July 12, 2010

Kings of the Earth

"Kings of the Earth" illustration

Here is an illustration I did for the LA Times book review. The book is Jon Clinch's latest book Kings of the Earth: A Novel about the lives and deaths of a family on a rural upstate New York farm. After going through the first half dozen sketches based on the short synopsis available before the book's release, I realized the ideas were really just guesses at plot points and character descriptions. For the final sketches (the last three which I submitted), I tried to keep the themes broader and more symbolic rather than narrative.

Ultimately the obscured, voyeuristic family photo idea was selected, and the finished piece ended up running in black and white (below right). But as luck would have it on newsprint the black and white version gives off an eerie documentary feel that hopefully helps drive home the concept of the story's unsettling, incomplete history. Much thanks again to Judy Pryor for the assignment.

"Kings of the Earth" illustration process and print

5 comments:

Finn Clark said...

Amazing piece Owen. I love reading these insights into your commissions :)

Jon Clinch said...

Great work, Owen.

TREVOR Simonsen said...

great composition. looks good

Anon said...

Rarrrrr!

Tyler Schatz said...

I love this piece man! great design