Occult Librarian

I created this character sculpture for the MICA Illustration Department's "Seance" show in October. I picture him as the keeper of all of the secret, locked away, tomes in the dark corners of a black magic library. He has had nasty run-ins with all types of nare do wells.
It stands about 4.5 inches tall and is made with assorted gray sculpey I mixed. There are also a lot of found objects, cut paper, mini hand-bound books, and a shaved down birthday candle.

Brandywine River Museum Visit

Deanna and I took our MICA classes on a tip to the Brandywine Museum today. They had a great exhibit up on illustrations done for Edgar Allan Poe stories. We got to see some originals by Barry Moser, Aurthur Rackham, and Harry Clark, among many others. As always, the permanent collection was incredible. I am floored by the large NC Wyeth paintings every time I see them.

Happy Halloween

via The Chive

Alex Fine visit

My friend Alex Fine was kind enough to visit my class at MICA last week to do an inking demo. He did an awesome drawing of the worst thing ever. He was also voted Baltimore's favorite illustrator by City Paper this week, congrats Alex!

Danny Boyle's Frankenstein

Tonight we went to see Danny Boyle's stage version of Frankenstein being screened at a movie theater. It did lack a little of the impact you know would have been present seeing it live, but the production was really impressive. The two main actors, Johnny Lee Miller and Benedict Cumberbatch, would trade roles each night. So one would play Victor Frankenstein and one would play The Monster, then switch for the next performance. In the showing we went to Johnny Lee Miller played The Monster. His take was really intriging. The character throws the viewer back and forth over and over again; feeling deep sympathy for him followed back deep disgust. He said he based a lot of the physical performance on his 2 year old daughter. There is a wonderful progression with him, learning to walk, run, and talk. You can certainly see the child show through, as well as touches of stroke victims, and Autistic mannerisms. I was affected to be sure. I am a great fan of all things Frankenstein and this was a great addition to the mythos. I hope they release this on DVD at some point. We have become followers of Benedict Cumberbatch after watching the new Sherlock series on BBC. He was very respectable as the doctor, but that character doesn't quite get the same chance to shine. I would love to see his take on The Monster to compare and contrast the actors. Here is a trailer for the play-