Man-O-Man

Time

With stark efficiency

of language you learn

to teach the child to

tie her shoes

and leave no room for dark self

doubt,

Interpretation. Things are done this way,

expedient and absolute,

so that we may hurry along

to buy apples

for lunches this week.  

 

 

 

Reflecting on the year that is waning

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.