MUSLIMGAUZE

The music of Bryn Jones aka Muslimgauze was & remains of tremendous influence for me;

if it wasn't for discovering his method of layered analog collage, my pages would probably look very different. Talking to one of our colleagues here recently ( hola Muriel! ) who finds his output equally inspiring, we hit upon the idea of putting together a Muslimgauze tribute anthology.

So, any of you up to that?

We have no money, no publisher yet, so not even any bullshit promises of 'exposure' or such, not a single thing to offer beyond a reaffirmation of what good company we keep here.

Sign up in comments section.

"They offered hardship, poverty and danger as the only rewards for joining them. You see, they were not joking!" 

- a character in Lawrence Durrell's 'Monsieur, or, the prince of darkness' describing the Knights Templar.

Since when do they serve such plonk here?

Lovecraftian Cookbook

The Necronomnomnom. Well, I finished the art back in August, but the thing just got printed. I think we sold over 200 at the PAZ Unplugged convention in Philadelphia, and I did a drawing in the back of every book I saw sold.

I didn't write any of the really bad puns or any of the recipes- I was given the recipes and then I did a calligraphy version of them and just made up stuff to fill the page. The basic format of the book is that it's written like a tome of spells, somehow being gathered by a collector and the book itself. There are scrawlings, notes, and musings- most of which are scrawlings, notes and musings I made up as I went. I asked for some direction and there were things that came from the authors that needed to be on certain pages- like discreet shout outs to people who submitted recipes- but was basically given free reign. Somehow there isn't a single recipe with an octopus tentacle in it.

Rat illustration for screenprintatelier soliparty // cookbook release party

Work in progress update

There's a lot more on my personal blog. Since my drawings take very long, I've decided to do these work in progress updates more often. I'm working on many more but the ones I've chosen to show are the most presentable.

it's been a while

"Mr Bones"

back on painting

hey here! happy to find back my access, "login horror"

well, back on painting yes cause i did a few and continue, which's better than one here & then
i think i finally found a good way to color my cartoongory stuff
firstly by using small size panel of wood, 10 or 15cm wide or smaller
onto that i work more or less as illuminators did, using gum, animal glue & egg white, nothing vegan
plus natural colors handmade or not, medieval chemistry & a few experimental colors (such as nickeltitangelb, bleizinngelb or the chinese Han blue)
this iconic way, flat painting is better adapted to drawing than more modern way of painting (ie oily), well it's more or less like "gouache" or maybe acrylic painting, or a mix of that
also this makes me paint quite quickly which is good too!

if you like scientific side, i work here with 3 different sizer (in this order but sometimes 1 or 2 or 3 : animal glue, arabic gum, egg white)
animal glue fix the color for the light, it's opaque and close to water so the color is as it is from the powder
it's also unsoluble so you can work with layers, but opaque
then arabic gum bring enlightement, full color because of brightness, like sugar
as sugar the default is that gum is soluble so you can't work by layers, but this is a tool to work relief & volume by melting colors
then egg white is more brightness which increase translucency, closer to oil
with that you will down the colors but increase deepness
because of being insoluble it's protecting the underlayers but you can't mix colors
but the translucency give you opportunity to work with glazes, the dilution of color is infinite
when dry its opaque and flat but when painting you really approach oil realistic volumes

New sketchbook: #71

My sketches are in full colour, the final artwork is in black/white. And why not.

This is my first design which looks exactly as I wanted, or even better, in fact. I have painted the vein, and the rest is publishers' hard work.
Tights are the first item in the Alraune collection. Their production demanded a lot of ingenuity. Alicja of Wydawnictwo Latające Oko has invented an
innovative printing template and thanks to her efforts tights are done perfectly.
Available in 40 DEN version (pictured) and in limited 15 DEN edition (realistic take for those brave souls).
Everything packed in exclusive boxes or hand-sewn envelopes. Each box additionally contains one (of 12) collector cards.
Send orders to wydawnictwo.lataoko@gmail.com

Santa Águeda de Catania

Waiting game

Pola cover

Well, here goes another attempt to come up with an eye-catching cover for my new book. Usually, i can do a cover lickety split, or it will be torture. This time it's torture.

Catfight

Now, that is unladylike.

Flying nuns over Rotterdam

And now for something different. This clip is from a while ago. It came up again in my feed. Outsider-ish, uncategorisable music from Rotterdam's Harry Merry. The clip was made by my friend Marianne van Maaren, whom i gave some of my flying nuns to play with.

Free Salamander Exhibit Poster

Lemurians are tall

Pola's further adventures take her underground. Lemurians are tall, egg-laying hermaphodites that couple with animals. But that makes their Ancient Knowledge not any less.

Sniffing ether

Sniffing ether: 'when you do it in an artistically sound way, it won't hurt you.'

Pola's world is about to become a bit bigger.

August drawing and old sketches

 Using a properly fine line pen for the first time in many years felt liberating and is encouraging me to try use more different tools.

Recycling old art

A new page that features a character i never had any real use for, although he has been the coverboy for Thank God It's Ugly, an anthology from way back. This was the last issue, from 2001. It was inspired by Aleksei Balabanov's Of Freak And Men, an astonishing film.
Now he has a proper role in Pola's new adventures (despite the improper behaviour). Somehow, i have been reluctant in re-using old material like this. Now i feel liberated, as i am sitting on a pile of unused (or scarcely used) ideas at age 52. It seems even better than to be dependent on other peoples' creative output.

Party like it's 1913

Pola's further adventures in the eternal year of 1913.

expulsion of the egregore

TNT 4

trains not taken 3

New book: Pola

Fiddling about with the cover for my upcoming book. On the left the back cover, which will have some text in the empty spot.

It is intended as a sequel to The 9th Island of 2017, and it features Pola the plucky, curious granddaughter as a young woman,  but it is an entirely different kind of story.