And Poe Again

Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, there was another site where I would post my little doodles. Since that site no longer exists, I thought I might occasionally and randomly post some of those old images to this new site. Since I posted a pretty bad parody of Mr. Poe without his mustache yesterday, I thought, to accompany that piece, I'd disinter this pretty bad drawing of a mustachioed Mr. Poe drawn way back in 2004. Alas, neither image bears much of a resemblance to the poet. As for this image, since I had more energy way back when and since Poe only lived to be forty, I surrounded him with references to forty of his works. However, being lazy even back then, I have some of the images referring to more than one tale or poem or essay. And in case you're wondering: no, Poe's nose is not an intentional reference to his comic tale, "Lionizing." It's just my humble way of showing I can't draw noses.

Apocryphal Portrait

Michael J. Deas wrote a delightful book titled The Portraits and Daguerreotypes of Edgar Allan Poe. The title fully describes the book's subject. One chapter is titled "Apocryphal Portraits." Some of the images in this chapter are clearly based on Poe's features, some are questionable and some obviously are not of him, such as a photograph of a man who bears only the slightest resemblance to Poe, but enough so that, in the 1960s, some who wanted to see the poet in it seriously considered it an authentic image. The fact that the man's style of clothes were from the 1860s (Poe died in 1849) and the photographic process used wasn't invented until 1851 were overlooked. So, inspired by the story of that photograph, here is my poor attempt at an ersatz Poe portrait minus his famous mustache which, after all, he only sported near the end of his life. It's loosely based on an 1843 woodcut and two watercolors, one by A.C. Smith and the other (which might not be of Poe at all) by John A. McDougall. This was just a fun piece. It's not Poe, which is painfully obvious, but I hope it bears enough similarities that an imaginary someone who longs for another image of the poet would willfully overlook the glaring discrepancies. The image is a hoax, and Poe loved hoaxes. Thus, although I sincerely doubt Poe would approve of the undeniably ugly image itself, I hope he would approve of the practical joke behind it.

Merry Christmas!

From the whole gang at Potter's Sketchbook (all one of us) to you, here's hoping you indeed have a most merry Christmas and a happy New Year!

Respite

This is a piece loosely based on an image by Andrea del Castagno. You know his story from Vasari. He hypocritically courted the friendship of his fellow artist (and thus, rival), Domenico Veneziano, with the heinous intention of murdering him; an ambition he achieved one fine day by attacking Domenico from behind on a street corner, beating him to death with pieces of lead and then, undetected, flying back to their shared abode. When a crowd appeared at his door to tell him his friend was discovered dying in the street, Andrea rushed to the scene, and, cradling Domenico in his arms, listened to his victim's pathetic dying lament of "Alas, my brother!" Domenico died never suspecting his friend was his murderer. Per Vasari, no one would have ever known if Andrea had not confessed to the deed on his deathbed. A truly shocking tale of cold-blooded cruelty, is it not? The only thing even more shocking is that the alleged victim outlived his alleged murderer by a good four years. Ah well! I guess that just goes to show you can't believe everything you read, not in Vasari and perhaps not even here.

Eternal Sleep

This was a fun project. It's a comic book based on an unfinished Independent B Movie film about Dracula that was written and directed by Josh Weinberg. The writing credit for the comic book lists Mr. Weinberg, Matt Brassfield and myself. Juliet Fromholt did the print formatting and the cover lettering and colors were done by Jason Gilmore. And, if you didn't already suspect, I did the artwork. Not only was this a fun project to do, but I think it's also a pretty fun read. If you'd like to judge for yourself, you can either pick up a copy at any of the finer comic book shops or order the title online at www.bloodscreamcomics.com.

Riddles in the Round

"Isn't it curious," Iago suddenly said, "how geography affects so many things?"

Quasimodo put his hands on his hips, smiled and gave his companion a sidelong glance. "I'm no C. Auguste Dupin," he replied. "There is no way on earth I can deduce what led to that question. It just came out of the blue. Besides, what exactly are you talking about?"

Iago was surprised. "Why, dragons, of course. You know, things like that. How could you not know what I was referring to?"

Drawn Hearts

She walked up behind him, put her arms around him and nestled her head on his shoulder. "Good morning, Frank," she whispered in his ear. He did not turn around, but patted her arm. And so they stood there quietly, two people almost melted into one, looking out their patio door at the flowers in their backyard.