Blast from the Past #340: Man with Tarot card (fanzine drawing)

fanThis is another one of those drawings I did for fanzines in the 1980's, in this case 1983. I drew this one on coquille board, and I think it was a good technique choice, because it allowed me to fairly easily do those crazy "magic vibe" designs around the character holding the tarot card.

I have no distinct memory of the story that this piece was meant to illustrate, but the details in this drawing are so specific, I suspect I paid pretty close attention to what had been written to get all the bits right. 

At least, I hope I did! -- PL

Triceratops no more!!!

Well, no... not really. But I thought I would employ the same type of sensationalist headline which caught my eye about this recent paleontological discovery. Here's the story from the online new source nationalpost.com:

"Triceratops never actually existed, scientists say

Brace yourselves. The famous triceratops dinosaur never actually existed as a separate dinosaur species, paleontologists say.

Known for its three horns and the bony, frilled ridge around its head, the triceratops was most likely just a younger version of the rarer torosaurus, say researchers John Scannella and Jack Horner at the Museum of the Rockies in Montana.

The species were very similar. Both had three horns and each had the distinctive head frill that makes the triceratops famous. But in the torosaurus the horns and ridge were shaped differently, with the ridge appearing smoother and thinner. It also had two holes.

After studying 29 triceratops skulls, the scientists discovered the bone was thinning in the same area where the torosaurus’s holes were. Evidence began mounting as they counted the growth rings in the bones and discovered all the triceratops skulls were from young dinosaurs. What’s more, juvenile specimens of the torosaurus have never been found. They concluded the dinosaurs were actually the same, with the horns and ridge changing shape as the lizard matured.

Triceratops fans shouldn’t despair at the finding, though. Scientists will now reclassify all torosaurus as triceratops."

So if you read down to the last line, you see that it is Torosaurus fans who should be bummed out.

Whew. -- PL

P.S. The artwork here is something I did many years ago for Hampshire Life, and as you probably guessed it was drawn on coquille board.

Blast from the Past #319: Flame sword

These two drawings were very likely done back in the late 1970's or early 1980's, when part of my meager income was derived from illustrations I created for various fanzines. I am not certain that either was ever published (actually, I AM certain that the unfinished inked one wasn't).

Although I have done it a few times, I was never that into doing multiple versions of a drawing -- I guess I just got too bored. But for some reason, I did it with this one. I don't have a clear memory of why, but I suspect this was the first version, drawn in pencil and then partially inked:



For whatever reason, I declined to finish inking this piece. It's likely that as I was inking it, I saw that it might benefit from the more easily obtainable lighting effects possible with a different media, specifically the coquille board I was experimenting with around that time. So out came my trusty homemade light table, and I transferred the basic image to a piece of the coquille board and finished it thusly. -- PL

Blast from the Past #290: "Chickens" cover for Hampshire Life

This is another piece done on coquille board, in this case as a cover for "Hampshire Life". I like the egg-shaped doorway to the chicken coop.



Although it's difficult to see in this image, I also used a small piece of Chartpak pattern film -- the kind with opaque white dots instead of black dots -- to fade out the silhouette of the trees in the background. I usually didn't combine media like this.

I also found in my archives these rough sketches I did while trying to work out the idea for this cover drawing. (Don't ask me what that strange face in the upper right hand corner is doing there -- it's probably just a random doodle having nothing to do with the work I was supposed to be doing.) -- PL

Blast from the Past #287: Gourds on coquille board

I recently found this piece in my files, framed it, and hung it on the wall in our kitchen. It's almost certainly something I did for "Hampshire Life", but there is a remote possibility that I drew it for a "Big Y" advertisement.



I especially like the "flying saucer"-shaped gourd on the lower left -- not sure what kind that is. -- PL

Blast from the Past #279: Fruit bowls on coquille board

These two drawings, done on coquille board, were created back in the late 1970's or early 1980's for a local chain of supermarkets called "Big Y" and used in advertising circulars.





I was given two sample fuit bowls by the local Big Y supermarket to use as reference for these drawings. That was pretty nifty, as I got to eat the fruit after drawing it! For a "starving artist", that was a nice perk. -- PL