Children's Books Display - Part 4

In order to make the whole process easier to convey, I've had to take liberties with the actual order that things were done in order to create a sense of linearity. The fact of the matter is that I was often working on several elements simultaneously. This way I didn't waste a lot of time in waiting for things to dry before I could do further work on them. A large chunk of time spent on this project involved waiting for paper mache to dry, or paint, or glue, so it made sense to have several things going at once.

At the same time I was working on the tree, I was also working on the creatures which would be inhabiting it. This included a raccoon, two birds, two bees and a hive, and an opossum.



The raccoon ended up being pretty easy. I only had to build his head, arms, and upper torso, since he'd be emerging from the hole in the tree, resting on the rim as if he were leaning on a window sill watching the world going by around him.

For the paper mache I used a basic formula of boiling water, then adding in a diluted mixture of water and flour which was then heated until it became a thick paste. Once this cooled to room temperature, it was easy to work with. The newspaper was torn into strips of various length and used accordingly.



After the paper macheing was completed, everything had to be primed. This step also revealed any flaws in the paper macheing; areas where the newspaper had lifted, or created holes, or areas that just weren't smooth enough. This is why there are newspaper patches on the primed raccoon -- touch-ups, which were then primed before...


...the actual painting. Here's the painted raccoon before his eyes were added.


Here's the rough construction of the other tree animals. Left to Right: The opossum, two birds, bee hive, and bees. They were essentially balled up newspaper and masking tape, with cardboard accents. The opossum had a heavy gauge florist wire tail, and thinner wire for the hands which were added later in the process.

Sadly, this is one of the few images I have to offer of the basic construction stage of the characters created for this display. I took plenty of pictures of each stage of the others, but my son accidentally erased all of the pictures from our digital camera before I had a chance to download them onto my computer. The same process applied to most of the others. A frame was made of cardboard and newspaper, with wire as necessary, then covered with paper mache.



Here are the bees with cereal box wings attached, being paper mached to thin florist wire, which is attached to the bee hive itself. The bee hive is essentially a couple of balled up pages of newspaper, with a sheet of newspaper wrapped around them. Once dry, and with a thick shell, a hole was cut in the hive and the interior balls of paper were removed through this hole, making the whole thing hollow.



Here is the opossum at it's initial priming stage. This was the first animal I began to put together and nearly the last to be completed. Trying to paper mache all of those fingers and toes, none of which was quite an inch long was difficult and tedious, so I was constantly deferring its completion. In the end it was the character I was least happy with, and the one with the most visible errors. Fortunately its placement in the tree, and the fact that it would later be holding a book, masked a lot of the mistakes from view.

Children's Books Display - Part 3

I decided to begin with the largest object, which happened to be the tree, and work my way right. My reasoning was that it would be easier to scale everything accordingly if I worked my way down in size.


The raw materials which made up the tree were a bunch of thick cardboard tubes of varying thickness, and some cardboard sheets which would be used for the roots.



Since the tree could not be any taller than four feet at it's highest point, I tried to vary the length and angle of the branches in order to create the illusion of the tree having more height than it actually did. Here, I simply positioned the branches on the trunk, using a simple method of notching the branches, where they meet the trunk, with a box cutter and then slotting them onto the trunk..



After numbering the branches, and marking their locations, I screwed some wooden blocks onto the inside base of the trunk. A platform would later be screwed onto the base of the tree (anchored to these blocks). This platform would then be screwed down to the top of the archway in the store.



Next a hole was cut into the trunk where the raccoon would be placed. The two screws seen just below the hole mark where another wooden block was mounted inside. The raccoon will be mounted to this block.



Frames for the roots were cut from cardboard boxes and affixed to the side of the trunk with packing tape. You can see the placement markings for each of the branches.



Before starting the paper mache process, I repositioned the branches one more time, in order to see if any of them interfered with the interior of the hole and where the raccoon would be placed. A couple of them were trimmed at the bottom to such a length that didn't compromise stability, but short enough that I could camouflage their presence later on.



Once again, the branches were removed and the trunk was paper mached. This of course meant that the numbered markers for the branches was no longer visible.



Thanks to digital photography, I was able to recreate the placement of the branches anyway, though I ended up repositioning them slightly anyway. These then were paper mached to the trunk. Wadded up pages of newspaper were paper mached beneath a couple of the branches where they meet the trunk in order to give them a more natural appearance. This tree was by no means meant to resemble a real tree, but even as a stylistic tree, the branches merely jutting out in their natural tube shapes seemed jarring, unnatural, and in no way disguised the elements from which they were created.




Once everything was paper mached, and dried, the tedious process of attaching the leaf stems began. The stems themselves were made from medium heavy florist wire (I don't recall the specific gauge). I cut the wire into roughly 4-inch lengths, and twisted an angled c-shaped curve at one end. This curve was then taped to the branch with masking tape and then covered with paper mache for strength and stability. Since this tree was stylistic, I decided to space them evenly around the branches. There were about 98 of these stems, so the work seemed somewhat endless.

Children's Books Display - Part 2

Here's the area of the store that I designated for the children's display. The two alcoves had always been pretty much dead spaces no matter what the store used them for. No one ever went in them. The one on the left had been used for a small collection of Spanish language books, and sale books. About six months ago, I shifted the Young Adult Fantasy to this area, as well as the books of folktales and legends. The table was used to display items from the various sections of the children's book collection. Still, the problem remained that the area needed to be unified, as the children's books were now in two alcoves a large display area seen in the center foreground, as well as a shelf to the right (not visible in this photo) and there needed to be a way to make the alcoves more inviting, especially to children.

I began toying with the idea of creating some sort of 3D installation piece to connect the two alcoves, and get kids to not only want to linger in the alcoves beneath it, but to want to keep coming back to the store, even if only on the pretense of seeing the display.






The initial sketches were simply attempts at getting comfortable with the architecture, and simply playing with shapes and forms to unify them, such as the cloud/shrub form in the top sketch meant to somehow bridge the two arches/alcoves and bring them together. Several animal and creature ideas were played with and eventually discarded, such as a large bird and a dragon.

I initially liked the idea of a dragon that would look down at the kids from its perch, its face and tail tantalizingly just out of their reach. The reality though was that the width of the space atop the archway was only seven inches wide, which would have given the dragon grotesque proportions, or given me an engineering problem I wasn't willing to wrestle with, which would be on figuring out a way to have a much larger figure safely perched on such a narrow space. I opted to reduce the scale of the characters to something more suited to the narrow dimensions of the space.

I then decided on a literal bridge, and the rest fell into place pretty quickly. There was originally going to be a number of characters suspended from the air as well including birds, a rocket, a blimp, a fairy, and a man on a flying carpet. I realized that their spinning on the end of a piece of fishing line, or simple remaining in place in a fixed pose would detract from any illusion of life rather than contribute to it, so they two were dropped.



Once the final rough idea was presented and okayed, I set about measuring every detail of the space I would be working in, which was crucial, obviously. It was then that I learned that there was actually less room than there appeared to be. The maximum height for any object was four feet, and there were lights to consider as well. Once this was done, I was ready to start building the elements of the installation.

Children's Books Display - Part 1

After toiling away for the past month and a half, or so, the installation piece I created for the Shaman Drum Bookshop is finally completed and installed.

It took about seven and a half hours to install, including mishaps such as a drill battery which died less than halfway through the installation, and other tools completely left behind at home, and the single casualty seen in the bottom two photos. This monster character meant to bring up the rear, behind the robot, snapped off at the ankle. It's an easy repair job, and I'm glad that this was the worst damage to happen.

In addition to the main diplay itself, I also put up an accompnying window display seen here. The monkey in the window, and, perhaps, the boy will be moved to the main installation at the end of October. The monster from "Space Giants" my son has claimed for his bedroom, though I thought ebay would be a better home for it.





Beginning tomorrow, I'm going to start posting the step by step process in creating this piece from the sketch shown here, to the final installation. There will be plenty of detailed pictures as well, so you'll get a better look at everything.

Curious George

Here's a collage I did about a month ago of an iconic image from the book "Curious George." I've found myself increasingly irritated by George being constantly referred to as the curious little monkey, because he's not a monkey, he's an ape.

Just one of my little pet peeves.

Pee-Wee's Playhouse Turns 20!!

Today, one of the greatest television shows of all time turns 20 years old, making me feel old considering I watched this in college. For this entry I'd have loved to written an essay truly worthy of this moment, dig into my collection of Pee-Wee memorabilia, and rare images, and created a panaromic collage of the playhouse and it's inhabitants, but I can't (see my previous post for why not). So no odes to Jambi, Reba, Zyzzybalooba, or that French guy singing the yippy-yai-yai-yai-yippy-aye song, which still gets stuck in my head two decades later. No reminders that this show launched the careers of Laurence Fishburne and Rob Zmbie (to name 2). No nothing.

Let me just say thank you to Paul Reubens, and to all his collaborators, and to the tv executives who were smart enough to let him do what he wanted.

The only thing that would make this day perfect is if someone would tell me when that deluxe box set of the entire show is coming out on DVD. The bare bones version is fine and all, but I want more.

Here's a link to the official site .

Do yourself a favor and watch some Pee-Wee's Playhouse today.

For Your Amusement

I've been too busy trying to bring a couple of paying projects to a close, so no "Fun With Scissors" this week. I hope to put up TWO cartoon character collages next week to make up for it, if everything goes according to plan.

In the meantime, amuse yourself with this trio of links to science and mime. Here's information on what's certain to be the most entertaining movie of the year , the official website of the greatest mime troupe of all time , and if you scoff at the credibility of all manner of death defying stunts and gimmicks in the movies you watch, besides just revelling in your own superiority, check out what the experts have to say .

Cthulhu Lives!

...or does he? Find out the scoop here!

Fun With Scissors - part 107

Here's Dr. I.Q. Hi, Secretary of the Stratosphere, the man who sent Duck Dodgers out to secure illudium fosdex, the shaving cream atom, in "Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2 Century."

I don't know if anyone else ever noticed, but "Stratosphere" is spelled wrong in this cartoon. On the background outside of I.Q. Hi's office, it's spelled "Stratospere."

Of course, the stratospere could actually be something discovered between now and the 24 1/2 Century, much like illudium fosdex, which is not on any of our current periodic tables of the elements.

Almost Finished!

I'm not sure if the heading for this post refers to me, or one of the projects which has dominated much of my summer. I mentioned in a previous post that I was working on a fairly elaborate installation piece to spruce up the children's book section of the Shaman Drum Bookshop in Ann Arbor, MI. I had a week long setback due to weather (high humidity and papier-mache in need of drying do not mix) but have finally reached a point where I feel like I'm approaching the finish line. All but two of the figures are constructed, leaving just some painting and accessory assemblage before the entire piece can be installed.

Mostly I've really enjoyed the experience, but simultaneously, I'll really be glad when it's over. At that point I'll start posting a step by step process of the entire thing.

In the meantime, here's a monkey I constructed for the piece.

Fun With Scissors - part 106

Here's Speedy Gonzalez's cousin Slowpoke Rodriguez.

Monsters From The Vault #22

The new issue of Monsters From the Vault is available. While I didn't write any articles or reviiews for this issue (my presence is still there in spirit) I wanted to take the time to impress upon anyone interested in classic horror cinema, that this magazine is a must have. Well researched and written by the leading scholars in the field, it's also magnificently designed with a wealth of rare photos.

If you have a Tower Records nearby, you can pick up an issue there. Otherwise I recommend Creepy Classics my favorite source for classic horror DVDs and magazines. You can also get a copy direct from the source at Monsters From The Vault where subscription information is available.

Please tell either of these merchants that I sent you.

Fun With Scissors - part 105

Here's Tornado Man from "The Mighty Heroes." You can tell it's Tornado Man because he has a big yellow letter "H" on his chest.

In Comic Book Stores Today

One of the questions I'm asked most often is which of my comic book stories is my favorite? I don't have any definite answer to that, though I can usually manage to name a handful of which I was pleased with the outcome.

One of them is a short Dexter's Laboratory story called "It Lurks in the Night" which is something of a tribute to late night horror hosts and the days before VCRs when you had to wait for a movie to show up on television (on one of 6 channels) if you wanted to see it. If it was on in the middle of the night, you set your alarm clock. if you were a kid, you had to be sneaky, too. I'm convinced that this phenomenon is my generation's equivalent of walking two miles to school everyday, uphill in both directions through three feet of snow.

"It Lurks in the Night" is available today in CARTOON NETWORK BLOCK PARTY #24.

H.P. Lovecraft

Today is the birthday of Howard Phillips Lovecraft (1890-1937). Lovecraft is best known for his Cthulhu Mythos concerning the Great Old Ones, tremendous, monstrous god-like beings from beyond space with names such as Shub Niggurath, Yog-Sothoth, Nyarlathotep, Azathoth, Dagon, and Cthulhu. These gods are not our friends. Most of what we learn about them is discerned from the musty pages of "The Necronimicon" a fictional book created by Lovecraft and attributed to the mad Arab, Abdul Alhazared. "The Necronimicon" is a musty old tome filled with things man was not meant to know, and usually locked away in the deepest archives of old scholarly libraries, including those in Arkham, Massachusetts.

While some may argue that his writing style is somewhat lacking, there is no doubt that he remains one of, if not the, most influential horror writers (or writer of weird tales)of all time.

Celebrate today by reading one of his stories , or if you are in the Austin, Texas are, you could attend the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival .

Personally, I highly recommend the short, silent film "The Call of Cthulhu" made by members of the The H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society available through their website or through Lurker Films. Both places also have all sorts of other cool Lovecraft items for sale. If you order, feel free to get me something too.

Phn'glui M'gl wna'f Cthulhu R'lyeh Wgha Nagl Ftaghn

Illustration Friday - Play

A week late, here's a piece I put together for last week's Illustration Friday topic, "play."

I don't normally use representational objects as themselves when I collage, but just decided to go with the grass as grass. I think it worked pretty well. I don't know what happened with my scanner and the upper right corner. i guess it's time to think obout putting that tempermental piece of machinery out to pasture. In actuality the blue is all one uniform color.

Fun With Scissors - part 104

For the SCOOBY-DOO comic book, when dealing with the character of accident prone, Daphne Blake, I always gave her the task of asking any questions that weren't of a technical nature (questions Velma or Freddie would ask) during an investigation-- reporter questions; who, what, where, when, and how? She also tended to be the empathetic one, comforting and reassuring the victims of the ghosts and monsters.

This isn't to say that I didn't embrace her ability to trip into a trap door at a moment's notice. I even had one story in which the Mystery Inc. gang couldn't find a secret entrance, so Freddie purposely bumped into Daphne, so that thrown off balance, she'd stumble onto the hidden switch which opened the door.

I'm not sure how I feel about her hair, so any feedback on that would be welcome. Using real red hair for the character of Gravity Girl worked great, so I thought I'd try it again here, but I'm not so sure. I may just redo it with plain orange paper.

I also scanned Daphne before I glued her hair on so you can see what she'd look like with Bettie Page black hair.

Weinermobile

This past Friday I was able to check off another item from my wish list of cultural experiences as I encountered the Weinermobile.

Weighing as much as a million (presumably Oscar Meyer brand) hot dogs, this baby sits on a Chevrolet W4 chassis, runs on a V-8, 6.0 liter 350 vortec 5700 engine and has a 32.1 gallon fuel tank, which isn't all that great since one of the hotdoggers accompanying the Weinermobile informed us that it gets about 10 miles per gallon.

The Weinermobile also boasts gull wing doors, mustard and ketchup colored seats for 6 passengers, a blue sky with clouds ceiling, and a GPS navigation system on a hot dog shaped instrument panel. Take the virtual tour and see for yourself.

As you can see in the picture of the cabin, it's pretty futuristic looking, circa the early 70s--somewhat reminiscent of the G.I. Joe Mobile Support Vehicle that was my pride and joy as a child. If they ever decommissioned one of these babies, it would be pretty cool to take on a cross country drive with some white pajama-type uniforms. I think they should remake "Damnation Alley" or "Ark-2" with the Weinermobile as the main vehicle.

The hotdoggers were also handing out these little plastic weinerwhistles.

Fun With Scissors - part 103

Fred Flintstone.

The Cat In The Hat

To accompany the installation piece previewed in the previous post, I've also decided to do some collages of scenes from iconic children's books, which will be hung in the children's section, and will be offered for sale.

My initial thought was to more or less reinterpret the scenes and and character designs through my own sensibility. Since I've been doing dozens of collages of characters from classic animated cartoons, where I adhered exactly to their established look, I wanted be less literal here. I then realized that they'd be more likely to sell if they actually looked like the characters as established, than alternate interpretations of them.

For the Cat in the Hat, I stuck to the layout and design provided by Dr. Seuss, but veered away from the restricted color palette of the original, and tried to give the character and objects a little more dimension and texture. In the actual collage, you can see all of the ball. Unfortunately my scanner was not large enough to accommodate the full image, cropping it down to essentially the same layout as seen in the book.

Installation Piece

Aside from some writing projects, I've also embarked on a couple of art projects for the Shaman Drum Bookshop in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The first, as noted in a previous post was creating a series of thumbnails to serve as visuals for a number of book categories for the store's website. There will be 15 of these when completed.

My larger project is an installation piece for the store's children's section to make the section more inviting, and hopefully, a bit more magical for that section's intended audience. It's a huge undertaking which I'm hoping to have completed and in place by the end of August. So far things are progressing without incident, and I may actually manage to meet this self-imposed deadline.

Here's a sneak peek of a portion of the piece. I've tried to document ever step in constructing this work, and once it's completed, I'll begin posting the complete process until enough of you scream out with boredom, begging me to stop.

Batman Update

I've received a bunch of inquiries about my forthcoming Batman work, so I'll try and answer everybody here.

While I'm not willing to give plot details yet, I've written the first half of a two-part story that will upgrade one of the classic Batman villains. My script for the first issue got a thumbs up from the editorial department, and I'm just awaiting their notes before I begin writing the second issue.

I don't when my story will be run, but it will appear in DETECTIVE COMICS in the near future. I also don't have solid information yet on who's handling the art. As things progress I'll be able to provide less vague information. Thanks for all the interest.

Fun With Scissors - part 102

Here's Breezly (the bear) and Sneezly (the seal), a variation on the Yogi the Bear formula set in the arctic, which was originally aired on "The Peter Potamus Show."

Lane Smith

A few days ago I received a nice email from Lane Smith complimenting the collage work seen in the art section of my website, particularly the Karloff pieces. This was a thrill for me since Lane is one of a small handful of children's book illustrators that I revere the most. I can honestly say I have all of his books, (and even have most of them signed) and always look forward to what's next.

Lane is probably best known outside the children's book arena as the character designer for the Henry Selick movie adaptation of "James and the Giant Peach." If you're not familiar with his illustrative work, I encourage you to pick up one of his books right away.