Monday, October 6, 2008

Shadows


October has a funny effect on me. I think it's the suddenly shorter days. This is a piece for a proposal I did with Brett Alexander Savory. If you don't know his work you should really seek it out. It's amazing. He writes horror and I'm usually not effected by horror but his stuff is really, really creepy. I tried something different with this piece, painting mostly in watercolour washes and pasting lots of photographic reference on to it in Photoshop. Brett is also an editor at Scholastic and i got my contract with his help. Funny story how I met him. I was standing around after my signing at the Toronto Book Expo waiting to meet the designer on the Hank book when a woman approached me asking if I'd like a book signed. It looked good and had lots of nice comments on the back cover from very famous horror writers so I decided to read it and get it signed. I met Brett very briefly as he signed it and gave him my card( always carry business cards!) and he contacted me a few days later when I was in Montreal to tell me me he liked my work. I read his book, In And Down, on the train ride back to Halifax ( an almost 20 hour train ride ) and was blown away by it. I'd never read such a rich complex, visually beautiful horror novel. It really gave me a new appreciation for the genre which I loved as a kid.
Anyway, more on this later, I thought I'd share a bit of it with you now.

16 comments:

Christine Mercer-Vernon said...

there is a positively creepy aura about this....i love it!! the angle at which you've drawn the face and the expression is so intriguing.

Eric Orchard said...

Thanks Christine! I wanted convey something monk-like about this guy, a sort of shadow monk, not something entirely evil.

Màriam said...

That's beautiful!

Eric Orchard said...

Thanks Mariam!

Pagas said...

Incredible works in recently posts.

I love atmosphere, feeling in this one

Ciao
Pagas

Eric Orchard said...

Thanks Pagas!

Alicia Padrón said...

Wow Eric, this is really creepy indeed. Great job! You have many sides to your art, I really love that about your work :o)

Eric Orchard said...

Thanks Alicia!

César Samaniego said...

Excellent illustration!!
Great atmosphere!!

kathy hare said...

beautiful, wonderful textures..

Eric Orchard said...

Thanks Cesar!

thanks Kathy!

Hoon said...

This is awesome... I especially like the atmosphere.

tlc illustration said...

I like the color that you've added to this. Your Fogg Academy project sounds terribly exciting. Your art life is sounding quite synchronistic - in all the best ways. Congrats to you.

Vickie said...

Love this! It definitely is a more intense piece. It looks like halloween is creeping in! My to read list is definitely getting longer. Anyway, the wash affect is great and really contributes to the overall effect.

Eric Orchard said...

Thanks Hoon!

Thanks Tara! I really appreciate that.

Thanks Vickie! He has a great, scary short story collection called No Further Messages that is amazing too. I'm glad you like the wash, it got some flack from a friend who felt it looked too unfinished.

Roberto Zaghi said...

That's amazing Eric!

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