Sometimes I like to draw things. Not often, just sometimes.
Recently I was asked to provide an illustration for The John School, a marvellous short story by my old pal Dan Powell that appears in the second issue of Dirty Bristow magazine. The John School is a morality tale set in kerb crawler rehabilitation unit and – without giving too much away – it’s powerful stuff and not for the faint hearted.
My illustration for the story tried to evoke the style of a 1950s EC horror comic: in a dimly-lit classroom, a frightened man turns to us and screams; in the distance, the skeletal ghost of a prostitute stands at a whiteboard and – in her own blood – writes a single word: ‘WHY?’
Sure, it’s vulgar, lurid and as subtle as a breeze block to the back of the head, but I feel it conveys a certain poignancy that was absent from my original version of the drawing:
Dirty Bristow issue two is available from here.
I definately think the ‘Why?’ works better on the blackboard. And while I agree the main character is a twat, I can think of much worse names he should be called too.
Thanks for doing such a great job on the illustration, Tom. I think the imagery reflects perfectly the more unusual parts of the story while asking one of the key questions I wanted to deal with in the story.
Posted by Dan Powell | September 3, 2011, 10:24 amHi Dan. Sorry for not getting back to you sooner, but its been one of those weeks. Yeah, ‘Why?’ was definitely the better option. Thanks for giving me such a strong inspiration!
Posted by Tom Lennon | September 6, 2011, 8:19 pm