In the coming semester I will be working on a series of illustrations/cartoons possibly appearing in the next version of a book called Asking the Right Questions. It is quite an interesting book- written by one of my professors: Dr. M. Neil Browne.

The following sketches are based on subject matter within the book.

1) Sponge Learning vs. Panning for Gold Learning

2) Teaching with Questions

3) Critical Thinking Etiquette

4) Attitude toward debate: Winning Vs. Furthering Understanding

5) Descriptive Arguments and Prescriptive Arguments

What are your impressions? Feel free to give me any feedback, ideas/changes etc…
-Tom

I’m working on another poster for Dr. Browne. (see my first one here) It is based on an analogy about a Hedgehog and a Fox by Sir Isaiah Berlin (who, incidentally, also is the progenitor of one of my favorite ideas, the idea of “positive liberty” and “negative liberty”)*.

The hedgehog and fox analogy is fairly simply: Berlin’s fox is a creature who knows something about an expansive range of subject matter- a generalist. Alternatively, the Berlinian hedgehog knows a great deal about one specific thing- a specialist.

So in trying to create an image to represent this idea, I made several doodles of hedgehogs and foxes… but I ended up with the following two characters. I’m not sure if I’ll use them, but they’ve been fun to make.

Here they are:

Agent Hedgehog sees extremely far through a tiny narrow scope.
Agent Fox cannot see as far, but is resourceful in any environment.

Any suggestions?

-Tom

* The distinction of “positive liberty” and “negative liberty” is rarely made in the U.S.- But I find it tremendously important. Essentially, it binds liberty (or freedom) with means.
In other words, being free doesn’t amount to much unless you also have the tools to accomplish what you wish. Many phrase the distinction like this:

Negative Freedom is Freedom From
Positive Freedom is Freedom To

Example: We have the Negative Freedom to go to Hawaii on vacation. There is no law preventing us from flying to Hawaii.

If we had the Positive Freedom to go to Hawaii, the government (or someone) would provide us with airfare, plan the trip, get hotels, etc..

For instance, public education is a Positive Freedom. Not only are there no laws preventing education- there is a school in every area, and it is free of charge.

Now, there is certainly a gradient present here. This is not a case of “either/or”. Pos/Neg liberty exists on a scale.

In his brief stay on this world, Egon Schiele managed to overturn many cultural and social notions of painting and art. Schiele’s work is raw and erotic- even by current standards. In the early 1900’s his paintings ended up landing him in prison for “obscenity”. I find his work wonderful- particularly the oddly skewed nature of the figures. I wish I could more eloquently describe it for you, but perhaps just looking at the work will do a better job:

Self Portrait with Hand on Cheek, Egon Schiele, 1910

Seated Female Nude with Raised Right, Egon Schiele, 1910

Self Portrait with Winter Cherry, Egon Schiele, 1912

Striding Torso in Green Blouse, Egon Schiele, 1913

Sinking Sun, Egon Schiele, 1913

And my favorite:

Seated Woman with Bent Knee, Egon Schiele, 1917

So I have this tattered copy of “Scary Stories” by Alvin Schwartz. I’ve had the thing since I was very young, and to this day it grips me with fear.

I don’t recall ever actually reading it… (maybe one or two stories, but I thought they were boring- for very young children).

The reason the book is so memorable (and the reason I am writing a post about it) is decidedly due to a man from St. Paul, Minnesota. His name is Stephen Gammell… and he terrifies me. I think the first time I opened the book (probably in Kindergarten) I turned to the page below and curled up into a ball.

But despite not having the courage to open the book again, the small toddler version of me bought the damn book- so that I could take it home and be too scared to open it there.

Eventually, I did open the book again. And found the illustrations still terrified me. But I also found that the illustrations were magnificent. Here are a few more of Stephen Gammell’s drawings:

This next character appears in multiple pages throughout the book. I’m not sure if there is some particular significance to him, but here he is eating some bloody looking cereal:

I am very intrigued by the way strands of goop seem to stretch off of every mark. The drawings become very tangible- like I might get some on me if I brushed my hand over them…

Stephen Gammell has had illustrations in a number of other books. He won the Caldecott Medal for his work in “Song and Dance Man” by Karen Ackerman. I highly recommend checking out some of his other works (They aren’t all so gruesome).

Sweet dreams,
-Tom

I’m lucky enough to be working with Dr. Browne to possibly be publishing a set of animations to accompany a 1700 page book his wife is writing. I am going to be representing the choices involved in going between Federal and State court- all with squirrels.

I’m really excited for the project- I love the idea of taking dry academic material and making something engaging with it.

So here are some of my drawings of the squirrels. I tried to really break it down to shapes.

My rough squirrel concept:

Stern Squirrel:

Beaming Squirrel:

Eating an Acorn:

Walking:

Running:

Hope you like it,

-Tom

I’ve been working for one of my professors, Dr. Browne, (to whom I owe much of my growth over the last 3 years) making posters of his favorite ideas. The first assignment was to illustrate the inter workings of Aristotle’s description of the human brain. The concept is referred to as “Aristotle’s Who We Are”. I thought about describing the concept here, but I suppose my artwork is supposed to do that- so have a gander:

The whole thing:

Breakdown (Click to Enlarge):

I’m still struggling with color usage and drawing, but I’m-a keep working at it.

Until the next post,
-Tom

This post is spurred by a recent post about Czech Animator Jiri Trnka on Animation-treasures 2 by Hans Bacher (Where I graciously made a mess of the comments board :-/). In any case- as some of you may or may not know, I am from the Czech Republic. Not only that, but I am hoping to return sometime (from my current home in Ohio) to attend graduate school in animation. Czech Rep. has a very rich history in animation and art, and I thought I’d post something today about one of my favorite illustrators.

The man’s name is Petr Sis (Peh-tur Seess)- in english he is “Peter”- and he is a children’s book author (among many other things). Born in 1949, Sis lived through some of the less favorably remembered times of Czechoslovakia (mainly Soviet occupation), but he managed to lead quite an extraordinary life (and still does). Sis’ work ranges from awarded films to major book illustrations and Sis has appeared in several major publications. (Read more about Petr here)

Anyway, I just wanted to share some images from his books, which I always found quite captivating:

I find Sis’ graphical style quite magical. It certainly has something to do with growing up with his books- but I think Petr’s work is well worth some examination.

Until next time,

-Tom