A Graphic Expose- A Few of My Favorite Things
Artist Spotlight
This past week was blistering hot and kept a lot of people in doors, including me. The few moments outside made me glad to find an air conditioned place, if only for a few minutes. I prefer warmer weather to cold weather, but this was a bit much even for my heat seeking body.
During the week, I began sorting through some old boxes (ugh), hate doing it, but after seeing an episode of hoarders, it made me want to clean the clutter. As an artist, sometimes its hard to throw things away, so I made an effort to not keep clutter around more than 90 days. That sounds weird, but if the item hasn't been used in 90 days, it's purpose is re-evaluated and it is then filed away, stored or tossed. Can't keep things forever, even though I try.
I have a nice collection of books such as Gregory Maguire, the guy who wrote Wicked. He has written other novels based on fairy tales and classic stories like Cinderella. I also found my graphic novels. Call me a geek, or weird (I learned to embrace the terms), but I'm an avid comic book fan. There is a graphic novel called Fables which tells the story of fairy tales living in a parallel existence to humans. Kind of similar to the witches world that is invisible to the "muggles" in Harry Potter. Ever wonder what Old King Cole, Prince Charming and Red Ridding hood do every day? Fables, is the book to read. Another novel series is Vampire Hunter D. An early 80's vampire slayer, who was a half human, half vampire nomad that went around the country side vanquishing vampires who terrorized the locals. Vampire Hunter D had a few animated movies, depicting him as a beautiful, quiet but deadly man. The novels are written with the same breath taking depiction of him and his smooth moves. The movies were shown late night on Adult Swim. This Vampire series is also printed in Manga style, for those who like a backwards visual. (Manga style books read from back to front.) |
| Den by Corben |
In my graphic novel collection, I have all of Neil Gaiman's The Sandman, and all the spin offs that included the Endless, which consists of Morpheus/Dream and his 6 siblings, all their names reflect a human affectation,(destruction, despair, delirium, desire, death, destiny). Its somewhat dark, but dreamy!I found my Heavy Metal magazines (secretly, I'm a closet semi-goth chick!). Den, one of my favorite stories featured in the magazine, is accompanied by the stellar art of Richard Corben. Its a little explicit, but a good story. I was/am so wowed by the art, that I didn't really care about the story line. I did eventually read the story! That's what good eye candy will do for ya! I remember when HBO showed Heavy Metal the Movie, it was a movie premiere that everyone was talking about. I was 16 when it came out! ooh the date stamp went cha chink!
Being the researcher that I am, thought I would look up some of the terrific artwork and artist information. Didn't want it to sound autobiographical, but these writers/illustrators have amazing careers and deserve to be properly represented. Perhaps you've seen their work, and didn't know who did it. Most of the illustrators from the early-mid 80's and 90's who had their work in Heavy Metal are still out there producing.
I'm still a comic collector even though my hard earned cash goes more towards my artistic endeavors and maintaining my existence than my reading pleasure. There is an urge to correct this discrepancy, but I must be careful, going into a comic book store is like giving a recovering addict a fix. This excursion could prove to be painful in the pockets, the words "everything in moderation" are words that go out the window when one is finding missed issues of their favorite comics and graphic novels. Afterwards, I would be grinning and giggling..no cackling like a lunatic and punch drunk happy.(not a good look for a woman my age!) Aah, if only we could spend our money on such frivolous joy!
Artists Spotlight this week is on my favorite artist/illustrators/writers accompanied by a little background information about them.
Julie and her husband, Boris Vallejo, have done many paintings for advertising campaigns such as Nike, Inc., Coca-Cola, and Toyota. She has painted the covers for two albums by musician, Meat Loaf: Bat Out Of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose and Hang Cool Teddy Bear.
 |
| Den |
was born on a farm in Anderson, Missouri, and went on to get a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Kansas City Art Institute, in 1965.
After working as a professional animator, Corben started doing underground comics, including Grim Wit, Slow Death, Skull, Rowlf, Fever Dreams and his own anthology Fantagor.In 1970 he began illustrating horror and science-fiction stories for Warren Publishing. His stories appeared in Creepy,Eerie, Vampirella, 1984 and Comix International. He also colored several episodes of Will Eisner's Spirit.
In 1975, when Moebius, Druillet, and Jean-Pierre Dionnet started publishing the magazine Métal Hurlant in France, Corben submitted some of his stories to them. He continued his work for the franchise in America, where the magazine was called Heavy Metal. In 1976 he adapted a short Robert E. Howard story in an early graphic novel, Bloodstar. From 1986–1994 Corben operated his own publishing imprint, Fantagor Press. Among the titles Fantagor published were Den, Den Saga, Horror in the Dark, Rip in Time, and Son of Mutant World. Fantagor went out of business after the 1994 contraction of the comics industry.
Ever the independent, Corben would work with rocker Rob Zombie and Steve Niles in 2005 on a project for IDW Publishing called Bigfoot. The graphic series ran for five issues and demonstrates the artist's evolution. The story chronicles a young boy who witnesses the brutal slaughter of his parents by the enigmatic title character and his return to the forest for revenge when he becomes older.
In 2007, Corben did a two issue run on Marvel Comics' surreal demon biker, Ghost Rider. At Marvel's MAX imprint he has produced Haunt of Horror,mini-series adapting classic works of horror to comics. The first mini-series, published in 2006, was based on the stories of Edgar Allan Poe followed by a second series in 2008 adapting works by H. P. Lovecraft. Between 2008 and 2009 he illustrated the flashback sequences in Conan of Cimmeria#1-7, collected as Conan Volume 7: Cimmeria. In 2009 he illustrated Starr the Slayer for Marvel's MAX comics imprint.
"Den" is the name of two characters: The hero featured in the short film Neverwhere; and the identical hero featured in all the subsequent comics.
"Olivia De
Berardinis" (November 1948 -) is an American artist known for paintings of women, often referred to
as pinup or cheesecake art.
She has been working in this genre since the mid-70's. Since 2004 Olivia has
been a monthly contributor to Playboy
Magazine, where her art pinup page
appears with captions written by Hugh Hefner.
Neil Gaiman
The Sandman's main
character is Dream, the
Lord of Dreams (also known, to various characters throughout the series, as Morpheus, Oneiros, the Shaper, the Shaper of Form, Lord
of the Dreaming, the Dream King, Dream-Sneak, Dream Cat, Murphy, Kai'ckul, and
Lord L'Zoril), who is essentially the anthropomorphic personification of dreams. At the
start of the series, Morpheus is captured by an occult ritual and held prisoner
for 70 years. Morpheus escapes in the modern day and, after avenging himself
upon his captors, sets about rebuilding his kingdom, which has fallen into
disrepair in his absence. Gaiman himself has summarized the plot of the series
(in the foreword to Endless Nights) as
"The Lord of Dreams learns that one must change or die, and makes his
decision."
The character's initial haughty
and often cruel manner begins to soften after his years of imprisonment at the
start of the series, but the challenge of undoing past sins and changing old
ways is an enormous one for a being who has been set in his ways for billions
of years. In its beginnings, the series is a very dark horror comic. Later, the
series evolves into an elaborate fantasy series, incorporating elements of classical and
contemporary mythology,
ultimately placing its protagonist in the role of a tragic
hero.
The storylines primarily take
place in the Dreaming, Morpheus's realm, and the waking world,
with occasional visits to other domains, such as Hell, Faerie, Asgard, and the domains of the other Endless. Many use the
contemporary United States of America and the United Kingdom as a backdrop. The DC
Universe was the
official setting of the series, but well-known DC characters and places were
rarely featured after 1990. A notable exception is Lyta Hall, formerly Fury of the 1980s super-team Infinity,
Inc., who figures prominently in the "Kindly Ones" story
arc, and her superhuman abilities are not ignored.
Most of the storylines take place
in modern times, but many short stories are set in the past, taking advantage
of the immortal nature of many of the characters, and deal with historical
individuals and events such as in the short story "Men of Good
Fortune."
Biographies from Wikipedia On-line Encyclopedia, except where noted.
Roberta Gregory
MEET BITCHY BITCH, my most
well-known cartoon character: a short-tempered, foul-mouthed middle-aged “everywoman.”
When I first started drawing her about 20 years ago, many of my readers
were put off by her harshness, the frankness (and dark humor) of the stories
and the scratchy artwork. Soon, most of my readers became Bitchy’s fans! She
did start out as a one-note joke, but went on to star in 40 issues of my
Naughty Bits comic books and several
trade paperback collections (published by Fantagraphics until 2005) with a
storyline that made her into a very human character, through all the stages of
her life-- people still write to me saying they miss her! Fortunately, I am
writing (and will hopefully soon draw) an original graphic novel starring
Bitchy. So, be patient...c novel starring Bitchy. So, be patient...
Biography from Roberta Gregory.com
As you can see, I deviated from going through my boxes, instead I ended up looking at old copies of favorite books, graphic novels and magazines and managing to stay cool during the intense heat. My topics of interest may have a wide range, same as my musical preferences, but I think illustrators are cool, despite the fact this is a overly male dominated field. More and more women are getting into comics, illustration and animation which is great thing cause there will be more out there to experience. I know this isn't every one's cup of tea, but I believe in expanding horizons. Take a look into reading something a little more creatively expressed. Let your imagination soar and give your outlook a new view.
EXPLORE YOUR WORLD!
Thank you for reading my blog! chat again with you soon. Next post will have a review of the current exhibit at Touchstone and a few other art oddities to come your way. Until next time, see you...
Same blog time, Same blog channel!
No comments:
Post a Comment