Jump Drive N' Whale

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

As if I'd pass up the change to draw an airborne whale.

I'll first start off with the title of this particular entry. I think it's a play on the song "Jump, Jive N' Wail," by The Brian Setzer Orchestra. The whale pun is obvious, but NOT so obvious is the allusion to warp speed motors, also known sometimes as "jump drives." In reference to a hyper jump, or warp drive, etc. But maybe I'm just trying to hard / not trying hard enough.

Alright, so in the booksketch entry before I mentioned a missile being turned into a whale. That obviously wasn't the entirety of the scene. Another missile was turned into a pot of petunias. Very high in the sky.

Does that explain it? No?

Well, our rag-tag bunch of protagonists had just located this mythical planet, when its defense system sprang to life and launched missiles at them. Guided missiles, at that. Well, their target was none other than the Heart of Gold spacecraft that one of the main characters happened to steal. What's so special about this ship? It runs on an "Improbability Drive."

So, in other words, the harder you crank the engine, the more...improbable things become. For example, a pair of guided missiles turning into seemingly random objects/creatures seems highly unlikely right? Even downright improbable. Luckily, the engine was randomly turned on to a high improbability factor (the main character, Arthur saw this as their only means of escape).

SO, I hope that explains it. And I hope it inspires you to read the book (if you have not already). It is pretty probable that you'll enjoy it!

Mech-ancholy

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

I've actually just read HHGTTG for the first time recently. Until a week or so ago I assumed it was a kid's story about a child that gets hold of some universal guide, and goes romping around the galaxy getting into zany alien-scapades. Apparently I was wrong! There aren't any kids to be found. But there are lots of other things, like death, improbability and manic-depressive super-genius robots. Lots of quirky humor and imagination. Missiles turning into whales, and the like.

I quite enjoyed it.

The aforementioned moribund robot's name is Marvin. He simply loathes humans. And, well, most of everything. Mostly because he is so much smarter than everyone. And everything. At one point in the story, he is assigned to stand around and watch over an entrance to a subterranean passageway. Then the main character, Arthur, calls him up a hill to join him, but changes his mind when Marvin is halfway up the rock face. Sighing in resignation, Marvin trudges back down the rocky hill and returns to his station.

Lots of head-hanging and dropped shoulders. And sleeping, haha.

About the Illustration
This booksketch was done using Micron Pen & watercolors. I had it in my head that Marvin kind of resembled Helper from The Venture Brothers cartoon, haha. One thing I took for sure from the book's description was that he had downward-facing red triangle eyes. And he was humanoid in appearance. And he was metal (of course).

Old Dogs, New Tricks

Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake

Remembering what fun I had reading Titus Groan (and thinking about how many booksketches it produced), I decided that it was time to enjoy the second book in the trilogy. Gormenghast continues immersing the reader into the sprawling titular castle and wonderfully unique characters. At the point of this creating this booksketch, I am halfway into the novel, which continues to chronicle the life of the young 77th Earl of Gormenghast, Titus.

I find it so interesting that these books don't have any real plot. Or, at least none that you can really point out. They are all about exploration. The only thing that remains constant is Steerpike and his desire for more control and power. Such devilish ambition!

In this novel, though, Titus is old enough to go exploring the character of the castle itself. He has this craving to explore both inside and outside it's walls. One point to take note of is how Titus thinks of his title negatively, and feels constrained by his well-monitored heir-to-the-throne life. Everyone else, however, freaks out if he shows any sign of disdain towards his "duty." He's a kid! Let him run around or climb a tree or something.

One rather large focus of the novel is Irma Prunesquallor's soiree. Irma decides to host (along with her brother, the Doctor, whom was previously booksketched) a party where she would invite only bachelors of her choosing. You see, Irma has never, how do we say, has known the love of a man. Or, really, has never flirted or spoken to a man. Besides her brother, of course. And she feels that she is being wasted. That her long, milky neck has been wasted. Or sharp beak-like nose. Etc.

So she convinces her brother (he loves to humor her) to co-host this party. The objective being to find her true love. Whom does she invite? The castle's professors, of course. Scholarly gentlemen, and such.

Except the professors aren't very scholarly, or gentlemanly. A nice portion of the book is dedicated to showing us a dozen or so of the professors and how eccentric and lazy they are. Each one possesses a unique personality and disposition. Leading the pack is the noble and elderly, but not too respected, Headmaster Bellgrove. With his silky white head of hair and perpetual toothache. Keeping up his facade of a dignified noble, has a tendency to turn away or hide his face whenever he feels a smile coming on.

Well, a rumor is started among the professors that Irma is gunning for Bellgrove. Which gets into his head, of course. And before you know it, the two are overdramatically thrown together, and all of this high-school crush stuff starts happening between a 50+ year old lady and a 75+ year old man. It's hilarious.

And that's why I had to draw it.


About the Illustration:

This one was done with Micron pen and Prismacolor pencils.

Crook, Line, and Sinker

The Thief of Always by Clive Barker

First, I would like to point out that I was under the impression that everyone voluntarily read and loved The Thief of Always in junior high. I am slowly learning that this is not the case. Thus, proving my theory that you do, in fact, learn something new every day. Second, I must give credit to Burton for the punny title of this sketch. Many thanks, Burton!

Harvey Swick is a typical angst-ridden ten-year-old that has unfair parents and doesn't like school and can't ever have anything he wants ever. So, given the opportunity to go to a magical house that will give him just that, he jumps at the chance. He finds that if he imagines something he wants, it eventually appears in the house. The day is divided into all four seasons with spring in the morning and ending with winter at night. Halloween and Christmas are celebrated every night and he does whatever he likes during the day- every day.

Harvey meets a girl named Lulu who has lived in the house the longest out of all the children there. She is mysterious and sad, even though it appears she has everything she's ever wanted. When Harvey drops a toy arc filled with little wooden animals into the spooky lake behind the house, Lulu retrieves some of the pieces for him (from the bottom of the black lake). At this point, Harvey begins to realize that something fishy is going on at the magical house...

Doctor Doctor

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

Here's the aforementioned Part 2 of the DJ&MH illustrations. Dr. Jekyll is all sophistication on the surface, and to his friends. On the inside, however, he has been leading a double life. While he is mostly an upstanding citizen, a part craves to be immoral and indulge in guilt, shady pleasure, and debauchery.

It is mentioned in the story that Jekyll had been leading a secret life to explore some of this hidden displeasure. So when he started stumbling upon some chemical concoction that was able to bring out the duality of man, to separate it physically for some time, he became excited.

At first he reveled in the notion of becoming Edward Hyde, a figure of anti-morals. As he started losing control of Hyde, and sensing the wildness and hatred swell, he became fearful and panicked. Who wouldn't, really?

About the illustration:
For some reason I drew Jekyll as being rather young, even though he isn't really. I guess it was his giddiness to experiment with the potion that made me skew towards a more energetic, youthful appearance. Or maybe I wasn't thinking when I drew it...

This booksketch was done with inkwash, a little Micron pen and made to be a duotone in Photoshop.

Two Hydes To Every Story

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

This was my first time reading DJ&MH, and I'm really surprised about how distorted the image of Edward Hyde has become. From the many, many imaginings and re-imaginings of the story through the years, from plays to cartoons to movies, Hyde has taken on a larger-than-life, more-brutal-than-a-chainsaw kind of image. Remember seeing Jekyll clutch his chest and fall behind a chair only to emerge as a monstrous brute with crazy hair, glaring eyes, and an imposing figure.

I remember seeing that! And I was rather surprised to find out that Hyde was actually smaller in stature than Jekyll! He was shorter, littler, but very stolid. The reasoning behind this was brilliant. You see, when Jekyll drank that concoction of his, it allowed his repressed immoral side to take control of his body's steering wheel, for lack of a better term. Since Jekyll had only recently started dabbling in those "earthly pleasures" and, well, displeasures, this "Hyde" part of his persona was rather like a newborn, or smaller in proportion to the rest of Jekyll's "good-natured" self. So this is why Hyde's physical representation was smaller.

Of course, he isn't just smaller and more imposing. He's described as having "some sort of hidden deformation that makes you instantly loath his being, as if he weren't human, or were pure evil. As if he doesn't have a conscience..." I'm just paraphrasing that, but it's the gist of a bunch of eye witnesses testimonies. Since eyes are the "windows to the soul," I just made my illustration have black, shadowed eyes.

One spine-tingling moment towards the end of the novel was the reveal that Hyde had actually grown between one span of transformations. Eeeep!


About the illustration:

Following my recent stylistic trend (well, except for my last one), this booksketch was done in watercolor and Micron pen. Edward Hyde is looking smugly at the key to the rear entrance to Jekyll's house, which is through the old, unused lab/dissecting room.

The Lover Bearing Gifts

"The Incredible and Sad Tale of Innocent Eréndira
and Her Heartless Grandmother"
Gabriel García Márquez

Her life was a tale of sadness
until she met Ulises.
A young man
bearing gifts of oranges —
the most beautiful oranges
with diamonds hidden inside.
He waits outside her tent
where her grandmother has
imprisoned her.
An owl's call
is her sign
to escape into his waiting arms.

I Love The 80s

American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis

It's about time I did an illustration from American Psycho. I'd say it ranks in my top five novels. It's a rather brilliant, if extremely shocking satire on the materialism and disparity of New York upper class in the 1980s.

Our psycho, Patrick Bateman is doing pretty well for himself as an investor on Wall Street. Living a rather high life, with an expensive apartment and extravagant lifestyle, Bateman describes to us his daily routines. These routines show us how shallow the environment is: drugs, sex, lies, etc. No one can remember anyone's name, even their "friends." Everything is disconnected from everything else, and people just focus on themselves and their credit cards.

But that's not the entirety of it. Bateman is also a serial killer. He knows it; he factors it into his schedule. He detachedly leads the reader through some very intense, very graphic scenarios. As the novel progresses, his cravings increase and so does the danger of being discovered. But in such a calamitous and uncaring society, who will take the time to stop a killer? Probably no one, as long as their is money left to spend.

This novel was adapted into a movie, starring Christian Bale. It's about a third as shocking as the book, maybe even a fourth, but still gets across the same effect. You have to love that scene near the end with Bateman frantically leaving a voicemail.

"Tonight I, uh, I just had to kill a LOT of people..."

This illustration was done with Micron Pen and a dab of red watercolor.

Knight In Snoring Armor

Don Quixote by Cervantes

These past couple of days have brought two or three Don Quixote references to my ears, which spawned the desire to do another booksketch tonight.

While I don't think this particular illustration is directly taken from any scene in the novel, I could picture ol' Quixote insisting on sleeping in his ratty armor to always be at the ready, should danger or villainy rear its ugly head. Lest any windmills sneak up on him.

Now that I'm thinking of this illustration, I guess there's another layer to it. The novel (or two novels, technically) is mostly about The Man From La Mancha's spiral into his dreamworld, losing sight of reality and becoming enamored with chivalry and knighthood. It's interesting to picture this dreamer actually dreaming, wrapped in his armor. Armor from what? Reality.

The illustration was done with inkwash and Micron Pen.

Picture Perfect

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

I first read this novel (Wilde's lone novellular work) in early high school and then again within a couple years of graduating college. I remember my friend Tim mentioning how it was one of his favorite books, which led me to recall how excellent it really was. Please discount any reference to Dorian Gray in the movie version of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Blyuck.

Anyways, I'd consider this a "Gothic Horror" work, being that the setting is nice "turn o' the 20th century" London. You know, when people still had names like "Lord Henry" and stuff. Sherlock Holmesy in nature. Goings see many plays and wearing frills and flippery and all that fancypants stuff. I'm doing a great job of describing it, I know. Wait, I have it: The Late Victorian Era. Voila!

Alright, so Dorian "I'm young AND handsome!" Gray has a portrait painted by an artist, and it turns out quite nice. The artist falls in love with Dorian's beauty. Mr. Gray, meanwhile, becomes enamored with the world view of another character: Lord Henry. Henry ol' chap believes that one should only pursue beauty and pleasure in the world. And Dorian readily jumps on that ship.

This is really a classic and you should read it. And I shouldn't spoil it. So I won't. The book does deal with a few topics, the most important being "Inner vs. Outer Beauty." If one pursues worldly pleasures and looks, he may have to sacrifice his soul in the process.

This is a pretty dark book, as you can see! If you've read the novel, the sketch will make sense to you. And if you haven't then it should make you want to read it, right? Or make you have nightmares. This illustration was done with watercolor and Micron Pen.

On a final note, I will say that I wish it were titled "A Portrait of Dorian Gray," because "portrait" has a stronger connotation than "picture." Especially in this case.

In Y'Orr Dreams

Lathe of Heaven by Ursula Le Guin

Have you ever had a dream from which you wake up disoriented, thinking "Yikes, that felt so real!"? And come to find that your dream actually changed reality to accommodate what your mind had created in its sleep? No? Well, then you might not be able to relate to this story.

But you COULD imagine what it'd be like, right? The main character, George Orr, has the ability to dream alternate realities for the world. And he fears it. Because no one can really CONTROL dreams. Not even under hypnosis. But I'm getting ahead of myself...

The novel opens up with him being busted for using too much sleep-related drugs to stave off his dreams. He is forced into therapy with a dream psychologist, Dr. Haber. After a few hyno-dreamy sessions, Haber actually manages to suggest something to Orr that changes reality. And it doesn't just change the present day. It changes the whole history of the world, in relation to that dream. And only Haber and Orr know of the change. So now they have two sets of memories.

Haber refuses to believe what has happened at first. Once he comes to terms with Orr's power, he sets out to try to "improve the world" through suggesting things to the hypno-dream-induced Orr. Which never really works out the way it is intended because no one can fully control dreams. What you end up is kind of a genie-in-the-bottle effect:

Say you want to stop your neighbor from blaring loud music at all hours of the night. You want to dream that the neighbor stops playing music. In the dream, that end is met by you not living next to that individual. Instead, you now live across town in a penthouse apartment. Or, your neighbor has been struck by lightening when he/she was ten years old. Now he/she is deaf, and therefor can't listen to music.

Stuff like that.

Well, possibly much WORSE stuff. Lots of huge effects come out of Haber trying to "improve the world" through Orr's latent power.

And Orr just wants to be cured.

About the illustration:
Through a series of events (and dreams), aliens are introduced into our reality. They are nice, and left a good impression in my head. They are about nine feet tall and their perpetually-worn bodysuits make them appear turtle-ish. They are assimilited into society and everyday life, and have become good salesmen (sale-iens?) and shop-owners!

They haven't mastered communication with humans, but they understand the power of dreams and the trouble Orr is having. Near the end, when things REALLY get crazy, they give help to Orr by means of a gift. It's a vinyl of the Beatles' "With a Little Help From My Friends." And it really is a help! You want me to spoil Lathe of Heaven for you? In your dreams!

Sketch done in Micron pen and inkwash. Oh my, I am proud of this entry's title!

Deer God

Cenotaph is a book of poems by Eric Pankey. Although I wouldn't describe the poems as particularly excellent or earth-shaking, its a nice read. The above sketch was inspired by the poem The Kingdom of God Likened to a Deer Carcass.

I don't know what else to say about it that the title doesn't already explain. Its a short poem that describes the deer's sun-bleached bones to the ruins of an abandoned church, whose pieces are subject to destruction by carrion birds and wild dogs. While I could probably dissect the poem for symbolism and hidden meanings, etc., I just thought the image of a deer skeleton as a church was sort of neat.

Not all of the poems are morbid, but most are sort of dark and resentful of certain things like parents and lovers and religion. There is one about spring, but that one didn't have any distinct imagery that stuck in my head. Besides, I already knew what a deer skeleton looked like.

Brautigan Again!

The Abortion is another Brautigan work. I'm sure that frequenters of this site are becoming quite familiar with Brautigan's work and if he were still alive today, perhaps he would be grateful for so much publicity. I digress...

Despite the controversial issue of a title, The Abortion: A Historical Romance 1966 is a sometimes light-hearted, sometimes pleasantly sad, mostly happy story about a couple traveling to Tijuana for an abortion in 1966. The woman, Vida, is a woman so beautiful, that men have been killed trying to stare at her. She hates her curves and good looks because she doesn't feel like she fits her own body. The man, whom Brautigan modeled after himself, I think, is one of the only men that doesn't stare at her lustily...so they fall in love. She finds out that she's pregnant and they make the decision to have an abortion in a very calm and cool manner and make a very non-regretful trip to Mexico.

They met at a library where the man (if they say his name at all in the book- it's not often and I don't remember it if it was indeed mentioned) is the librarian. He never leaves the library and has lived there every hour of every day for the past several years. The concept of this particular library is that all of the books in it were brought in at any hour of the day, by any author, and about any subject the author desires. One man wrote an entire book about the history of leather clothing on a leather bound book made entirely of leather, a five year old wrote a book about his tricycle, another teenage girl writes a book about her cat- and all are admitted into the library and placed on whatever shelf the author chooses. Once every few months, a man named Foster comes down from the desert in his van, picks up a number of books, and brings them to the "caves" for storage. None of the books are ever destroyed and the whole operation is funded by this organization called "The America Forever, etc.", which is never really seen.

The sketch is inspired by the opening chapter of the book, which introduces the kooky nature of the library. An old woman rings the doorbell at 3 in the morning to submit her book, "Growing Flowers by Candlelight in Hotel Rooms". She's described as old, approximately eight, and very shabbily dressed. She lives in a hotel and walked three hours all the way to the library as soon as she finished after five years of writing her book- in crayon, complete with illustrations. As she turns the book in and its registered, she tells a little story of her life and how she loves to grow flowers- but her hotel room has no windows. After a short chat, her book is registered, she places it on a shelf full of mostly children's works, and leaves at 3 am for her three hour trek back to her hotel home.

I think that this part of the story struck me for several reasons. First, I have a soft spot for old people, especially those that live alone. The old woman seemed to have such a sad life, living in a hotel room with no windows and whatnot. The book that she'd worked on for five years seemed like a sort of validation and a great triumph for her, even though probably no one would ever read it. Her book, like many of the others brought in to the library, was something that meant volumes to the author, but most likely wouldn't matter to any other person. The librarian's job is to make certain that it does matter, or at least make the various and quirky authors feel as though their work mattered. I think thats nice and fuzzy.

So, as the sketch shows, I pictured the old lady sitting all alone in a dark hotel room tending to her flowers growing by candlelight, feeling proud that she'd written an entire book about them. I think that the image inspired by the description of the old woman and her book set the tone for the entire story: a little bit sad, but pleasant and satisfying at the same time. I read the book from cover-to-cover in one sitting, as I've done with a couple of other Brautigan works. Having said this, I will declare this as one of my favorite Brautigan works. Then again I would probably say that about all of them. I will still declare it a favorite, however.

Starting On The Wrong Foot

Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut

Continuing my lighthearted illustration streak, I decided to booksketch from one of the nine or so Vonnegut books that I have read. Going through my library, Cat's Cradle was the first one I happened upon, so here you go.

To be honest, I remember liking it, but couldn't recall anything but the ending. So, flipping through the book helped refresh my memory. Like how the story is narrated by a fellow who wants to write a book about the direct kin of the man who (fictionally) helped invent the atomic bomb. Through investigation, he learns that this scientist had also invented a deadly substance called "ice-nine," which turns all water it touches into solid form at room temperature, by means of a molecular chain reaction. As you can imagine, this would be bad news if it were real. Well, in the novel, it is real. Deal with it, Earth!

Trying to track down more information on the substance, and ice-nine itself, our narrator is lead to a third-worldish island that is run by a dictator. This dictator wields a hook. Which was my initial booksketch thought. But the island isn't ALL dictator-centric.

On the island is an interesting religion called Bokononism. It focuses on people working together as a group (karass) to do God's will. And to spread love in general.

And finally coming to the illustration:

One way the Bokononians spread love is an intimate ritual that involves rubbing the naked souls of the feet together.

I know, right? The narrator participates in this ritual, boku-maru, with a rather captivatingly beautiful woman (who happens to be the daughter of the island's dictator, I believe). She was offered to him as a wife, should he wish. But because of culture clash, he instantly demands she cease foot-loving anyone else and only share her love with him. This, of course, goes against her religion and hurts her.

Kind of a jerk thing to do to a potential wife, eh?

Anyway, I thought it'd be kind of humorous to just draw the woman in an alluring foot-love pose, and just allude to a male's presence. Maybe he's shy. Or has his doubts. Or maybe he's already done!

Well, whatever you pull from the sketch, I think it stands on its own feet.

This illustration was done using a Micron pen and Copic markers.

A Chirp in Time

Einstein's Dreams by Alan Lightman

After posting my first illustration from Einstein's Dreams, the wonderfully well-read Alison Moon mentioned that she'd like to see a drawing from the chapter that features a world where Time is embodied in the form of nightingales. I hadn't yet gotten to that part, but anxiously awaited it. Of course, it turned out to be the final chapter (except for the short epilogue, of course)!

So, picture a world where people are able to pause any moment in their life. How do they do this? Well, they trap nightingales under a bell jar. Nightingales in this world are the embodiment of Time, and if one catches one, Time is caught as well. This freezes the moment, and the trapper can essentially live out one happy moment for a good while.

In an interesting note, elderly people can't catch the nightingales because they are just too slow. Which is rather unfortunate, since the elderly are the group that most desires to hold onto moments. Children really have the best chance of trapping the time-birds, but they don't really have a will for it. What need do they have of pausing Time? They just want to play and such.

There is one more important point to the chapter, but I will not go into it. I'd rather not spoil the entire world for you, right?

Additional Thoughts

This book was a brain-massage. It makes you think about all of these short little "what if" universes, but doesn't require you to analyze much or dive into research or theory. Lightman just flows the ideas over you, and you can wade in them if you'd like.

I'd like to add a little time-world theory of my own for you. Well, I guess mostly for Alison, since she suggested this book to me, haha.

Imagine a world in which Time moves like the turning of a page.

In this world, people live their life in sections, much like a page spread in a book. While your life is open to a certain page, you can view everything that has happened on the two pages facing you. You can skip around and revisit anything on those two pages for as long as they are visible. You can reread parts over and over, or skip whole paragraphs if you'd like.

Time moves in brief spurts, so you are free to "reread" parts from your life that are open. Re-experience graduation, or getting a raise, or spending the night with someone you love. Experience everything you've felt when your son scored three goals in his soccer state final, or how good you felt when someone you've had your eye on complimented your sense of humor.

Gloss over any parts you wish, as well. Who would want to experience a nasty bout of food poisoning again? Getting rejected while asking a crush to a high school dance is no fun (at least I assume... I never asked anyone). When your long-time pet passed away, just leaving you with a few pictures and a memory.

But eventually the page would be flipped. You would not be able to revisit anything from the previous page of Time, because Time decided it was time to have another spurt. Now a new spread is open for you. You can look ahead and see what will happen a few sentences down. You can begin to read through, or even reread passages once again. Don't be afraid to try new things! If they turn out well, you'll be able to experience them often. If you fail at something, you'll be able to pass over it in memory.

This world would make passionate readers of us all.

Get Off Your High House

Einstein's Dreams by Alan Lightman

I don't know if you're a fan of science fiction (or science in general). I am, but then again, I own a Star Wars belt. You don't really have to love sci-fi to really enjoy this book, since it is really more about thinking than testing laws of physics and whatnot.

Actually, I haven't finished the book yet. Immediately after soaking up the chapter that inspired this booksketch, I broke out the inks. Einstein's Dreams is a delightful collection of short chapters where the author kind of just bounces these neat ideas off of you. What if time in our universe was just one big loop, and we'll forever repeat our joys and sorrows? What if there were two sorts of "time?" What if there was a city that worshipped the flow of time?

One chapter mentioned how scientists measured that time actually is ever-so-slightly slower at high elevations, and quicker nearer the Earth's core. The author poked my brain when he suggested that in an alternate universe, people took this idea and ran with it (or climbed, rather). They began to migrate to the mountains and build their houses on tall stilts as to prolong their lives. Height becomes a status symbol. People hate lowering themselves to the Earth's surface to run errands. So when they have to do that, they really RUN errands. As fast as they can.

Height matters, I guess!

Invisible Ink

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

This novel kicks off with a surreal bang, with our "invisible" narrator going around and busting heads because his invisibility grants him freedom from being held accountable. He wants to explain how he became this way, and the majority of the rest of the novel is his story.

Starting out as a young and exceptionally talented speechmaker at a southern university, the narrator relates to us the trouble he gets into as a young black man dealing with racial issues, catch-22s, and tradition. After a particularly disastrous incident involving one of the rich white university trustees, our narrator is first admonished for fouling up the reputation of the university and then sent out to New York to work.

Having always looked up to Dr. Bledsoe, the university administrator (and also one of the few black men that the narrator has seen in a position of power), our narrator is crushed to find out that he was actually expelled and exiled from the school. Facing his anguish and anger, he decides to strike out into New York by enlisting in a paint-making factory.

After another incident, this time involving an insecure mentor figure at the factory and pressurized machines, our narrator ends up at a hospital. His mind and identity gets erased due to an experimental treatment by white scientists.

Let loose upon the streets, he is taken in by a wonderfully kind older black woman named Mary. She tends to him and won't hear anything about taking rent money until he can find a job.

Well, he does find one, eventually. After making a potent speech at the site of a rather public eviction, a man approaches him and asks our narrator to join up with a Brotherhood, which fights for the unity of all people, regardless of race. The rest of the novel tells about the narrator's struggle up the ladder, his success, ideas and thoughts, cautions, betrayals, and much more. Dark humor, provoking thoughts and actions, and excellent plots abound.

So, only at the very end does he explain what it took to make him realize he could be invisible, and what that means for him and society.

This sketch is of the character Ras the Destroyer, an powerful speaker who embraces his African heritage and spurns oppression. At the end of the novel, he changes his name from Ras the Exhorter to Ras the Destroyer because he's done preaching his words and starts tearing down society as he sees fit. Throughout the book, Ras has opposed the Brotherhood that our narrator has championed. He staunchly believes that since the Brotherhood was started by white people, it was only a sham and affront to black people everywhere. In his eyes, the only way to help his race was to fight those that always brought the boot down upon them.

Amid an all out race-riot, Ras leads an army while mounted upon a great black steed, brandishing a shield, spear, spurs, and pistol. Very visual, isn't it?

Other issues that are explored:
- Women's sexuality as a tool/danger
- Manipulation and deceit under the guise of "good"
- Using emotions and ideas to unite people
- The creative and destructive power of organizations
- Destiny in relation to class/race
- How different societies see thing in variation
- Trust and Betrayal
- Action as opposed to religion


On a side note, the majority of the book takes place in New York city, which is where I read the last third of the book! I just happened to be on vacation and visiting friends up there, and I got to walk on some of the same streets the narrator walked on! Haha!

Barred Window Chords

The Music of Erich Zann by H.P. Lovecraft

A couple of days ago I found the urge to do an illustration featuring violin. Mostly because violin takes up a nice chunk of my time these days. So I racked my brain to think of something I've read that included a violin, and I remembered a wonderful short story by Lovecraft that I lit upon when pouring over a collection of his works.

The story is only about ten or so pages long, so it is hard to explain the booksketch without giving away major points. But I'll try my best not to ruin the story for you, should you want to read it.

A university student in a European city finds a cheap apartment on a strange little street. He meets another one of the residents, a lean, bent old man named Erich Zann, who plays violin in a small cheap theater orchestra nearby during the day and cranks out some eerie/mystifying notes at night.

The student is intrigued and eventually befriends Erich. One evening he gets invited in to Erich's room for a bit. The conversation stops as a distant musical note enters from the curtained window. Erich Zann immediately zones out and breaks out his violin, as if to compete with the approaching ghostly music.

I'm going to stop there. Lovecraft considered this amongst his favorite works produced, and I can see why. While many of his works tend to go overboard in ghastly detail of supernatural (and just plain other-wordly) creatures, The Music of Erich Zann is more subtle, and it strikes an especially eerie note. No pun intended. Ok, maybe a little one.

The illustration above is of Zann playing feverishly to fend off what waits outside his window.

Num num num

Blood Relatives is a short story from the book The Littlest Hitler by Ryan Boudinot. I bought it because the synopsis online for the title story was about a little boy and girl who dress up as Hitler and Anne Frank for Halloween and become friends. The actual story (and book, for that matter) is much more depressing and dark and sometimes funny at the same time. This is OK though, because the short stories are also completely awesome, for the most part.

Blood Relatives is actually a combination of two stories involving a family member being a serial killer. The first story (pictured above) begins with a mom and her son shopping for food with the usual happenings. He asks for sugary cereal, she says no, he wants pizza pockets for dinner, she says no, etc. The mom is somewhat of a health nut, but only cooks a meal from scratch on Wednesday nights. This meal is labeled "the fancy meal."

The story sounds normal enough in the beginning, but we soon find out that the "fancy meal" involves ax wielding and the phrase "go fast...my mom used to run track." Ultimately, the crazy antics end with everyone living life as normal, as though the crazy and morally inept "fancy meal" is business as usual. A very entertaining little story! The second story is equally dark and comedic and also involves more dark humor.

Note: no. She is not doing the "Rock-out hand" while holding the ax. I just thought it looked really dainty for her to have her pinky out.

Chalk Up Another One

Trout Fishing in America by Richard Brautigan

My second imagining of a section from Trout Fishing comes from a chapter where our narrator recalls the time he was a sixth grader. He and a posse of his classmates devised a plot (out of boredom) to write "Trout Fishing in America" on the backs of all of the first graders they could find at recess.

So, armed with pieces of chalk and a sixth-grader mindset, they set off on their tasks and swept the playground. Complaints started arising from the campus, as well as confusion. What did this phrase mean, and why was it on the backs of every first grader? Was it some sort of evil plot? Who did it?

Well, the principal eventually got around to grilling the sixth graders. I won't spoil the outcome for you, though. I will, however say that I loved the paragraph that you could tell which of the students' mothers didn't feel like washing clothes every day. The day after the mass-chalking, you could still see the faded remains of the graffiti on some first graders' backs!

Brautigan books are chock-full of fun imagery, so you can expect more booksketches from them!