cornish & the changeling #3

[adelaidesean]

Continuing the series of pictures David Cornish drew for The Changeling...

I've always wanted to meet a man'kin. But not this one. Eek.



"One of the walking statues known as man'kin had crossed the boundary trail and strode with heavy steps in a perfectly straight line through scrub and pasture alike. The dogs had gone crazy, barking and snarling at it like beasts possessed. It had paid them no mind at all, just as it had ignored Ros's parents when they tried to drive it away from the fences. Wire and rope tangled around its stone ankles dragged like a veil in its wake."

Next...

Comments

[bluetyson.livejournal.com]

Not without Hellboy, anyway, and being approximately 500m behind. :)

[ladnews.livejournal.com]

Indeed! :-)

[murasaki-1966.livejournal.com]

I've been trying to work out whose work Mr Cornish's drawing remind me of. It's finally twigged, and it's two artists: Meryvn Peake and Charles Keeping.

[ladnews.livejournal.com]

Interesting comparisons. I'd never heard Keeping's name before, but I certainly knew his work.

I think I like Peake's art much more than I like his writing, but I know I'm in a minority there. Gormenghast strikes me as one of those books that can only be appreciated at a particular moment in life. If you miss that window, you might as well not try. I *did* try, without success, when I was in my 30s. The same happened with Narnia. I'll never know what people see in those books because my parents somehow managed not to hear about them when I was a kid.

Thank goodness someone at least pushed them in the direction of Tolkien. The alternative is too horrible to contemplate...

[murasaki-1966.livejournal.com]

I'll agreed with your assessment. I loved Narnia as a kid, but I re-read them recently and was rather horribled by the sermonizing. Needless to say, it went straight over my head at 12. Gormenghast I first read several years ago and loved it, but, it's a book about atmosphere. In the long run, there isn't much plot. It is a book obsessed by description, as you would expect a book written by a visual artist would be.

Keeping is one of my favourite illustrators. He did marvellous picture books, and later great strong illustrations to classics such as Beowulf (Grendal is terrifying and the Dragon is magnificent), The Lady of Shallott, The Highwayman and Great Expectations. I have his illustrated version of Black Beauty. If you read any of the old editions of Rosemary Sutcliff (also a favourite); those sinewy black and white illustrations are his. I've been collecting some of his books for years now. He illustrated too much for me to have everything, but I'm getting Beowulf soon. (Must pay off credit card a bit more first).

I found Tolkien in the school library. It looked interesting and I picked up. 'Nuff said.