LIFE OF AN ARTIST Comic Portraits Neil Gaimen

Neil Gaimen giving "instructions" of the utmost urgency.

Each and every morning I set aside a short sequence of moments in which I find both pleasure and business in the act of reading. In pleasure the time spent allows me to escape and enjoy life in an unusual manner and in the business of thought I always learn something, a new word , a new connection or how to avoid police suspicion after committing a diabolical act.

I generally tend to choose the readings based on the amount of time I can allocate and find my self frequently returning to short stories, articles, and comic books due to the limitations one decree's as a freelance illustrator. Today however I figured it was best to take a comic to the cafe not because my time is limited (obviously) but rather because the peculiar prerogative of the February wind chills. It is damn cold outside but nothing like the previous winter and I had calculated that I could last outdoors with my coffee and the fresh air for approximately 20 minutes.

Therefor I reached blindly into my library grasping a copy of Neil Gaimen's "Dream Country" and decided to kidnap Calliope while i caffeinated myself. I must have read this a million and six times by now and it never gets stale. The spine tingling sensation and un-namable understanding that comes with good horror I got from these books as an adolescent hasn't faded a bit. These were among the first truly incredible comics I ever read, and , having been bored and disgusted by the exchange of script for slash which dominates the genre, restored my faith in the macabre. Thanks for all the wonderfully pretty stories Mr. G.

As is also part of my daily journal's and artistic warm up, I followed the inspiration with a little sketch of the monstrous muse. I looked at some press shots of Neil and thought they were as silly as a sandstorm in the sea so I did the drawings while watching him read one of his poems entitled "Instructions" instead. The portraits took about 5 minutes to draw, which is how long it will take you to listen to the story on youtube.Highly Recommended.