Monday, July 23, 2012

Inspiration.

Not sure how I missed this last year.

But wow...

Best zombie pumpkin ever.

Full story here.

Oh, Hallowe'en... I know you are on your way.


DDSPumpkincarvinggenius!

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Drawn to it, part two.

Welcome S&Pers!

It sure seems like I have less time than ever to visit this old place, and I sure miss it.

There is much ado, and much to do, and I am going to be absent for a while more, but I did want to stop in for a brief 'boo!' and add more sketches to the gallery here at the S&P.

Now, if you don't recall this post from February 2010, go and peruse it.

Go on, we'll wait.




whistle-hum-hum-hum-whistle-toot-whistle-plunk-boom!




Done? Okay, good.

I very recently discovered a few more works I'd actually considered lost, but which to my great joy turned up all by themselves while moving around the clutter of my little home.

Again, these are not the works of a trained artistic genius, but the decades-old doodles of a teenaged weirdo.

These have not been added to or altered except to remove smudges, scratches, and formless doodles that would distract you from the main work (things around and outside of the subject). Remember, these are drawn in sketch books where I have made numerous other works and scribblings on the same page.

Okay...

Ripley, done from memory about an hour after I first saw Aliens
on July 18, 1986 -- the day it opened nationwide.
My hero.

 Nameless skull guy. Cool eyepatch. 1984.

 A very odd little spaceman, also 1984. I think he looks like 
Sir Ian MacKellan.

 Nameless (and incomplete!) '80s chick, 1982.

 My scribble of the little girl in a really creepy episode of 
Tales From The Darkside called Inside The Closet
I drew it while watching said episode as it aired for the first time in 1984.

 I cannot at all recall why I drew this one, but I remember doing it.
Bic pen on newsprint, 1980.

This and the next are from 1983, and I was playing with the 
unique style of illustration found in the amazing works of
artists like Joseph Schindelman, whose scratchings graced
Dahl's Chocolate Factory books when I was a child.
 A reject from The Name of the Rose?

 Trying to cop an even more famous style, this time the great Edward Gorey. 
1986.

 You mean you never imagined what Ted Kennedy would've
looked like if he'd been in a Rankin-Bass cartoon? Ballpoint pen, 1984.

 This and the next are both on the same page, both quill and ink, both from 1983.
I was trying for Sting if Berni Wrightson had drawn him in his 
amazing Frankenstein book from that time.


 What my bedroom looked like if you were my ceiling fan, Summer 1987.

 If Pinhead was suddenly your helpful Time-Life operator.
1986.

A happy page from October of 1983 -- jack o'lantern ideas (including
one very Charlie Brown-ish model).

 Yet another style cop, this time from the incomparable work of Brian Froud
and his concept art for The Dark Crystal
Pen/watercolor, 1984.
As for the little doodle just below the bird, fans of the book and musical Wicked take note:
apparently I invented Dr. Dillamond a decade before MacGuire.


So many scribbles.

So rewarding to revisit and remember.

I hope you enjoy their exhibition in our gallery.

And I hope you enjoy the rest of your July.

I will be back soon...



DDSPatience!

Saturday, July 7, 2012

BOO-rthday.

44.

Four decades, plus four years.

Ten years, four times. Then another 10% again.

It feels... well, it definitely does not feel like 25 or maybe even 30. But it feels alright.

Especially when your family knows you so well that when you return home from work the evening before your birthday (when you will be very busy all day), you get...

Yes, it's a zombie cake.

Not to be confused with Zombie Lake
which I believe had a smaller budget.

 Oh it's in a witch's cauldron, but Zombie punch, anyone?

A savory noodle/tomato filled pastry actually called a zombie but which 
I prefer calling a zomboli, along with little handmade tomato-filled... umm... zombolini. 
Served with tomato soup. Brraaiiiinnsss... yummy!

 Hallowe'en decor...

 Had this little guy for ages now. Feels like home.

My little undead buddy can't seem to free himself but
nods in pleasure at the festivities...

... as purrs Hallowe'en.

They even had a little fine entertainment on the tube.

Yes, as we ate zombolini, they ate Sloppy Jimbos.

All was right with the world.

I do love my family.

Anyway, 44 sure feels just like 43. Who knew?


DDSP!