Diving Mimes, Weeping Czars and Other Unusual Suspects

Trying to find something to use as a cover image for a Ken Scholes’ book is like going fishing with really good bait, or uhm, hunting for ducks at the height of duck season with a really good gun presuming you are a good shot and in this case imagine that you are (even though I’m not a hunter per se, unless my glasses or car keys are involved somehow), or going to bake a cake and you have only the finest ingredients and the most modern kitchen and you have had years of training in the finest French pastry school, even won several awards, Julia Child probably invited you to do a cooking show with her…I forgot what I was getting at here? 

Anyway Ken’s latest, soon to be published, book, Diving Mimes, Weeping Czars and Other Unusual Suspects is a rich and inventive collection of highly imaginative tales. (Get ready for a billiards metaphor) Ken literally runs the table of ideas from an inter-dimensional love story to a Fellini-esque account of the apocalypse. And it is the latter story, Grail-Diving in Shangrilla with the World’s Last Mime that sunk the 8 ball, er, so to speak, and gave me the rich material I needed to create the cover for his book.

In the story a rag-tag group of protagonists are battling an invading evil alien armada, made up of hobgoblins and large building-like structures with flailing arms that deal out mayhem in the form of fire, bolts of lightning and blades, really sharp blades. Did I mention the canons?

When envisioning the image, I was thinking of something along the lines of Hieronymus Bosch meets Mad Magazine.

So, just to take you on a little trip through the ole creative process, below is one of several rough sketches done on the back of some scratch paper. I know it’s a little difficult to tell what’s going on here, but central we’ve got the killer building itself chasing down the fleeing Winnebago, which is busting through a billboard emblazoned with the author’s name. It should be noted that the billboard is not in the story, nor are the signs above suspended from the flying saucers, but I wanted to incorporate the titles into the image.

 

Below is the final drawing done for the cover on watercolor paper. If it looks like it was done on several sheets of paper taped together, that’s because it was, for no real good reason (this is warts and all here folks).

From here, I wasn’t a 100% sure how I was going to proceed. Ultimately what I decided I wanted was a collage-like feel, something that would enhance the crazy nature of the image, so I used the drawing as a template and began placing and layering bits and pieces of stuff to create the image, photoshopping in shadows, transforming shapes to fit. In all, there are over 170 layers (different parts) that comprised the final image, (not that I’m bragging or anything). It was a blast to create and when I was finished I looked at it, feeling most pleased, and said “cool”. 

The Radio Magician

Traditional Meets Digital

In today’s world, even for those illustrators who for the most part employ traditional methods, painting and drawing on paper, canvas or board, most have incorporated the digital world into their workflow, somehow. From simply being able to create a digital file of the finished work, to doing post production adjustments with image editing software, to wholly creating their images via digital tools, and varying states in-between.

Ultimately, from the pencil to the computer, these are merely the tools available to artists. What matters is the skill with which they are employed, and the success or failure of the final piece.

For myself, my migration to incorporating the digital world into my illustrative work was a natural one, simply a byproduct of the evolution and dominance of digital photography over film, and my move from the chemical darkroom into the digital one, as illustrated in my previous posts. Ironically it was in the midst of this digital revolution that I began to slide back into using more traditional methods, pencil drawing to be precise, but combine them with digital methods.

The project, The Radio Magician and Other Stories, was a wonderful collection of short stories by James Van Pelt (see previous entry). The title story takes place during the golden age of radio. It is about a boy battling polio, who makes an agonizing solitary journey under his own steam to a radio studio in the city in which he lives to “watch” his favorite radio show. It is a transformative story about magic and the power of the human spirit.

For the cover I wanted to create an image that honored that awe and magic so poignantly expressed in the story. I chose a moment near the end of the story, where the boy with polio visits another boy, far worse off with the same disease,  who is contained within an iron lung in a hospital room. He performs a magic trick for the captive boy, not to raise his spirits, but to inspire him to fight for his life.

After doing some preliminary sketches, below you see the original pencil drawing that served as a framework for the final image.

I researched polio and iron lungs, including their invention and evolution, studied dozens of photographs, then tried to create my own that I felt matched the correct era for the story. An iron lung does what it sounds like it does, through compression and decompression within the large chamber it breathes for the occupant. The occupant who remains prostrate on his/her back views their world through a mirror tipped at an angle above their head.

Through the mirror I could show the face of the occupant, below is the separate drawing that I did for that face that was scanned and inserted separately into the drawing. 

Then in Photoshop I began applying layers of transparent color, much like in a watercolor painting. Below is an early state.

From there I continued to add texture and layers of semi-transparent color to strike the mood. Note the red stage curtains that frame the picture. I wanted the image though it took place in a hospital room, to have a theatrical feel, which was consistent with the magical realism of the story.

Finally I added the text layers and chose a font that had an old fashioned marquee-like feel. I then shot some rays of light through the lettering to complete the image.

I really love this image, just like I loved the story that inspired it. There is some really beautiful detail and color here. Some close up examples below.

 

Later I employed and explored these same methods in the Annathena pictures.