make up for the messy job that offset printing is. Anyway, I couldn't resist making the snake cute as well. I guess it must have been the spirit of the 70s." [7]

  • back cover Naked Times #3

  • cover of Naked Times #6

  • cover of Naked Times #7

  • interior art from A Question of Balance

  • front cover of T'hy'la #5

  • inside art from Warped Space #47

  • back cover of Two-Dimensional Thinking #1

  • inside art from Odyssey #7

  • back cover of Between the Sheets: ""The scan in black is directly from the original artwork; the first & only printing is in red on a soft grey card stock, with red cloth tape binding. Front cover is a montage I put together with images from some of the interior art, which was reduced to 20% of the originals, then pieced with black tape." [8]

  • the original art, in black and white, for the back cover of Between the Sheets

  • art from Between the Sheets

  • art from Between the Sheets

  • inside art Within the Mirror #1

  • cover of The Women's List #1

  • back cover As I Do Thee #3

  • inside art in As I Do Thee #3

  • inside art in As I Do Thee #3

  • inside art from T'hy'la #4, Kirk and T'Pring

References

  1. ↑ from Dribbling Scribbling Women: The History of Our Art
  2. ↑ from Dribbling Scribbling Women: The History of Our Art
  3. ↑ from Dribbling Scribbling Women: The History of Our Art
  4. ↑ from Dribbling Scribbling Women: The History of Our Art
  5. ↑ from Dribbling Scribbling Women: The History of Our Art
  6. ↑ personal correspondence, Vel Jaeger 9.15.2011, uploaded and used with permission from the artist
  7. ↑ by Vel, from private correspondence with Mrs. Potato Head, quoted with permission
  8. ↑ from personal correspondence between Vel and Mrs. Potato Head, October 16, 2012
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