This is an illustration I did for my friend, Dai’s, PhD thesis. A part of his thesis involved a study around how some gay men (particularly those of a minority status) negotiate being gay outside of mainstream gay culture. One story that really stood out to me as being quite unique and touching involved a middle-aged fellow who has never been intimate with another man, doesn’t necessarily identify as being gay, but spends his days knitting baby socks on park benches and on the train as a way to perform his ‘gayness’. As he still lives at home with an extremely conservative family this is essentially the only way he knows to express his sexuality.
Look at this! Look at this fucking thing! This was done in 1986, and used absolutely no CGI whatsoever. It was ALL practical, and ALL done through puppetry. Look at the last gif. Over a dozen vines are moving at once along with its head, lips, and tongue! In interviews Rick Moranis has stated he often forgot he was working with a puppet, as opposed to a really ugly guy. Even today it looks so real. Audrey ii is nothing short of miraculous
The practical effects of Little Shop of Horrors was fucking astounding. It’s worth it to mention that, in the scenes where the plant is moving, the filming was slowed to 12 to 16 frames a second, so that the film could be sped up to give the Audrey II a more lifelike appearance. In such scenes where actors like Rick Moranis had to speak with the plant, he had to mouth his lines at a slower-than-normal speed while still looking convincing, only to have his voice added in post.
It’s also worth mentioning that a crew of 60+ puppeteers were needed to operate the plant, as the entire puppet weighed over a ton.
decided to put these in a bit of a chronological order as i can’t help but form a story behind the scenes. it’s a storyteller’s habit. and yeah i do have an idea i would genuinely like to explore with gail simone as a crossover comic.
i don’t want to be the writer for this. but at the same time i always found diving into these things and exploring the character chemistry was the best way to get an artistic feeling for it.
this is also how i usually develop my own stories.
anyhow, while many think this is me drawing some shipping, in fact this a proof of concept for an adventure story featuring lara and diana. Gail simone at some point asked if they would kiss and i gave it some genuine thought. i am a character first kind of a writer, myself, so i contemplated this. then i decided, yes, probably.
after all, romantic subplots have been the bread and butter of adventure writing since its inception and i always liked that aspect of adventure stories.
i hope this puts some things in context from my end XD
and while
there will probably be a few more of these, there will be no nsfw pics. after all, camera pans away from indiana jones in those moments as well XD
okay… there may be a chance of a kiss… but that’s about it.
Variant cover for issue #3 of Blackbird, a gorgeous comic illustrated by Jen Bartel. So excited that I got to work with her, her elegant artwork was a big inspiration for this piece :) More info here - https://imagecomics.com/comics/releases/blackbird-3
