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.



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. ;)



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



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 (reminds me of Ziggy Stardust-era David Bowie)



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



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.



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!