1/10/10

My cousin recently purchased a book by Maria Sibylla Merian (April 2, 1647 – January 13, 1717), a German naturalist and botanic illustrator. I'd never heard of this artist, and as I browsed through the book's pages I was quickly impressed and enamored with her engravings. Merian spent two years traveling the then-Dutch colony of Surinam, sketching the exotic fauna and flora of its interior rain forests. In 1705, she published her third book Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium, collecting her engravings (based on her watercolor sketches) from her time abroad. Merian's careful chronicling of the life cycle of caterpillars and butterflies greatly contributed to entomology. This went against the prevailing opinion of the day, as it was commonly thought insects "spontaneously generated out of rotting mud". Her trip to Surinam in and of itself is also noteworthy, as not many women in the 1700s sailed across the seas without the company of a man to explore the New World colonies.

The following illustrations are a few of my many favorites from her third book. Her attention to detail, use of color and compositions are superb. I'd really love to see the original sketches behind these masterful engravings.


More information on Maria Sibylla Merian can be found here and here.

12/2/08

Moebius' 40 Days Dan Le Désert (40 Days In The Desert for the non-French) has been a tremendous inspiraton to me while working on my comic Alien Raver, as well as my work in general. I became aware of Moebius (real name Jean Giraud) when my cousin got me his compilation book Fusion back in high school. Most of his comics are within the realm of fantastical and delirious science fiction, with a graphic style ranging from extreme realism to a more dream-like nature. Désert is a series of drawings that focuses on a priest/archer figure residing in the desert who witnesses magical occurrences while approached by other desert dwellers whose cities seemingly rise and fall around him (in a nutshell).

In Désert he draws all 70 pages in ink (either with a micron or dip pen, not entirely sure) and supposedly without preparatory pencil drawings. His line work is so clean (very steady hands) and the amount of detail really gives each drawing an amazing sense of depth. The characters that populate his world are distinctive and go about their daily routines even while observed; yet they live under a deep shroud of mystery.

11/26/08

I’ve been working on a Wizard of OZ illustration series based on the original book version for the longest now. Ever since I started on this project, I can't help but notice a bunch of Wizard of OZ comics that have/are coming out. It's quite a coincidence. Not that no one has ever thought of the subject, but it's just funny that it's come to my attention since I decided to illustrate scenes from the classic book.

Today at Midtown Comics, as I finished purchasing some Marvel titles, I noticed they had a free WOZ sketchbook promoting an upcoming comic mini-series by Skottie Young and Eric Shanower. Although I try not to look at other WOZ-related comics for fear that those ideas leak into my own work, I gave it the ol' look-a-roo and found the style treatment to my liking; A fun revisioning of the characters, very loose yet expressive brushwork and a rich, earthy color palette (from what I saw in the preview pages). I look forward to following this title when it goes on sale in December. You can find more info on it here.


The cover for the 3rd issue reminds me of my Poppy Field sketch.

8/31/07

Shalimar got me these nifty flash cards the other day. They are nicely illustrated and I just love the silly names the artist came up with for these little creatures.

5/13/07

This past weekend, I headed up to Bridgeport, Connecticut and went to this huge outdoor fleamarket. Usually I find nothing good (or in my price range) except for the occasional cheap DVD, but this time I found this great illustrated book called Kovarsky's World. It's a collection of Anatol Kovarsky's cartoons from The New Yorker, circa 1951. I found his illustrations so charming and clever that I had no choice but to buy it! Here are some of my favorite cartoons from the book: