Category: Artist

Death Upon Death: Johnny Dombrowski

Stefanie Snider

©Johnny Dombrowski
Death Upon Death, ©Johnny Dombrowski

“Throughout art history, the skull has had such a strong symbolism attached to change, fear and of course, death. As a mark of everything from mortality to just basic evil, it was an iconic image not to be trifled with. Lately, on the other hand, it’s become increasingly trendy. The skull has become one of the most common images in artwork today. Is the strength behind those 22 bones dying? Is it becoming just another cliché? With it’s recent repetition, are we shattering everything that the skull stood for?”

I love this artist’s style; it reminds me of the old fifties’ horror comics I grew up on.

See more at johnnydombrowski.com

Fuck Yeah.

Stefanie Snider

“This picture I’m gonna do right now is gonna suck, but I’m gonna do it anyways, just to see how bad it’s gonna look.
Fuck yeah.

I may do something REALLY good maybe once a month, but then I completely screw it up once I color it.
Fuck yeah.

I love art.
Fuck yeah.”

by forums user kool-ka-lang on Conceptart.org. Read the rest here, get pumped, and get creating.

The Most Prolific Author You’ve Never Heard Of

Stefanie Snider

Henry Darger. Ever heard of him? I hadn’t either. I was browsing online and stumbled across his story. Immediately, I was in awe at the sheer dedication he showed as an author.

But you’ll never see his work in bookstores.

You’ll never see it, because his most famous epic, The Story of the Vivian Girls, in What is known as the Realms of the Unreal, of the Glandeco-Angelinian War Storm, Caused by the Child Slave Rebellion is 15,145 single-spaced pages long. Not only did this unassuming man (a janitor by day) manage to pen more words in one epic than many will during their entire lives, he also painted hundreds of pictures to accompany it, which went on in turn to influence other artists.

Oh, by the way…he then went on to write a sequel that exceeded 10,000 pages.

And then a semi-fictional autobiography topping out at 4878 pages.

A documentary about the man and his work, In the Realms of the Unreal, was released in 2004.

What have you done lately?

The Monstrous Dolls of Shain Erin

Stefanie Snider

Oracle (Power Figure)

Babette the Beastly Beauty

Christina - Ghost Art Doll Figurine

Hauntingly beautiful. See more here.
(May be reproduced only with Creative Commons License, available here.)

Horror in Porcelain: the Dolls of Jessica Harrison

Stefanie Snider

This ain’t your Grandma’s knickknack. Unless your Grandma’s awesome.

Artist Jessica Harrison buys old porcelain figures and repurposes them: adds some guts here, slices a throat there. The result? Not something you’re gonna see on the Shopping Network anytime soon.

More butchered beauties at JessicaHarrison.co.uk.

(via Bored Panda)

Writers: Protect Yourselves from Pirates

Stefanie Snider

“…make you a fortune”? I had no idea it would be so simple; sign me up!

Via Wikipedia.

Face Off

Stefanie Snider

I don’t tend to watch much tv, but what I do watch is almost always arts-based reality competition. I just love watching people making things.

Somehow I completely missed the new season of Face Off. I find it so interesting to see the behind-the-scenes of movie makeup application, and how the artists can take some latex and paint and make us believe in aliens and monsters.

Since I’m sick as a dog today, and don’t see myself getting my planned writing done, I thought I’d catch up. If you want to join me, the Canadian link is here.

Joshua Hoffine’s Persephone

Stefanie Snider

Joshua Hoffine takes the most distinctive horror photos I’ve seen. If you’ve ever come across a horror photo that made your skin prickle, chances are it was one of his. His work explores both childhood fears and those of adults, with everything from the monster under the bed to the killer through the keyhole.

He’s back, with Persephone.

©Joshua Hoffine 2012

Click the photo to visit his blog, and see the behind-the-scenes of the shoot. Or try JoshuaHoffine.com to view his other work, and to purchase prints.

Hitchers

Stefanie Snider


Illustration ©2011-2012 *WolfesClothing

This is the cover art for Hitchers, a book by Will McIntosh. To be honest, I hadn’t heard of the book before, but when I came across this illustration I was immediately interested. It’s one of those pieces that grabs (HAH! GET IT?) your attention right away. The contrast between the eyes of the character, tinged red, against the glowing eyes of the ghost (?) is fantastic. Click on the picture to visit the original source and see it in a larger size.

This kind of art always makes me a little bummed that I can’t draw anything recognizable, and intensely jealous of those who can.

(via Fuck Yeah Illustration)

Romancing the Moleskine

Stefanie Snider

If you’re not a huge stationery dork like I am, you may not have heard of Moleskine notebooks. (You also may have seen their exorbitant price tag and walked away, like the sensible person I am not.)

The story goes that they were the notebooks used by the greats (Hemingway! Van Gogh! Picasso! Matisse!), although the story has been refuted.

Regardless, I love love love them. The paper is smooth and lovely and not a terrifying white that screams I AM BLANK! YOU WILL NEVER FILL ME! but rather a mellow yellow that whispers Relax, you got this.

Why am I blogging what amounts to a product placement?

BECAUSE

without a Moleskine, I would have nothing to put inside THIS:

copyright engraveyourbook.com

I needs it. I needs it bad, Precious.
(Click to view other styles, but never, ever tell me if you get one before I do. I’m not a pretty crier.)