Gina R Labrecque
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Weekly Words

Weekly Words  is my blog where I post small illustrations as often as I can.  Since I draw inspiration from reading and am writing fiction of my own, I include a quote with each illustration from either an already loved and published author, or if I dare, a piece of my own writing...

To follow my Words series and stay informed on exclusive content and goodies be sure to sign up for my Patron's List e-newsletter!

Outside the Law

11/24/2018

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A suave feline perches on the edge of danger in this Stephen King inspired Weekly Words illustration Outside the Law.
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Cat's were the gangsters of the animal world, living outside the law and often dying there.  There were a great many of them who never grew old by the fire. 

-Stephen King, Pet Sematary

When I read this quote it really struck me.  I read it again as soon as I finished, and then read it several more times before understanding why.  It's a potent string of words.  Like any great writing, it says so much in the shortest way using the best words.

I've been teaching myself to write creatively for quite a few years, picking up everything I can to hone my grasp on the craft, often from reading.  Many successful authors will say reading is essential to learning to write. If you're not sure what I mean about great writing, let me show you a terrible way to write the same thing.  Maybe you'll gain a better appreciation:

"Cat's are like gangsters because many of them die in gruesome ways instead of from old age in the safety of a house under the care of their owner."

First, that was a mouthful if you tried to read it out loud.  Second, it's just bad.  You don't have to know why to not enjoy reading it.

Stating what you know just tells the reader what to think instead of piquing the reader's curiosity enough to think with the author and arrive at the same conclusion.  I can't imagine anyone would be successful in creating an engaging novel writing statements like that.

The original quote lures you in with an unlikely comparison and makes you think about cats in a new way.  It's a strong couple sentences.  I get really excited about words sometimes, you'll have to excuse me. 

In the case you don't care as much about books, well, I'm probably no further ahead than Remy trying to convince his family that food has flavor:
 

That's okay ;)
Also, Synesthesia is fascinating.

At first I wanted to draw the cat in a hoodie... but then I figured that's probably not the style of gangster Stephen King had in mind.  I couldn't be sure but I decided a fedora was the better choice.  I used Al Capone's for reference.
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The hat I ended up drawing changed a lot, regrettably more than I intended.  But the scale was so small and there were tall pointy ears to accommodate, and I was in such a rush...
The quote for this Weekly Words illustration was chosen by one of my Patron's List e-newsletter and Patreon subscribers, which makes it special.  This was the first time I illustrated a quote chosen by one of you.  It was great fun and got me thinking in a way I normally wouldn't have had I chosen a quote myself. 

I definitely want my fans and followers to join in selecting quotes for future WW illustrations.  If you aren't already, be sure to sign up for my e-newsletter (Patron's List) or follow me on Patreon, Facebook or DeviantArt to participate!

***

About the Author

"King was born September 21, 1947, in Portland, Maine. His father, Donald Edwin King, was a merchant seaman. Donald was born under the surname Pollock, but as an adult, used the surname King. King's mother was Nellie Ruth (née Pillsbury).
When Stephen King was two years old, his father left the family under the pretense of "going to buy a pack of cigarettes," leaving his mother to raise Stephen and his older brother, David, by herself, sometimes under great financial strain. The family moved to De Pere, Wisconsin, Fort Wayne, Indiana, and Stratford, Connecticut. When King was 11, his family returned to Durham, Maine, where his mother cared for her parents until their deaths. She then became a caregiver in a local residential facility for the mentally challenged. King was raised Methodist but lost his belief in organised religion while in high school. While no longer religious, King chooses to believe in the existence of a God.
As a child, King apparently witnessed one of his friends being struck and killed by a train, though he has no memory of the event. His family told him that after leaving home to play with the boy, King returned, speechless and seemingly in shock. Only later did the family learn of the friend's death. Some commentators have suggested that this event may have psychologically inspired some of King's darker works, but King makes no mention of it in his memoir On Writing (2000).
King related in detail his primary inspiration for writing horror fiction in his non-fiction Danse Macabre (1981), in a chapter titled "An Annoying Autobiographical Pause." King compares his uncle's dowsing for water using the bough of an apple branch with the sudden realization of what he wanted to do for a living. That inspiration occurred while browsing through an attic with his elder brother, when King uncovered a paperback version of an H. P. Lovecraft collection of short stories he remembers as The Lurker in the Shadows, that had belonged to his father. King told Barnes & Noble Studios during a 2009 interview, "I knew that I'd found home when I read that book."
King attended Durham Elementary School and graduated from Lisbon Falls High School, in Lisbon Falls, Maine. He displayed an early interest in horror as an avid reader of EC's horror comics, including Tales from the Crypt (he later paid tribute to the comics in his screenplay for Creepshow). He began writing for fun while still in school, contributing articles to Dave's Rag, the newspaper his brother published with a mimeograph machine, and later began selling to his friends stories based on movies he had seen (though when discovered by his teachers, he was forced to return the profits). The first of his stories to be independently published was "I Was a Teenage Grave Robber"; it was serialized over four issues (three published and one unpublished) of a fanzine, Comics Review, in 1965. That story was published the following year in a revised form as "In a Half-World of Terror" in another fanzine, Stories of Suspense, edited by Marv Wolfman. As a teen, King also won a Scholastic Art and Writing Award.
From 1966, King studied at the University of Maine, graduating in 1970 with a Bachelor of Arts in English. That year, his daughter Naomi Rachel was born. He wrote a column, Steve King's Garbage Truck, for the student newspaper, The Maine Campus and participated in a writing workshop organized by Burton Hatlen. King held a variety of jobs to pay for his studies, including janitor, gas pump attendant, and worker at an industrial laundry."


I read about this author here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_King
You can find the author's website here: https://www.stephenking.com/the_author.html
This illustration has not yet been digitized and the displayed image does not accurately reflect the quality and coloration of my giclée prints.
Purchase this print or original artwork in the:
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Up to No Good

11/7/2017

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"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."
-J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter (Book #3)

EDIT:  Zoom feature no longer viable, I had to remove it. 

First, I'm excited to point out that you can now click my blog images which will allow you to zoom in on all that meticulous work I did!  Go ahead, try it out :)  Granted, this isn't a professionally digitized version of the illustration, only a cell phone photo taken by yours truly.

Second, well, I guess that would be my explanation for this illustration.  When I started this drawing back in January- 

*Glances at calendar and raises eyebrow*

Wow, that's two months shy of a year ago now... anyway, with my then current circumstances I didn't expect to be making any large or consistent strides with the progress of my projects, and with the move, perpetually limited resources, and less than encouraging improvement with my unresolved pain/chronic exhaustion (it's been nearly 13 years since my earliest symptoms) I wanted to create a Weekly Words illustration to communicate that I'm "here to stay" so to speak... err, type.  I have not given up on my art, and even though my creations may take more time than some other artist's, they will be completed.

For this Weekly Words drawing the quote chose me.  What I mean by that is, I didn't have a well-formed theme or image that I wanted to go by, I just read through a lot of quotes until this one tapped on my heart and said, "I bet I can sum up what it is that you want to say."  I would describe my creative process and artwork as both a lot of fun and fraught with solemnity.  Kind of like my personality... no wonder I feel so awkward.


So, in this drawing there's a dragon crawling out of the canvas.  That's just the kind of thing that happens when you create with too much "FEAR Inside" a very potent brand of emotion-medium.  I spilled the entire contents and didn't realize until it was too late.  The other cans contain the elements you need to create any good dragon, like "Fire" and "Beast Magic".

The artist is me, although my real nose isn't that flat.  The hair is pretty accurate though.


A total list of the names on the cans (and tube) (italics being brand names) include: "Fire" "Strength" "Freedom" "Beast Magic" "Wrath" "Fear Inside" and of course, a big 'ol reliable can of "Umm".  I think artists paint and draw, ect. with "Umm" more often than anyone realizes, or admits.  But that's a post for another time.

Also, can you find the nightmare owl hidden in this drawing?  They've been hanging around like ghosts hang around in people's photos ever since I met them in the sakura pearl bubbletree forest.

***
"Joanne Rowling, best known as J.K. Rowling, was born on July 31, 1965, in Yate, England. She adopted her pen name, J.K., incorporating her grandmother's name, Kathleen, for the latter initial (Rowling does not have a middle name)."

"Born in Yate, England, on July 31, 1965, J.K. Rowling came from humble economic means before writing Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, a children's fantasy novel. The work was an international hit and Rowling wrote six more books in the series, which sold hundreds of millions of copies and was adapted into a blockbuster film franchise."

I read about and watched a video on this author here: www.biography.com/people/jk-rowling-40998#!
This illustration has not yet been digitized and the displayed image does not accurately reflect the quality and coloration of my giclée prints.
Purchase this print or original artwork in the:
gallery and store
0 Comments

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