Being Drawn in

 

Illustration by Edward Gorey for the Gashleycrumb Tinies

I was thinking about the influences in our lives and how they subtly push us in specific directions and away from others. So I made a list of the illustrators who had influenced me, or, as I came to suspect, I was drawn to because their work resonated with me. After that initial interest, of course, their work further reinforced the part of me that was open to them from the start. Influence is a tricky thing that way. We are pulled to something through our own interest in it as well as its own inherent pull, in the way that compatible magnets work on each other. The expression “drawn to” is revealing in itself: We are drawn in as we are redrawn, remade in our own image but even more so.

Rolling Along

Here are three images from Rolling Along, written by Julie Hall.

New drawings

Hi. I’ve just uploaded these. The rabbit with quote is from a greeting card. The sketch of Ardis and the Rabbit cover are from the manuscript.

Graphic Design Portfolio All Done!

I’ve uploaded a new portfolio of my graphic design work. It’s in pdf format. Click here to download.

Greek Gods

For a project at my daughter’s school, I drew Helios (the Sun) and three wind gods, Boreas, Zephyr, and Notias. My friend, artist Alex Sanso, painted them.

Graffiti Rabbit

Pugs

Drawing Lines: Thinking Like an Illustrator

I’ve been reading avidly about Goya’s life and work. My source, The World of Goya 1746-1828, by Richard Schickel (Time-Life), is old, 1968, but I don’t care, and I don’t even care if there are facts we’ve since revised, newer generally accepted opinions about Goya and the authorship of works attributed to him, and primary sources since found. Because I’m reading not to get the facts but to get an impression of the facts.

Dogs

Here are new dog uploads.

Animals Have Feelings Too

A recent study adds to the mounting “evidence” of the existence of animal emotion. I am blushing at the complete lunacy of that first sentence—any intelligent being, human or otherwise, who has spent even a brief moment of consciousness with another species knows that “animals have emotions.” I understand that such studies do not always reflect the underlying intent of particular researchers whose goal is not to determine whether in fact animals have emotions but instead to contribute to the requisite data pool in support of such a theory so that other more important work on behalf of animals can be done, like improvements to the slaughter industry. How difficult it must be for such aware scientists to maintain composure for the purpose of long-range goals when presenting their results in support of the “theory” of animal emotion.