Neil Gaiman

iamknotinsane:

What better way to take advantage of my insomnia than to work on my art piece submission for “A Calendar of Tales”.  I chose the “July” tale because it’s a personal month for me. I like staring up at the sky at night, it always brought a peace of mind to me whenever life got overwhelming. Also, my zodiac and spirituality is tied into the energy of the cosmos, so it’s only suitable to have chosen this one.

The igloo of books is just a visual reference/blueprint for my actual piece.  I work best when I can physically see it in front of me to get a sense of dimension and what I want from the piece. 

This was my original idea on paper.

I had to figure out how I wanted to put this together :-) I knew what mediums and what materials I wanted to use, it was just a matter of putting it all together.

and the final product…

I’m dedicating this piece to Samantha Mabli, my high school Gothic Fiction teacher, who introduced me to my first Neil Gaiman story :-). I’m also dedicating this to all the teachers and mentors who have influenced my life while I was a student.  Without dedicated and caring teachers, I wouldn’t have grown into the individual I am today.

Please note that the images of books used in the submitted piece are actual books that my roommate and I personally own.  No image of books were copied and pasted from external sources. All images, with the exception the ones listed below, were taken with the camera on my phone and composed/edited using Photoshop CS 5.1 on a Mac.

Thanks to the following references used:

http://puckettpages.com/wp-content/uploads/puck-blue-gray-space-digital-backdrop-background.jpg -texture background: clouds

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-H2SYZOMTZrA/T0G9lueuPkI/AAAAAAAAAjk/czAnYz12K5Y/s1600/wallpaper-54773.jpg - sky lights

http://images.sky-map.org/star_image/000/000747.jpeg stars