Thursday, November 25, 2010

Alebrije, the walking jumble

It has been a while since I uploaded something here, right? 5 months to be precise. That’s a lot of time between posts ˆ_ˆ;
I could write about my tribulations, issues and other events that delayed or prevented me to work on the Bestiary, but it wouldn’t do any good, as they are things I must deal with and that are of no consequence to anyone. I also know (hope) that my readers will understand and forgive me for lack of updates. I promise I will do my best to provide more pages on a semi-regular basis. Please bear in mind that I have to translate, fix and design the pages; illustrate 2 or 3 accompanying illustrations for each description, get an illustrator for each different creature, pay them, etc. It’s hard for one person to manage all that.
So, the next creature presented is the alebrije. Curiously enough, this fantastic being is also dream-related (as the baku). Now that I’ve checked the texts so far, there are 5 creatures that have to do with dreams just in the first volume. Anyways, I hope you find this new addition interesting. The illustrator for this one had to be Mexican, as they are an unknown creature outside of my country. That is why I selected my very good, old colleague and friend, Bran, to create it. I knew from the beginning that he’d be able to imprint his style with ease on such subject, as we both like Mexican motifs and traditional figures. I’ve always said it and I will repeat it: Bran is one of the most Mexican artists I know. He mixes pop cultural styles and recognizable details to very national themes, from colors to compositions and figures.
He’s worked in a couple of Mexican animated movies and has been published in magazines.
You can check his work on his DA account: http://totopo.deviantart.com/
And read his musings (Spanish only) on his blog: http://lapuercavida.blogspot.com/


2 comments:

  1. Está quedando precioso el bestiario, la narrativa es entretenida de leer, como siempre, y creo que lo que más me gusta es la seriedad y pasión que el "investigador de este tipo de fauna/flora" presenta. se me ocurre como esos exploradores que aparecen en peliculas o novelas clásicas como Tarzán, KingKong o Atlantis. Por otro lado, las ilustraciones son un placer a la vista!!
    Me quedo esperando a que sigas con este proyecto. <3
    Saludos
    Jade

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  2. I was just thinking in fact, as I looked at your own versions, how very South American they looked in their decorative elements; particularly the dog-like one.

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