the wrath and the dawn

I am just returned from this wonderful thing, where it was cold and glorious and cold and uplifting and awe-inspiring and cold and fantastic and freezing and fun and COLD. 

The mind-numbing temperatures, the great company of old friends, and the serendipitous meeting of amazing new friends prompted this post. The image above is some artwork to promote Renée Ahdieh's YA debut, The Wrath and the Dawn. 

See it in action here as her Twitter banner! 

You can also go to our respective tumblrs to see more artwork in the same vein (with more to come).

Also be on the lookout for the sequel and conclusion to Wrath coming out 3 May 2016 under the intriguing moniker, The Rose and the Dagger. 

Believe it or not, the above image actually started out as this sketch:

"For that, I won't even try to play fair"
(The Wrath and the Dawn)

There's a lesson here about what can happen when you open yourself up to change and new ideas and new possibilities, but I'm too bushwhacked from the weekend to figure that out right now. I leave you with this open ending.

medium: watercolor and gouache, some marker on that sketch (though the text and watermarks are pretty digital)

Whencesoe'er I came...

This baby we christened Octobook.

Jackie came over one day with this beautifully-engineered little thing and entrusted him into my care.

He was....challenging. Stubborn. Refused to submit to my authority. Sigh.
But I love this little guy.

You do your best to prepare the little ones for the real world and, with all your advanced worldly experience, you believe you've done what you can.

You reasonably expect your progeny to see clearly the path you've laid before them and to reverently partake of the wisdom you freely give--until, bit-by-bit, your carefully laid plans unravel and the wee little thing takes hold of his ever-strengthening faculties, dismisses your unsolicited assistance, and (by the power of his own fierce conviction) becomes a thing you could not have foreseen, could not have contrived, and would not have wanted to try to foresee or contrive if you could do it all over again because that would only ruin the delight of the surprise.

And so the artist finds herself a master, leading the vision, yet also, a servant, paradoxically, being led by it.

Whenceso'er I came / Whereso'er I go

The quote is from Moby Dick.

I pitched it to Jackie and she approved. I think it appropriately embodies the paradox of a character being led on by Fate while retaining his agency as a Hero--ever-willful and carving his own path; Fate be damned. It sounds contradictory and yet there it be. We demand that the Universe be linear, and the Universe, in turn, says "Screw you, puny human."

Who can fathom it.

We only cared to make 50, signed and sealed. You can purchase them here on Jackie's etsy shop. Object is smaller than it appears (a 3.5' square) but a warning: this is a very serious pop-up--not for the faint of heart.

Update (14.08.02): as of this week, Octobook is sold out (Comic-con 2014 was its fated last appearance). Alas! It's time has come to an end. They've all found good homes, I'd like to think, and I hope for their bright futures.

medium: watercolor scanned and re-printed to cut, folded, and packaged between two slices of book board.

WonderCon 2013: a debut

WonderCon 2013 was not only my debut into the convention scene: it was the debut of the first official collaboration between Helen Yoon and aforementioned illustrious colleague, Jackie Huang.

What does a collaboration between an illustrator and a pop-up engineer entail, you ask?

Well let me tell you!

Illustrious colleague goes to her studio and works industriously and illustriously to deliver me something that will function properly in her pop-up vision, like so:

And then professional illustrator will do some bibbity-bobbity-boo, like so:

And the hope is to create a product that both of us are proud of and will add a little charm to the quiet lives of  our viewership, like so:

Are you charmed, dear Viewership?  We hope so!

If you are interested in purchasing our first-ever collaboration, you can go to illustrious colleague's etsy shop and bother her about.  

You can also read her version of the events in question on her blog.