When I was seven or eight, my father edited the print magazine Videotext Journal, which was about what was essentially an early graphical precursor to the world wide web. I had drawn a Klingon Bird of Prey (a Star Trek spaceship) on one of our computers, and it ended up as an illustration in the magazine — becoming a “published artist” at that age is something I remember distinctly with pride, and I’m sure it was quite influential in my thinking as a child and thus my entire life.
I thought of that story because in this month’s Bizarre magazine (February 2009 — pick it up on newsstands now) there is a short article on me and my paintings (and thank you to Alix for promoting my book of body modification interviews), and contained in that article is a painting that Nefarious and I did together (Apocalypse Spiders), so she now shares the early thrill of being a published artist. Of course, she only got to see that single page of the magazine, but nonetheless, she was very happy to know that people all over the world have now seen our art.
Thanks again, Bizarre!
If you’re wondering why I’m posting on a Saturday afternoon, Nefarious is glued to the Wii right now… We went to trapeze class this morning and now she’s playing some of her old games, steadfastly refusing my suggestion that we go to the park and play!
Here are three two-page spreads from the kid’s book interpretation of the poem… These are still early stages of the paintings so they’ll surely change a bit before I’m done (most obviously, the Abyssinian made is currently white!). I’m going to do all the paintings and then start doing extra treatments to them.
There are tons of these videos online but these are some that stood out to me. The first one is a two-legged goat that looks like some sort of strange goat-chicken hybrid.
I can’t really take credit for this artwork — I saw this Chinese Health illustration of the image below, and had to redraw it for a shirt. Other than that, more sledding today, and I registered a new domain — I’ll post it when there’s something to see — to work on the book project. I’ve been slacking a little on that, and I figure if I post the interviews one by one, it’ll break it into manageable pieces and I’ll get this thing done on schedule…
Went sledding after school for a couple hours — after a friend told me at lunch about a childhood acquaintance that died sledding … ack … this definitely went through my mind when I saw a kid today slam into a tree head first at the bottom of the hill, to say nothing of every time Nefarious caught serious air… Significant moguls have been created and the hill is rather treacherous. I think Nefarious rode a total of seven different sleds — the kids always trade them around. I got recognized from the summer as well — one of the kids said, “don’t you have a tattoo on your eye?” Yeah, it makes you memorable. Other than that, I had a terrible fall, and I suspect that after the pain killers wear off I will find myself with an arm that will not allow me to get anything off the top shelf. Not that it will slow me down.
By the way, my camera — an Olympus Stylus 1030 SW — has more than paid for itself… I spent a little bit more to get a camera that’s solidly waterproof and shock proof, and already I’ve had it out dozens of times that would have destroyed my old point-and-click. Definitely a purchase I’m happy with.
