WOW

How did I not know about Zdzislaw Beksinski before now? How?! HOW?!

http://www.beksinski.pl/


Extraordinary, horrific manifestations of the nightmarish and erotic. Reminiscent of H.R. Giger a bit, but in no way derivative.

Absolutely worth checking out!

Neat-O!

Just for fun, here are a few links to some of my recent favorite internet timesinks

http://waynebarlowe.wordpress.com/
Wayne D. Barlowe is one of my all-time favorite illustrators, having done Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials. I remember finding a copy of that taxonomic list of aliens, beautifully rendered, as a little kid and getting totally immersed. Now he's written a book about hell, and done dozens of mind-blowing, soul-rending pictures of it. Outstanding!


http://www.fromoldbooks.org/
Big old collection of high-res images of illustrated arcana. Great resource for design and collage.


http://ridiculouslyinteresting.com/
The Museum of Ridiculously Interesting Things. Needs no introduction.


http://strandbeest.com/
Artist Theo Jansen creates fantastic animals out of plastic pipes, tubes and waterbottles. They are fully engineered to respond to the wind and "come alive." I feel this is something that you have to see in person to fully appreciate, but still, it's incredible.


http://onceuponasketch.com/
Really fun and useful blog for children's books illustration.


More later, when the mood strikes.

Wrestling with Demons

Been working on developing a character for a collaboration for which I have very high hopes. It's no small thing to try to bring a fully developed (pun intended?) human being to life on paper. This is the first painting I've done of her, which I think stands alone as its own work, even if the design isn't 100% yet. 

So, the posting below was me trying to figure out Photoshop. Turns out I have a LOT to learn to make everything not look so... Photoshoppy. Still, it's a start, so what the heck.

Living Life

Collage, digital. 2012

 

I used to have no love whatsoever for digital art. The act of creating art to me is very tactile - I thrive on the movement of my arm and the interaction of various media with each other. I love the feel of paper texture, of a pencil in my hand.

 

 

Plus I was intimidated of Adobe CS. It is not user-friendly by a long shot. But I started looking at online tutorials and doing lots of experimentation, and voila: not so intimidated anymore. Turns out Photoshop is a pretty cool program.

 



Love Letter to Paige

 

Mixed Media on toned paper, 2012

 

I made this mixed media piece for my cousin on her 30th birthday. I remember her best as a little girl, under 4 years old, dancing in her mother's kitchen to a song only she could hear, totally engrossed in her own magic. It's always how I've thought of her. 

Gilded Age

 

Peculiar as it was in that part of the world, Mrs. Carlisle accepted the elaborate system of trenches her children dug in her garden. "Human nature," she'd smile to herself.

 

Later,  she would remark inwardly how persistently blood sticks to everything as she attempted for hours to pick the loam from her hands.