For Joe Hills I chose Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein!
I loved this book along with A Light in the Attic when I was a kid. It was one of my earliest exposures to poetry and since Joe is a poet himself, I thought this would suit him well!
In addition to doing a drawing for Joe, I also tried my hand at an original Joe Hills poem in the style of Silverstein. Writing poetry is pretty far outside of my usual wheelhouse, so I hope it turned out suitably Silverstein-esque! I'm proud of it regardless. :)
Here is the text of the poem:
-
JOE HILLS
A puppet is Juppet
A felt little guy
That felt is swell
And svelte
And blue as the sky.
But try as I might
I can't help but think
All that felt
Must swelt
In a Nashville July!
-
To learn more about Where the Sidewalk Ends and see my style references, continue below the cut!
(Happy Hermitcraft stream weekend! A fine weekend to donate to Gamer's Outreach)
Where the Sidewalk Ends is a 1970s book of poetry by Shel Silverstein. Each poem is accompanied by a whimsical ink drawing also done by Silverstein.
The poetry is fantastical and imaginative, often written from a child-like perspective. Though the poetry sometimes touches on darker themes, it does so from a thoughtful place and the collection is enjoyable for people of all ages.
Even if you aren't someone who likes poetry, I highly recommend picking up Where the Sidewalk Ends or A Light in the Attic. They are both wonderful.
Style references:
Every poem in the book has a cute drawing to accompany it. Here is the poem from the above image:
THE ACROBATS
I'll swing
By my ankles,
She'll cling
To your knees
As you hang
By your nose
From a high-up
Trapeze.
But just one thing, please,
As we float through the breeze-
Don't sneeze.
The illustrations for Where the Sidewalk Ends are whimsical with sparse, stippled shading and cartoonish characters
The lineart of these drawings is thick and a little messy but still easily readable even when the subject of the drawings is unusual (which is pretty much all of them)
I've been so busy but I really like how this one turned out. A little bit awkward on the pose since I didn't used ref. Overall though it is one my favs in terms of text rendering and the visual effects.
s-u-f-j-a-n-s-t-e-v-e-n-s
theartofmadeline
origamiaround
blakekathryn
titsay
