Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Thursday, May 13, 2010
ORANGE TREE FORESTS (PART 1)
Here's (above) part of the cover of a recent kids book, "Where is the Cake?" by T. T. Khing. Cartoonists who read this are going to think I'm nuts for posting about it because the color and cartooning in the book are pretty weak. Believe me, I'm aware of that, but I'm going to ask you to ignore that and concentrate instead on what the artist does well, which is imaginative topography.
Take a look at that forest. Look at how small and densely-packed the trees are. Notice how it's simultaneously attractive and frightening. There really are forests like this; in fact, I live near an orange grove that's like that. This whole book is a celebration of the concept of miniature forests.
BTW, note the size of the house, which is perfectly in sync with the size of the forest. It's hardly bigger than a tool shed. The artist rightly perceives that this is the correct size for houses in tiny forests. Extra rooms should be underground where they don't get in the way. The outdoor table and chair are great additions.
AN ORANGE TREE FOREST (PART 2)
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
AN ORANGE TREE FOREST (PART 3)
Above, the momentum of the hedgerows (trees) suddenly stops at the base of the steep little hills. Nothing to do but climb over them, something kids would be only too happy to do. Of course the hills would have to appear more natural than they do here. |
Here (above) we see monkeys running across the treetops like they were paved roads. Hmmmm, that's interesting. I guess if you had planks up there, you really could run along the tops of this kind of tree. At least if you were a kid you could. BTW, check out the shapes and spaces in this picture. Small, densely-packed trees stand like grazing cattle on closely mowed grass. Narrow little paths wind around the scene, giving scale to everything, and the ground is only an inch higher than the creek. I've never seen flat look so appealing. Notice the two trees at the top that form an entrance way to the scene, and another appearance of those steep little hills in the background. Could a real landscape be made to look like this? |
I hear you saying, "'Not a very handsome page," and you're right...but wait, what's that in the top of the tree? Monkeys...and they're sitting on the top of the palm tree! It never occurred to me til now that you could fasten a chair to the top of a palm tree and sit in it, just watching life go by on the ground. Of course you'd have to share the space with rats and spiders. I'll bet the spiders get as big as crabs up there. |
Saturday, May 08, 2010
AN EXPERIMENT
'Just an experiment to see if I could "glue" two halves of a picture together in a single post.
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This is my favorite Mad cover ever. Buyers must have felt that they got their money's worth just for the cover, and everything inside was free. I can't wait to see how this will interfere with the right sidebar. Don't blame Blogger. It's my fault...I want to watch the collision. |
Friday, May 07, 2010
MORE MAPS (PART 1)
I hadn't intended to put up more maps, but I just came across a treasure trove of interesting cartography, and I couldn't resist putting up some examples here. The map above is Japanese, from the time of World War l. |
Above, a detail showing Western Europe. Note the arrows in Germany, including an arrow labled "Japan." What does that refer to? I did all this research in an attempt to answer Katie's request for the address of the guy selling posters of Keith Thompson's "The Great War 1914," shown in a post below. I finally found it: http://www.keiththompsonart.com/pages/grandmap.html The price seems steep considering the size of the poster, which is only 13" X 19." On the other hand, if the poster is half as beautiful as the reproduction on this site, it'll be worth it. |
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