Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are is one of those rare picture books that functions simultaneously as a fable, a miniature psychological drama, and a radical experiment in economy — of line, of colour, and of words. On the surface it tells the simple story of a child’s temper and imaginative flight; beneath that … Continue reading The Adaptable Educator’s Book Review – Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
The Adaptable Educator’s Book Review – The World of Edward Gorey by Clifford Ross
Clifford Ross’s The World of Edward Gorey is less a conventional monograph than an act of tasteful conjuration: a careful, lovingly lit cabinet that sets an uncanny miniature theatre at the center of view. Ross treats Gorey not simply as an illustrator who doodled at the margins of Victorian melodrama, but as a singular authorial … Continue reading The Adaptable Educator’s Book Review – The World of Edward Gorey by Clifford Ross
The Adaptable Educator’s Book Review – J.R.R. Tolkien: Artist and Illustrator by Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull
Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull’s J.R.R. Tolkien: Artist and Illustrator (1995) offers a magisterial exploration of Tolkien’s visual creativity, positioning his artwork not as ancillary curiosities but as integral expressions of his mythopoetic vision. Rather than treating the illustrations as mere complements to The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, Hammond and Scull frame Tolkien’s art as an … Continue reading The Adaptable Educator’s Book Review – J.R.R. Tolkien: Artist and Illustrator by Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull
Puppy Love – Music-book Doodles 2022
Is this a simplistic illustration of a puppy, or is there more to this work? This is the sort of question artists tend to ask themselves... well, at least the artists I know. Recently, when I ask myself this self-doubt-filled question, I hear the an interview with a famous artists (I can't recall who) who … Continue reading Puppy Love – Music-book Doodles 2022
The Creature’s Sorrow
Using a handmade marking brush: The handle is a cut branch off of a beach tree with red thread and jute twine. The brush part is made of steel wool. I must admit that I chose this material partly because I wanted to see what would happen when it rusted... how would that affect the … Continue reading The Creature’s Sorrow
Building An Idea – Distorted Ozs Project #4
Again, we find some Steampunk influences in this one and I feel I'm getting closer to what I want to play with. There's a bit of Tim Burton's Mayor (Nightmare Before Christmas) character and I wonder if this guy is some sort of combination of Tin Man and Scarecrow. The moustache does lend a voice … Continue reading Building An Idea – Distorted Ozs Project #4
Building An Idea – Distorted Ozs Project #3
Ok, so every character from this illustrator's versions of this book seem to suffering from an excess of gravity. It is deeply amusing. Moreover, the possibility that this non-traditional Tin Man also suffers from the gluttony usually attributed to the lion is very funny to me. I beefed up the affect (pun intended) by further … Continue reading Building An Idea – Distorted Ozs Project #3
Building An Idea – Distorted Ozs Project #2
Now we find ourselves diving into the Steampunk stylings I'm so fascinated by. I also realize this Tin Man has a little of the feel I get from the Samurai Jack robots: It must be the cowboy boots! Hmmm... my mind is wandering and went to wondering what inspired the Droid K-2SO in Rogue One … Continue reading Building An Idea – Distorted Ozs Project #2
Building An Idea – Distorted Ozs Project #1
These are the only two characters from the stack of photocopied images the teacher gave us that really tickled my fancy. There was another one of the Scarecrow that looked a little like a rag doll, but another student grabbed it. There was also one of an old crone sewing the scarecrow together that I … Continue reading Building An Idea – Distorted Ozs Project #1
Building An Idea – Distorted Ozs Project
The original prompt from my drawing teacher (as I understood it) was that we were to take some old illustration from a Wizard of Oz book and distort them: ie: draw a measurable grid over the photocopied image, then draw various grids with distorted dimensions and then use those new distortions as guidelines for distorting … Continue reading Building An Idea – Distorted Ozs Project
The New Renaissance Mindset 