Pumpkin Dream Sketchbooks #1: Surreal

Some days before deciding (for certain) on a more vintage, representational style for "The Pumpkin Dream" there was some thought of creating pen drawings, and in a more surreal style, somewhat more akin to the pen and ink drawings seen here on wobblebox. There was really only one sketch to speak of in this mode - seen below where there was an attempt to take elements from the poem, and then sit down for a session of surrealistic doodles... (this sketch would have paired with the first eight lines of the poem):

When tattered oaks of autumn lend
prophetic chatter to the wind
and gremlins from a branch dispatch
with felon deeds upon your latch

We trust our tale illuminates
of bogymen whose hunger slake
on children in a sugar feast
the fearless know as trick-or-treat

While I would still love to find the time to do this illustration style (perhaps in some later edition down the road), the thought of trying to create 37 drawings that I would be happy with... while so many other tasks needed to also be done (this book was DIY on everything), I gave this up for something I thought would be more editable - vector art (see the first blog entry Sketchy Beginnings and/or A Brief History of The Pumpkin Dream (Part 4) - Cautionary Vectors).

Well, in going back into my sketchbooks, it appears I did almost a full round of more representational style art, and then for some reason (probably the zero budget) vacillated back toward the possibility of pen and paper once again (see below). I think this next drawing (probably inspired more so by being very tired) was a thought toward doing something sort of retro, loose, and surreal with lots and lots of negative space.  And I was apparently still trying to figure out the first lines of the poem, which were perhaps the hardest lines of the poem to complete - and there are likely hundreds of versions of the beginning)....

I guess part of me is very interested in Halloween imagery with a little surrealistic twist - and in looking back through the sketchbook - even before the idea to do "The Pumpkin Dream" was settled in my mind... I found this whimsical drawing that takes the Jack O'Lantern into some weird realms - such as the octo-pumpkin?

Next up: Pumpkin Sketchbooks #2: Versions

Ghost Radio - A Skeleton Mechanical

Continuing work on animated visuals for the song Ghost Radio Part 1 (for girabbe).

For the video, I believe I have finally found a stride on the creation process - and am having fun now developing some decidedly bizarre mechanical denizens for the song. (As the musical artist put it to me, roughly translated here, this part (one) of the song is about a journey into the darkest part of the forest and the sights there). And I believe this strangely creepy mechanical device might fit right in:

(Just a note on the elements - this curious device is composed of an old vintage Skeleton wind up tin toy, old stereo equipment from the 1920's, and the background is a portion of a photo that was taken of an interior from the California ghost town, Bodhi).

Odd? Well, this project is an obvious departure from the all-ages audience of the most recent book project - "The Pumpkin Dream: A Cautionary Tale" and delves back into the worlds of Dada, and the Surrealist method of autonomic creation - to surprise even myself by what appears at the end of the process. Someday I'll have to upload more of that "fine art" - part of which is viewable on the wobblebox arts website in the category of drawing, for example:

Accordionist Swallowing a Dancer with his Music (pen/pencil sketch circa 1980s)

So as for now, not even I know what strange creatures will be along the haunted travels through Ghost Radio Part One... the journey continues... and I hope you too enjoy the surprises.