all my hEroes are going to ground...

Jean "Moebius" Giraud: 1938-2012

This is the man who both fascinated and inspired me-- more than any other artist --to be myself in everything I drew; to develop my own style and vision.


Most of you won't even know him... that is, until I tell you one of his stories can be found in the early 1980's film Heavy Metal.

I first met Moebius in Heavy Metal Magazine with the adventures of John Difool in "The Incal," and later with his graphic novel, "The Airtight Garage." I have always admired his work; his visionary worlds and concepts. He took the simple stroke of pen and made it beautiful. I wanted to draw like... still want to draw like him. I want his portion; the one God gave him.

A poster he painted for environmental conservation is directly responsible for the main element of a short story wrote eleven years ago; a story that is growing into a full length novel.

He took the ordinary and made it extraordinary by asking, "what if I...?" He paid attention to detail without drawing every detail. He extracted the beauty from the banal, forcing the simple lines to show what world-weary eyes often miss. to recognize And that's all I've been trying to do my entire life. Sometimes I've found my visions to be on the same par if not caliber. But his is the standard to which I've always looked.

There are certainly other artist I admire... Maxfield Parrish for one, Michael Parks, for another. Picasso before cubism (specifically his Rose Period)... but I can't help but love the man who gave sight to many of my own personal visions.

May God grant him peace.

the cost of perfection

As an artist you must both recognize the value of the extraordinary talent you possess, and an unsatisfied critical eye...

Picasso is in a park when a woman approaches him and asks him to draw a portrait of her. Picasso agrees and quickly sketches her.

After handing her the sketch she is pleased with the likeness and asks how much she owes him.

"$5,000," he replies.

The woman screams, "but it took you only five minutes."

"No, madam," Picasso replies, "it took me all my life."

* * *

"Think of and look at your work as though it were done by your enemy. If you look at it to admire it, you are lost"

--Samuel Butler

Armed with these two truths you will both grow and prosper in your gifts.