Where is Character Zoo?

Hello hello hello to anyone who may still be reading! I'm sure you lovely people are all wondering what could have happened to Character Zoo. Have I not made a single thing for months? Am I living a slovenly and unproductive existence? Well, mostly...but not completely!

It seems as though I have finally done what I've long threatened to do and moved this blog over to tumblr. As of now, this blog won't update any more, but if you head on over to The New Character Zoo you can already see pictures of my brand new ongoing project.

Sorry for the abrupt move and the long silence, but I'll be good from now on!

Tiny Norse Shrines!

I made this pocket shrine to Odin today, and I think it's going to be a contest prize or something for a podcast I'm planning to start. That's him in the middle, with his wide-brimmed hat getup, with his dogs Gere and Freke on the bottom and his ravens Huginn and Muninn on the top. I'm thinking about doing one to Thor as well, and maybe Loki, but the mythology I've been able to find is a bit vague on what he looks like. I might end up having Thor's shrine just be a shrine to Mjollnir. Or hell, maybe I'll be too lazy to do anything at all!

In my big man hands for size comparison:



I like working this small; I had to paint some of the stuff in there with the tip of a needle!

Christopher's Room Installation

This was the installation I did for my exit show. It's called Christopher's Room, and it follows the story of a young prince, Christopher, whose life changes when he is attacked by the great snake Ezra. Christopher defeats the snake, but takes Ezra's mask so that he is never hurt again. The mask gives him strange new powers, but renders him pretty soulless and zombie-like. The installation itself is a corner of Christopher's bedroom, in which the viewers can poke around and find goodies that expand the story. Here's me in the installation:



The snake Ezra:



Christopher's mother, the Insect Queen, doesn't recognize her son after he puts on the mask, so she collects pictures of him as he used to be:



A family portrait of Christopher and his parents:



Christopher's father, the king, uses Christopher's new powers to eliminate two potential assassins, the twin brothers Felix and Asher Orthrus. Christopher must send the king their tattooed hands to prove they are dead:



Each of Asher's fingers is in an individual box:



There are lots of little goodies in the cabinet:



Here's the little pamphlet in the cabinet that shows Christopher fighting the snake, and which I posted on this blog earlier:

New Books for a New Chapter...of my Life...Get it? It's a Metaphor

Well, it's official: I'm a college graduate! Here are a couple books I finished recently. This first one is a cake-shaped book for my little sister's birthday:







Then I made this book and box so I could have a little book that was a perfect cube:









And finally, this is an altered book that I made out of a thrift store find called "The Adventures of Philip, Volume 2." It was published in 1900, and I thought the title was so hilarious that I had to illustrate it. The author's name was Thackeray, but I thought that in my story, Thackeray should be a monster that Philip has to defeat:



Everything inside is carved into the actual book pages and painted/collaged; the dirigible is a pop up!





In the end, Philip just turns out to be a dorky guy dreaming of adventure from his study. Aww. The middle panel has holes in it, so you can see from spread to spread:



Later tonight, I'll post pictures of my exit show installation. But for now, thanks for reading about the books!

A Couple New Books!

Hello! Here are a few books I made recently. The first one is a big coptic book with giant wings. Practical? No. Conversation starter? Definitely.





I've already done a few bird-related drawings inside...



The second book is a pop up book that I made about my grandma's old house, which got destroyed in a hurricane years ago. I loved that house as a kid, and I wanted to make a book for both it and my grandma. Here's the cover, with a piece of Native American pottery that is often found in the area:



The first page:



Each successive page opens up to add a new layer onto the house:



Until finally:



When all the layers are up, you can pull on the topmost tab to reveal the final, post-hurricane page, with :



Yay books!

Ziegfeld Altered Book

Hello, all! Finally, a new project! I just finished this altered book. I was originally a book about the performer Ziegfeld, but I thought Ziegfeld was a more appropriate name for some kind of space messiah. He ends up coming to earth to try to become a god, but things don't turn out that well. Here's the cover; I'll write the text that I saved under the images:

"Ziegfeld's father was the cause of everything that his dazzling son became."



"Almost at the outset he was to become aware not only of rich comforts but also of the threat of death and destruction that was to haunt and obsess him in later years."



"In his early teens Ziegfeld was lanky, already saturnine in features, and maddened by his father's austerities. Yet..."

"He was intensely loyal to his father. We may well imagine Ziegfeld's thunderous fury when he learned of this disgrace to the family name."

"The most powerful man on earth"


"After Ziegfeld's masterstroke of showmanship, he had everything he wanted in the world."
Here's another view of the inside part, where the biggest chunk of text has been carved out and a polymer clay figure is inside:

Lithography Crowns

Hello everyone!
Sorry for the long hiatus; finals and holidays have flown by, and I am back in action! Here's a project I finished just before Christmas. I did a series of three stone lithographs and then built three crowns based on the prints, using the prints. Here's what I mean (and thanks to the lovely Richard, my expert crown model):



This is all three crowns in front of the print they are made from.

I made this print, and then made this dirigible crown out of many copies of it:









Print number two:











Aaaand print number three:











So regal!