A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM~ HOT OFF THE PRESS~ ER~ PHOTOSHOP~!

When the Kids @ the School here on Ocracoke asked me

if I would illustrate the Poster for their upcoming Play~

a little ditty by Bill Shakenberger~ I hesitated at the

chance... My 1st question was: 'Arn't there any Kids

who can DRAW at your School ?' But, all them kids

was busy busy busy gearing up dis-remembering

their lines and rehearsing, so~ once full fledged

flattery set in, and my ego inflated to the size

of a pea~ I said 'Okay'~ then whipped out my

trusty ever-present Sharpie, handed it to

Molly, along with a napkin sitting by the

hordevourves (at a gallery opening)

and asked her to scribble what the

design had to entail. She quickly

scrawled: A LIVE OAK TREE,

A DONKEY-MAN (Nick Bottom),

and FAERIES~!

Always up for a challenge, no matter

what kind of bad timing is involved~

I figured I'd jam it out in two sittings,

spending maybe 8 hours max on it.

Eight sittings, 5 days, and 20+ hours

later, here is what we got...

LIVE OAK PHOTO FROM MY SLIDE COLLECTION

TAKEN BACK IN 1996 ON THE SOUND SIDE...

(i only used the left half of the picture)

THE POSTERS WILL BE HUNG ALL

AROUND TOWN IN VARIOUS SHOPS,

@ THE POST OFFICE, ON BULLETIN

BOARDS, THE COFFEE SHOP ETC.

ON 17 X 11 CARDSTOCK~ SO~ I

DREW MY BORDER THAT SIZE...

A SERIES OF FAERIES THAT I DREW ON THE

FERRY RIDE FROM OCRACOKE TO HATTERAS

DURING A SEVERAL DAY COMMUTE OFF ISLAND

(faeries on the ferry ? how apropos is that ?)

SINCE I KNEW HOW SMALL THE FAERIES

WERE GOING TO BE, I DID NOT OBSESS

OVER MAKING THEM PERFECT~ IN FACT~

AS IS ONE OF MY BAD HABITS PICKED UP

FROM MY DREAM JOURNAL DAYS, I DREW

THEM STRAIGHT IN INK WITHOUT ANY

PENCILS~! JUST BALLPOINT PEN UNDER

A COUPLE OF THEM, WITH SHARPIE INK

ON TOP~! ONE CANNOT AFFORD TO

MESS UP USING THIS TECHNIQUE,

BUT IT REALLY SHARPENS YOUR

SKILL LEVEL AND IMPRESSES

NON-ARTISTS~!

NEXT, I SWIPED SOME IMAGES FROM

GOOGLES MASSIVE IMAGE WAREHOUSE~

OF A DONKEY~ AND A COOL MICHELANGELO

SCULPTURE ENTITLED 'CROUCHING BOY'~!

ALSO NOTE THAT, I DECIDED TO USE REAL

GOGGLES FOR PUCK'S HEADGEAR, AND

JUST PASTED A NEAT PAIR OVER MY

ORIGINAL DRAWING.

BELOW IS THE FINAL VERSION,

SANS A FEW MINOR DETAILS

AND ALSO WITHOUT DATE,

LOCATION, OR THEATER

COMPANY INFO (ya gotta

double click it til it grows

to full size):

YAY~! Next up~ I will illustrate the inside

of my eyelids after catching up on some

lost sleep ;~j