Author of The Commons Books
Another day, another offering of treats-for-the-eyes Commons character artwork, this time from pal and lens ninja James Barnett (along with model Enrika Newbury). If you need a wedding or portrait photographer in Phoenix, Tempe, or Scottsdale, James is your man.
An interesting presentation of the addictive pinkies and the fugue state they put Annie in, says I.
You?
Artist extraordinaire and Commoners pal Michael Visnov has been at it again, putting together more character concept sketches for The Commons: Book One: The Journeyman. After whipping up some beautiful renderings of Ken the mummy, he’s back with his take on Po. A couple are an experiment with a full-on David Carradine/Kwai Chang Caine/Kung Fu look (7 and 8), while others give Po a look all his own.
I’m partial to 3, 4, and 9. You?
I’ve been very happy with the generous and kind reviews The Commons 1: The Journeyman has been getting on Amazon and Goodreads, among other other places. But the folks at Awesome Indies have taken it to another level entirely, with one write-up that gave it “an extremely enthusiastic five stars” and another that called it “something truly extraordinary.”
Now they’ve got me dancing a little jig in my living room, having awarded the book a Seal of Excellence.
That is why we write.
My friend Michael Visnov and I grew up trading comics, superhero Slurpee cups, and just about any other comic-related item you can imagine with each other and with like-minded friends. We couldn’t get enough of those worlds and still can’t. So when Mike offered to try his hand at some character concept sketches for The Commons 1: The Journeyman, I was only too happy to set him loose on it.
The best part is that he got started without reading the book and after reading only a few of my character notes, which means that some of his stuff looks nothing like my imagined version of Ken and doesn’t really fit the character. But it doesn’t matter because it’s so much fun, and we’re all left to picture our favorite characters however we like. (That’s one of the reasons I’m always annoyed when book covers adopt the art and cast of their movie adaptations. I like seeing my versions of the characters while reading, and I don’t mind if my imagination alters them as I go.)
I’ll say up front that my favorites are in Concept Sketches 2, seen in the gallery above (click on it for a larger version). I see Ken as number three with number one’s Wayfarers and number two’s eyes when the shades are off. But the rest is a blast. Skeletal Ken (who really would make a great boyfriend for Barbie, no?). Billy Jack Ken. Ben Grimm Ken, even though Ken doesn’t smoke. Just because. And Ken played by Ted Cassidy (who is best known as The Addams Family‘s Lurch, but who will always be treasured for appearing in one of the best fight scenes ever filmed); Abe Lincoln Ken (because I mentioned to Mike that Ken could be thought of as the late president with a willingness to break bones when all alternatives are exhausted), and Liam Neeson Ken (who would crush the role, I think).
Number three comes the closest to illustrating Ken’s character. He’s the philosopher who dispenses relationship advice to a waitress when she wonders if she might deserve better than her current boyfriend. He’s a master of diner puzzles, despite his mitt-sized hands. And when we first meet him and the angry monk Po in a truck-stop restaurant, he does his best to convince the gang of bullying skinheads targeting him and his friend that the brawl they seek will not go well for them. When the skinhead leaders insist, Ken and Po are forced to prove their point with pain.
But all of this art is wonderful, as are the other sketches I’ll highlight in future posts.
What do you see?
‘We are a long way from anything,’ I told him. ‘Up ahead turn left and we’re fifteen or twenty minutes from Cancún. Turn right and you’ve got a batch of sixty miles of nothing. So who are we seeing, where is he and how do you get in touch?’ — John D. MacDonald, The Lonely Silver Rain
![“[W]ith His Beady Little Eyes”](https://i0.wp.com/michaelalanpeck.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Clear.gif?fit=1%2C1&ssl=1)
“Question: Help! Many years ago there was a TV program called Maverick, which was about two brothers, Bret and Bart. One was played by James Garner and the other by…? It’s driving us nuts. Please try to help. I can see his face, but not his name. Thanks.”
One of my old Televisionary columns. The question was made up to give me an excuse to write about whatever show I wanted to focus on. (I nearly always did that with the first question.) It was about Maverick co-star Jack Kelly, but James Garner’s charm claimed at least half the answer.
Adios, Jim Rockford. No one ever pulled a Firebird J-turn or handed a security guard a stack of phone books, only to then punch the hapless guy in the jaw, like you.
Got a nice gift today from Chicago Sun-Times blogger Sarah Terez Rosenblum: an interview feature in the “Our Town” blog. Not only did I answer questions about The Journeyman, but I was also able to touch upon a topic that’s critical to humanity’s survival and doesn’t get nearly enough attention from the mainstream media: The Island of Misfit Toys.
Much appreciated, Sarah.
I thank you. King Moonracer, Dolly, and The Spotted Elephant thank you. Even the jelly pistol thanks you. He just has a funny way of showing it.
Hang on to your hat. Hang on to your hope. And wind the clock, for tomorrow is another day.
In 1973, a despondent man who’d lost faith in humanity wrote a letter to author E.B. White.
White wrote back.
The condition every art requires is, not so much freedom from restriction, as freedom from adulteration and from the intrusion of foreign matter.
— Willa Cather
[H/T The Passive Voice]
Read a lot of stories, listen to a lot of music, and think about what the stories you encounter mean for your own life and lives of those you love. In that way, you will not be alone with an empty self; you will have a newly rich life with yourself, and enhanced possibilities of real communication with others.
— Martha Nussbaum, quoted on Brain Pickings