Friday, August 26, 2011

Death, God, and Flowers. And Doodles.

The Angel seemed nothing but a hurdle to be cleared right from the get-go. I can't believe I let it hang over my head for so long.

In The Angel, Andersen weaves yet another tale of Death, God, and Flowers; which I have come to believe are his three favorite themes. In fact, I'm beginning to suspect that nearly all of his stories can be more or less sorted into three categories: those centered around the theme of Death, those that are about God or Christian values, and stories about Flowers.

Anyway, I wasn't too keen on illustrating anything too central to themes of The Angel, but the prospect of drawing sick children held some appeal.  Alas, a fear of stealing outright from Edward Gorey's Gashlycrumb Tinies paired with the general half-heartedness with which I approached this story resulted in no more than a notebook page filled with doodles of pitiful-looking children.  I'm ready to move on, so I'll just post said doodles, and do just that.

“Down in that narrow lane, in a low cellar, lived a poor sick boy..."
[Graphite + Ink. Notebook paper. 8.5" x 10.5"]
This little guy is my favorite of the bunch.  Maybe I'll do something with him someday.