THE GREAT MONTEFIASCO: Part II

Not having the aforementioned issues, ie. time and financial restraints, or creative restraints for that matter (Lothian were fantastic in this regard), I was free to throw in extra details to the pictures, details for those who want to look for them...

I know as a child I was always absorbed by tiny details. I loved crowd scenes, like the ones Sergio Aragones used to do in Mad. I could find so many little stories happening all over the place. I remember looking through picture books that had intricate details, and sometimes being so absorbed by the little stories within the story, that the main action or story took a back seat.

Most of the details I added in these pictures are not intentionally thought out, they are mostly improvised in the painting process. Some become little continuing stories (typically with a morbid punchline), and others are inspired by old-time magicians and magicians posters, ones I discovered when researching for this book...

I am an avid fan of vintage posters (film, theatre, circus, propaganda, etc, and of course magician posters) so I acquired permission from Dover Publications to reproduce original magician posters within the art (Magic: A Picture History). Others I made up.

At this time I had only just begun to get over my fear of computers, and pretty soon I put photoshop to good use, particularly when applying tiny details I just wasn't skilled enough to paint. In retrospect, clearly I had a lot of time on my hands, because in most cases, details were so small they ultimately got lost. Most of the time it was for my own wry amusement.

There's plenty more to say about this book, but I'll leave that until further down the track.

I have copies available of this book, feel free to contact me (whackothechook@internode.on.net).

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