Tag: illustration

The Rabbit’s Revenge

Illuminated Manuscripts: The Rabbit’s Revenge

“The typical depiction of a rabbit, especially when used in Medieval art and literature, is an image of purity and innocence—a harmless puff of cuddly cuteness. Another common association with the rabbit is that of fertility, a sensical comparison when one is aware of the speed at which the species copulates. In some medieval illuminated manuscripts however, the illustration of a rabbit turns from harmless to violent, with several examples showcasing the formerly innocent creature in the act of decapitation and other sword-wielding wrongdoings.

A way to analyze these drolleries, or medieval margin illustrations, is to think about the violent role reversals as humorous symbolism. Because these animals were so low on the totem pole of fear, it was quite amusing to the medieval illustrator to draw them enacting a revenge—silly animals on the opposite side of the slaughtering. This was also a way for the artist to show the stupidity of the human who was the object of the rabbits’ anger, one who was foolish enough to be bludgeoned by bunny.” -Kate Sierzputowski, Colossal

Ygor Marotta and Ceci Soloaga

Ygor Marotta and Ceci Soloaga, Projected Animation

Artists Ygor Marotta and Ceci Soloaga of VJ Suave were recently invited to participate in the Walk&Talk art residency on São Miguel Island, Azores, Portugal. The duo transformed their projected street art animations to happily dance across the trees, cliffs, and shores of the the island including the Lagoa das Empadadas, Porto da Ribeirinha, Cachoeira do Cabrito and Lagoa das Sete Cidades. Using long exposure, VJ Suave captured their interventions with nature, creating the two GIFs seen here.

Hiroaki Samura

Hiroaki Samura, “Blade of the Immortal”

“Blade of the Immortal” is a Japanese manga series by Hiroaki Samura. The series is set in Japan during the mid-Tokugawa Shogunate period and follows the cursed samurai Manji, who has to kill 1000 evil men in order to regain his mortality.

The manga was originally published in Afternoon from June 25, 1993, to December 25, 2012. A 2008 anime adaption was produced Bee Train and Production I.G. Also in 2008, the novel “Blade of the Immortal: Legend of the Sword Demon” was released in Japan by Kodansha, and two years later in the United States by Dark Horse Comics. A live action film adaptation is scheduled for release in 2017.

Paul Lehr

Paintings by Paul Lehr

Paul Lehr is one of the greatest future-fantasist painters of the post-pulp era. He was very prolific and produced a large body of work of remarkable intensity and consistent high quality. In the late-80s and 90s, after paperback publishers had lost interest in putting beautifully weird covers on their books, Lehr turned his attention to painting epic and highly detailed dream landscapes.

Ian Miller

Ian Miller, Illustration for the Pan edition of Simak’s “The Werewolf Principle”.

In the middle-distant future, Andrew Blake, discovered huddled inside a capsule orbiting a remote star, is brought back to Earth suffering from total amnesia. Over 200 years old, he thinks and acts like a man, but becomes frighteningly aware of two alien beings that lurk within his body – a strange biological computer, and a wolf-like animal. Dangerously possessed, Blake breaks out of the hospital to look for his past… This is a science fiction novel that resonates with today’s science fact so eerily closely, it will challenge and delight readers. This is Sci-Fi Master Simak at his powerful best.

Available as an Audio Book.

Uno Moralez

Illustrations by Uno Moralez

Uno Moralez is a Moscow-based pixel painter with a sinister and unique take on old computer game aesthetics. He is a Russian enigma whose LiveJournal is written in Cyrllic, whose work is both drawn and published in digital pixels, whose output comes in the form of bizarre and ferociously NSFW image/gif galleries as often as comics or illustrations, and whose name is not even Uno Moralez.

“Unquestionably menacing and monstrous figures lurk smiling in shadowy rooms, bodies and objects arranged in inscrutable ways that nevertheless imply an unimpeachable in-story logic. It’s the logic of nightmares, yes, but whether we’re talking about his standalone images, his animated gifs, or his keyframe-style comics, they give off the sense that what’s happening makes sense to the individuals involved, which is the most fascinating and harrowing thing about Moralez’s work. The distance from here to there seems insurmountable, but he bridges it time and time again, in a lo-fi digital style that makes it seem like these images are woven from the fabric of the Internet itself.” _Sean T Collins, The Comics Journal

Patrick Arrasmith

Six Illustrations by Patrick Arrasmith

Patrick Arrasmith is a California transplant who’s been happily living and working in Brooklyn, New York for over 13 years. After graduating from the California College of the Arts with a degree in illustration, he was lured to New York by a scholarship from the Society of Illustrators. He specializes in scratchboard illustration, and his work has appeared in a range of media, from the New York Times to HarperCollins books to Shiner beer bottles.

Reblogged with thanks to http://littlelimpstiff14u2.tumblr.com

The Fak Hongs

Artist Unknown,  Circa-1930 Stone lLthograph for the Magician Troupe  “The Fak Hongs”

In the first decades of the twentieth-century, a type of magic show known as the “Oriental Magician” was very popular. The early exploration of China at the turn of the century by Europeans provided material for practicing magicians to incorporate into their performances. A type of magic show known as the “Oriental Magician”, in which Western magicians donned stereotypical oriental attire, became very popular throughout Europe. 

One of these was the magician Fak Hong, a European who performed in Japanese robes and haircut similar to those of samurai warriors. Renowned throughout Europe during the 1920s and 1930s, his troupe, the Fak-Hongs”, dressed as Asian mystics and performed such magic as levitation and cutting women in half. 

Due to his show’s popularity, Fak Hong formed a second troupe which was led by the illusionist Chang, the stage name of Juan José Pablo Jesorum, a native of Panama. The two groups, now known collectively as “Chang and Fak-Hong’s United Magicians” successfully toured Europe, America, and South America. Several of their performances highlighted illusions such as “Invisible Man”, “Hari-Kari”, “Noah’s Ark”, and “Night in Tokyo”.

Kinuko Y. Craft

Kinuko Y. Craft: Illustrations

Kinuko Y Craft is a graduate, BFA 1962, of The Kanazawa Municipal College of Fine and Industrial Art (known in Japan as The Kanazawa Bidai). She was born in Japan and came to the United States in the early sixties where she studied design and illustration at the Art Institute of Chicago. Subsequently, she worked for a number of years in well known Chicago art studios.

By the end of the decade Craft’s work was in wide demand and she began her long and successful career as a free-lance illustrator. For most of this time she worked in editorial and advertising markets where her work regularly appeared in national magazines and newspapers. Since the mid 1990’s, Kinuko Y Craft has concentrated on fantasy book jackets, poster designs and children’s picture books.