“The Skeleton” illustration

The Skeleton by G.K Chesterton

Chattering finch and water-fly
Are not merrier than I ;
Here among the flowers I lie
Laughing everlastingly.

No: I may not tell the best;
Surely friends, I might have guessed
Death was but the good King’s jest,
It was hid so carefully.

This was the last assignment I made for my silk screen class where we had to print on materials besides paper– well, at least the digital file I drew on my cintiq before transferring it to the screen in layers. The real piece is printed on canvas, fabric, more sheer fabric, transparent paper, old graph & music paper, and all collaged together. The textures came out really wacky and lovely but I think I want to paint it for some extra depth to really top it off before I post that version.

This poem has been repeating itself in my head like a song for a few months now. It’s such a serene and peaceful take on death rather than a solemn one. Though I’ve been kinda burn out, the poem is a pretty easily illustrate-able and straightforward scene of a smiling skeleton laying in a flower field with some birds and bugs. Still, I thought this kind of content would at least spark some conversation but the classroom was silent during critique like always. I’m really tired of people just saying “wow that looks amazing, good job” because they think it looks “perfect”/not much to improve upon (there always is), or just saying nothing at all. I’m much more interested in interpretation, the viewers personal connections, picking apart meaning, creative conceptualization- I’m starting to think I should just switch to fine arts instead of illustration at this point. Maybe this piece was a little too straightforward, but either way I get that kind of response even for works that are much more abstract. Ugh.