I made these illustrations for stories I told my son Paul when he was about five years old. Not just stories, but factoids, novel and movie plot. He wanted it all. If the illustrations seem random, it's because I left the subject matter up to him: "You tell me what you want in the picture, and I'll put it in." Waterproof ink and watercolor on watercolor paper. I wish I could show them in a higher resolution.
Paul grew up wanting to be Dracula, and I was to be his Renfield. Here's Renfield bringing Dracula his morning bottle of tomato juice. He wanted slugs in the picture, so that's them crawling on Renfield.
I told Paul about all the versions of
The Mummy I had seen, from Boris Karloff through Hammer Films. So he wanted Indiana Jones, an ancient tomb, giant statuary, lots of scorpions, and a mummy his size with a hole blown through it. There was also a modern Egyptian boy who guided tourists though the supernatural. Both of us were ready for the 21st Century CG version!
This is me, showing Paul the proper way to summon, and protect himself against, a demon. It takes a lot of book learning, I told him. And never, never read out loud in the occult section of the school library. The wizard's cape is a shower curtain we had in our bathroom.
Labels: Bedtime Stories, D and D, Horror, Mummies, Wizards
