Mahendra Singh
@mahendra
Illustrator and author, ie., hopeless dreamer, accomplished loafer. Montreal, Earth. Portfolio, interviews, books for sale: Prints/Posters:
Make it even weirder must be our battlecry as the book biz declines into drooling imbecility.
Happy unbirthday to Marcel Duchamp, who made a posthumous appearance as Concerned Neighbour in The Adventures of Mr. Pyridine, published by Fantagraphics back in the days when such things were allowed into print.
Taking part in the #ArtRepostJuly challenge hosted by @whistberry.bsky.social Today's theme for Day #14 is #bone 😈🎨🦇🩸
My first was a 4-pg comix to Fantagraphics, think it was '85 or '86. Still very much in business, both Fanta and myself. Their cheque had a R. Crumb illo of a guy saying the whole planet's turning to s***, the rural, small-town bank clerk was horrified when she cashed it. My reputation was sealed.
And now for something completely different. Parody of infamous US advert for muscle-building correspondence course. It's fun being the art director AND illustrator, cuts out an often unnecessary layer of mindless blather and endless meetings. The editor wanted to cut the final hubba-hubba. No!
Often a drawing has a certain vigour and snap that the final art lacks. This is a phenomenon that plagues us all. Here's how I would crop it, for example.
Artists No One Remembers … Hockney's lesser-known contemporary, R.B. Kitaj, a hero of my student days. His "The Autumn of Central Paris (After Walter Benjamin)", 1972, inspired me to tackle The Waste Land as a graphic novel. Superlative draftsman, at least as good as Hockney.
American Candide, banned by the Islamic Republic of Iran AND the Texas State Commission for Public Safety. rosariumpublishing.com/novels/novel...
Financed a good portion of my art school education (NoVa-Alexandria Community College, VA) with this drypoint of Flossie. $5 a credit back then and worth every penny. Flossie was our best milker and had a lovely temperament, never kicked the bucket, never had problems birthing kids. GOAT goat!
Don't remember anything about this fellow except he was probably a sworn enemy of the magazine's publisher, ergo: 1. Only run photos of one's pals. 2. Only run illos of your enemies. Doing political news magazines was the apogee and nadir of my art director years, so addictive, so evil. #Magazines
Monarchism, ie., I the Supreme, is how we all roll, so don't give yourself such airs, dahlink. #TheEncyclopaediaOfHell #MartinOlson
After 40+ years of freelance inking, some axioms: 1. Ink as much with white paper as with black ink. 2. Choose line width/pen nib in relation to final printed size. Example of myself making a pig's breakfast of #2 with all of above illustrating a 3rd axiom: 3. Always be hard on yourself.
The whole point of details is making them meaningful, not just copy-paste doodling. Chicken fat rules. #AdventureTime #LewisCarroll #Snark #FiresignTheatre
Operas that don't exist are my secret vice. For Edward Elgar's birthday, a Spanish Lady. If any of the illos I post tickle your fancy enough to purchase as a print/poster, let me know. Today your wall, tomorrow the world is the Singh motto. #bookillustration #thegentleman #PenguineRandomHouse
Ionic is never ironic, just ask any centurion you happen to see. #PoetsRankedByBeardWeight #bookillustration
A Game of Chess, from The Waste Land The Chair she sat in, like a burnished throne, Glowed on the marble, where the glass Held up by standards wrought with fruited vines From which a golden Cupidon peeped out #modernism #TSEliot #GN www.inprnt.com/gallery/mahe...
For the late, great, much missed Realms of Fantasy magazine, some time on the late '90s when I was working the Washington DC periodicals market for all it was worth. Let no square inch of paper go uninked says the ex-newspaper man! #magazineillustration #fantasy #penandink