THE Book 6

I'm having trouble with my clam shells.

No, start again.

I'm having a struggle with the source material for my clam shells.

No, still wrong.

I'm totally skint and my flipping printer has run out of ink and I can't print off any decent pics of clams shall from which to work to find the right image for my altered book.

Bugger.

Bloody.

Bugger.

Arse.

Enough whinging.

I'm actually making some good progress with what I have, but I have this stupid idea that I could do better if I had more of them, and if they were full colour, and I could work at my desk instead of in front of the computer monitor. You see my problem, I'm making excuses for not actually getting the work done.

Less of the excuses. Wanna see what I've done so far on my sketches and drawings of clam shells? Not going to do hundreds of them, but I'm looking to do a couple of larger pieces to add to the general portfolio of work for THE Book.

The raven is not proving to be as difficult, and I got a lot of books from the library with some very good photos and illustrations. I even managed to do really rather interesting prints using foam board as a printing plate. Not very sturdy, so it's rather falling to bits now. One last print run from it I think before it goes to the great press in the sky, (well OK the bin).

So here we are, some finished and nearly finished drawings and prints. Be kind, I'm delicate.

THE Book 5

I have been making quite a bit of progress with this lately, although I've still not got all of the elements of the creation story together yet, I need a good drawing of a clam shell with legs and arms sticking out!
These are a couple of testers for the primeval gods that occur frequently in creation stories, variously vomiting, pissing, bleeding or extruding from nipples the stuff of life all over the planet. Although I quite like some of these stories, they are excessively complex and convoluted. I wanted a simple story that fitted with my own preferences and ideas.
So working from the chaos, I found a raven's eye, peering through the chaos, looking for entertainment.As he looks, the sun is formed and in the sky flies the raven, searching still for distractions. From here I am looking for an image of the raven that is both fairly natural looking, but at the same time mystical and stylised. To this end I have started to draw ravens.
Firstly I drew them from illustrations photocopied from books. Never a satisfactory way to get a good view of anything. Then I went back to the library and borrowed the books I needed. This was better because the illustrations are clearer and some are even photographs!
Then I traced over the outline of a particularly good drawing and have started to develop this image further in print.
This is the plate that came from it, using foam board of all things, which is rough and ready but meets my immediate printing needs. The plan is to explore this printing medium, with a view to using it on a smaller scale in the book. Probably using polystyrene as a printing plate, which gives a finer effect, but is still as immediate as the foam board, and both can be printed effectively without the need for intaglio inks or a press.