Koya Hijiri

My undergraduate thesis dealt with a 19th century Japanese Gothic short story, Izumi Kyoka's Koya Hijiri (The Holy Man of Mt. Koya). Half of the project involved analytical writing, and the other half was a comic book adaptation of the story. Oh man, Wikipedia has an excellently concise-to-the-point-of-disservice blurb:

Eccentric and superstitious, Kyōka developed a reputation for writing about the grotesque and the fantastic. "The Holy Man of Mount Kōya" (高野聖, Kōya Hijiri), is a tale about a monk's journey through a mountainous wilderness, encountering inexplicable and unsettling experiences. Borrowing and embellishing themes from Edo period popular fiction, folklore and Noh drama, more than half of Kyōka 's works incorporate some form of supernatural element. Kyōka's narrative style borrows from traditional rakugo storytelling, and also uses dramatic dialogues similar to that used in kabuki drama.

Hoo... that second sentence. Kyoka's definitely worth reading, don't let Wikipedia dissuade you. These four pages are just about at the end.

Collaprints

I know what I think these look like; but I don't want to say – it'd ruin the prints' value as a Rorschach test.

Album Covers

Part of a series for a collaboration about biomes with Clifton Ingram.


Another project in a similar vein, about predators and prey.


Knight School's The Poor and Needy Need to Party.


Beau Alessi's upcoming Monster Island EP2.

Bestiary II

Someone was asking me the other day what I wanted to do with the bestiary once it's done. I guess scan it, so I don't have these blurry images from my camera.

Accordion Book

These are some early shots of a project that was meant to explore continuous narrative in the form of an accordion book. I want to do another draft, and optimally make the book itself.

Homemade

Doug models a shirt I made as part of a set for his band.

Doug models the back of the shirt.

Werebeer models itself. Part of the incentive behind making beer is making labels for it afterwards.

Bestiary

These are part of a linoleum cut series I've been working on. I'm really into the Voynich Manuscript. Although I haven't taken the time to explore it in any depth, I like the idea a lot. (this is true of my attitude towards many books). Monsters have also been a lifelong inspiration, so I settled on a Bestiary as a good project to explore carving.

The plates are written in an English alphabet loosely based on Hangul. I say loosely because English doesn't group its syllables gracefully into blocks, so it's highly imperfect.