Par for the course
Go Fish!
I made up a joke yesterday.
It goes like this:
Q: Why was Gogol such a crap fisherman?
A: Because all he could catch were…
[Rimshot]
If you want, you can substitute Ian Curtis in the telling.
Go ahead, I don’t mind.
Sole are horrifying-looking. But fun to draw.
Here’s a couple more sketches I did of fish from the seafood case at my work:
Sardines
Branzini
Fan Mail?
A couple weeks ago I was fortunate enough to meet author Neil Gaiman (a favorite of mine for nearly a decade now) and Adam Savage (of Mythbusters fame) at a reading that the former was hosting in Berkeley, CA. I was there acting in the capacity of one-man-entourage/merch-watcher/general-go-fer for Zoe Boekbinder—one of my oldest friends and a fantastic musician (check out her new website at www.zoeboekbinder.com)—who opened up the event with a few songs, and after it was all over the two of us hung about the green room and chatted with those afore-mentioned gentlemen.
At some point Neil and Adam saw a rough sketch I’d done of the two of them discussing Dr.Who-foodstuffs, and they seem thoroughly impressed with it (They both tweeted it, and Neil even reposted it on his blog! check it out here: journal.neilgaiman.com/2011/07/late-night-july-third-post-that-took.html).
I offered these two men (each of whom I admire considerably) the opportunity to self-address blank postcards I had with me, with the promise that I would make custom art for them, and they both accepted!
I dropped the cards in the mail yesterday, and here they are for your consideration today…
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Neil’s Card:
It reads on the back:
“Winnie-the-Pooh Meets the Elder Things
#booksthatshouldneverbewritten”
One thing I find Neil is very good at doing is suffusing really great fantasy/horror elements with classic storybook sensibilities, so I wanted to do a card for him which attempted to do the same. He’s also written Lovecraft mash-up stories before (“A Study in Emerald”), is a beekeeper, and is #obsessedwithtwitter.
So there were several [very] little jokes that I tried cramming into this one little card.
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Adam’s Card:
I honestly don’t know why I drew this.
At first, I was thinking about doing a sepia-toned portrait of an Innsmouthian fish-man (in part because the two of us had previously discussed illustrating Lovecraft, and in part because I just like fish-people) but ultimately I opted for something a little more science-y than science-fiction-y. Also, I wanted to draw something that was maybe a little goofy.
The quote is clearly riffing on Jaws, though that didn’t occur to me (consciously, at least) until I’d already written it on the card.
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So, these were fun. I just hope the intended recipients actually get them…
I’ll keep you posted.
