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One of The Good Guys
If you were on flickr and made the leap over to ipernity in May 2013 many of us did, one of the streams that surely stood out for you was one operated by MewDeep6. MewDeep6 is the way John chose to be known hereabouts.

I am not suited to write any kind of biography of the man. What I do know is that I am very lucky to have known him these past few years.

I knew him, I say. How I knew him was through emails and posts on flickr and ipernity. That counts, as any of us here can attest. From exchanged emails with him I came to know a man of heart, generosity, humor and smarts.

John had a career as an illustrator. He was a modest man, and might not have mentioned until he'd known you for a while that he was friend and correspondent of many huge names in the field. He had a soft spot for those great 7Up billboards, posters and promo items, and advertising illustration from the Age of Aquarius in general. He loved the Push Pin Studio artists, and John Alcorn was a special favorite. This is not a definitive list by any means. He loved Wacky Packages art. He loved any interesting creative.

It was after growing concerned about not hearing from him for a few weeks and checking around that I learned John had passed away. It was on November 8, just 5 days after his last posts here. I don't know his family or local friends, so I don't know what happened. I want to know what happened, and I don't want to, if you know what I mean. I just hope the way he went was as gentle and kind to him as John, our own MewDeep6, must have been to everyone he met in life.

Rest in peace, John. We miss you.





15 comments

beverley said:

RIP . . .
8 years ago ( translate )

Smiley Derleth replied to beverley:

Thank you, Bev.
8 years ago

Alan Mays said:

So sad to hear this, Smiley. What a lovely tribute!

I didn't really know John personally, but I certainly knew about him as MewDeep6 here on Ipernity and as MewDeep when he was over on Flickr. If I'm not mistaken, I believe he used to have a number of interesting Ipernity groups that I belonged to at one time.

He will definitely be missed.
8 years ago

Smiley Derleth said:

Yes he will. Thank you, Alan.

By the way, his original groups, FABULOUS FIFTIES, SWINGING SIXTIES, '60s & '70s ILLUSTRATION, SUPER SEVENTIES, and ELECTRIC EIGHTIES are still around ipernity.
8 years ago

Nicolas Mertens said:

Thoughtful obituary.
8 years ago

Smiley Derleth replied to Nicolas Mertens:

Thank you, Nicolas. There are so many great things to be said about John.
8 years ago

arts enthusiast said:

Oh, this makes me very sad, indeed! My own presence here has been sporadic of late, due to some family issues and obligations, and I just assumed he was taking a bit of a break from Ipernity. I would love to be able to learn more about his career and work. I didn't even know his real first name, so glad to know that. I always loved his posts. We had shared a couple of private messages, but I wish I had reached out more. I will miss him, as I would miss any one of my friends here. Thanks for sharing this, Smiley.
8 years ago

Smiley Derleth replied to arts enthusiast:

That is the kindest tribute, arts. Thank you so much for your comment.
8 years ago

Smiley Derleth said:

Thank you so much, Craig. That's a very nice tribute.
8 years ago

slgwv said:

What terrible news. I just stumbled across your post here. I, too, had wondered what happened, but figured he'd just given up on Ipernity as (alas!) so many have.

RIP, John.
8 years ago

Smiley Derleth replied to slgwv:

Thank you for your comment. It is good of you to remember him.
8 years ago

Stormlizard said:

Yes Smiley, a great loss according to your description.
May he R I P.
Very true about having online friends, most never meet, I have met many of those I befriended on Skype way back in 1994, several have been here, I have visited many on numerous occassions, the majority being from Japan and Thailand.
7 years ago

Smiley Derleth replied to Stormlizard:

Thank you, Stormlizard. Your kind comment is appreciated.

And I commend you for having met and visited with some of your online friends. When something happens to someone we know from online, there is added regret if we never got to meet them face to face.
7 years ago

Daniela said:

J'aime *****
4 years ago ( translate )

Smiley Derleth replied to Daniela:

Thank you, Daniela.
4 years ago ( translate )