Sunday, December 20, 2009

Steve's Book

I hope I finish this post before my Internet connection craps out! We haven't had Internet for a few days now, but it seems to be up at the moment (thank you, local cable company monopoly!) so hopefully I can post my photos.

I took a couple extra days on this, but I e-mailed Milo and she assured me she wouldn't get to the book right away anyway, so I hope we're good.

Collab with Mike

Luckily I saved Mike's collaboration page for last. He was nice enough to include leftover scraps of paper that he used on his skeletons and I was trying to think how I might use them. But, Thursday night as I was finishing up the other pieces in the book, I was watching CSI and the Johnny Cash song, 'When the Man Comes Around' was used in the episode. When I heard the line "Some are born and some are dying / It's Alpha and Omega's kingdom come", I knew I had to use the song as inspiration to finish the piece. I'm leaving the paper scraps in the book in case someone else comes up with a way to use them - I think it'd be really cool, I just had to go with The Man in Black when he called. ;)

Driving Ace of Spades

The Driving Ace of Spades - a hybrid playing card inspired by my favorite card game, Mille Bornes.

Jack the Ripper of Diamonds

Jack the Ripper of Diamonds. I went back and forth considering giving my playing cards the faces of famous people, but I gave up on the idea because I lost confidence in my ability to do a likeness on command. I don't know why I chickened out on it, because I can do it when I want to, but when it's someone else's book and the pressure's on, I shy away. Anyway, even though I didn't intend it, each of the cards ended up reminding me of someone - though not necessarily anyone I would have chosen to use. So it's entirely coincidental that Jack the Ripper here reminds me of Jack White.

The Red Queen of Clubs

The Red Queen of Clubs (reminds me of Ziggy Stardust-era David Bowie)

Suicide King of Hearts

Suicide King of Hearts (did remind me of Dave Navarro, though not so much now)

Joker collab - 1st half

This is the first half of the collaboration I'm leaving for Milo. I like the colors, though the texture is still pretty shaky. I'm getting better at controlling my washes, but DARN I'm rusty.

Includes

I realized I hadn't mentioned anything about the bonus stuff I'm putting in people's pockets. I have lots of printed material around, so by default I'm including an envelope with some of my trading cards and stickers. In addition, as the inspiration takes me, I toss a postcard or other print in the pocket. In Steve's case, I really love his splotch monsters, and I thought robots go with monsters pretty well, so I tossed in a couple of my robots. (not pictured)

MAN, I really do ramble a lot. I tried to keep this post brief and look at me rambling on. TL;DR! ;) Have a Merry Christmas and whatnot everyone!

7 comments:

Unknown said...

this is so awesome, I love the theme and well - everything really, the color choices, the rendering - it's all beautiful.

I especially like the suicidal king of heart.

Mike Kline said...

All of these are fantastic! I love how each card demands attention. I find myself staring at them in awe and a continual focus of visual interest. One word: SWEET... I look forward to Milo's Joker challenge.

Mary Stebbins Taitt said...

The playing cards, especiall with the characters, are truly awesome and wonderful. The King of hearts in my favorite and Jack the ripper next. They are all really fun!

steve said...

I really don't know what to say - this work is A MAZING! Seriously, the work you put into these books! Really, I feel very fortunate to be a part of this exchange. Thank you!!

ballookey said...

Aww, you guys are really sweet. I genuinely felt a little bad about these because I was basically getting re-acquainted with watercolors and poor Steve: His book was my guinea pig. But your comments have made me feel better about them. The King still stands out as the best one - I agree.

I won't point them out, but I guess my problem is that I can only see the flaws and mistakes.

Thanks for the kind comments! :)

Mary Stebbins Taitt said...

They sure look good to me--and the treats look like fun too!

henniemavis said...

Ballook, you kill me every time you claim to be "rusty" at certain materials or techniques. We should all be so lucky to shine like this when "rusty!" Nice work... your concepts are as titillating as your presentation :-)