"just want to fly home... fast"

my tribute to Maurice Sendak's "Where the Wild things Are."

pen+marker=magic

"You'd better look out below!"

From a "wild" weekend, I was inspired and did my own tribute to Maurice Sendak's "Where the Wild things Are." I had a lot of fun with this one, especially working with a pastel palette and experimenting with different forms of shading. Hope to see more wild things here on the blog!

WWW.CHOGRIN.COM

Sendak on Jonze

Here's a great inspiring short video on Maurice Sendak's feelings towards Spike Jonze's movie version of his classic book, Where the Wild Things Are.

Now, whether you love or dislike the book, this is an Illustrator's dream come true. Not only did Jonze bring Sendak's book to life, but he's also kept true to the book's themes and added another dimension to it, that will inspire a whole new generation of children and artists.

I personally read the book for the first time about two years ago, and genuinely loved it. For one thing I love monsters, and the book also evoked feelings that I remember having when I was about 8 or 9.

And its that childlike spirit that we must preserve in ourselves at all times. I believe it drives us Illustrators or any type of artist to do what we're so passionate about and creating.

Wild Things animated short 1973

"In 1973 the book was adapted into an animated short directed by Gene Deitch at Krátký Film, Prague for Weston Woods Studios."

"Wild" Music - Get Inspired

Get inspired by the Motion Picture of Soundtrack of Where the Wild things Are. Here's a quick video in the making of the soundtrack with Spike Jonze and Karen O.



Listen to the entire soundtrack below:

Where the Wild Things Are Soundtrack

Wild Things

I decided to take the challenge and come up with a Where the Wild Things Are illustration. Luckily a friend gave me the The Art of Maurice Sendak a few years ago as a gift, which served as a great source. It's an enormous book with startlingly little pages dedicated to the wild things.

I wanted to play with scale in this piece to emphasize the fact that Max, this little kid, is playing with full blown monsters. I wanted the monster to look hulking and scary but at the same time friendly. Basically, if you know nothing of the book you'd assume that the big guy is in for a quick snack, save maybe for the characters' expressions.

I didn't check out the Terrible Yellow Eyes blog until after I drew this, and I'm sort of glad as all the pieces are amazing and may have discouraged me from actually attempting this, haha.

Wild Cards

I actually had this one featured on the Terrible Yellow Eyes blog: see!

Its just a tiny little something I had the urge to do one day. Nine 2 by 4 inch strathmore cards, each character is taken from a scene right out of the book but done in my own style.

This was just a practice to try to get the characters to fit into my style. I'm cooking up another Wild Things picture before the movie comes out, so keep those yellow eyes peeled.

And check my blog for more wild rumpuses!

-Zach

October / November - Blog Gallery - Where the Wild Things Are

Hey everyone,

With the upcoming "Where the Wild Things Are" movie (based on the book by Maurice Sendak), I wanted to propose to you an open invitation here on the blog to display your own interpretation or tribute to this beloved children's book.

A couple of people have already started (look at Anita Mejia's post below). With that said I look forward that you will take the challenge and share your wild things here on the Autumn Society Blog. Below are some great sources for inspiration.

Terrible Yellow Eyes (An Art Blog by different artists dedicated to Where the wild things are). They recently had a show at gallery Nucleus in California.

The amazing trailer for the movie by Spike Jonze

And the cover and a page sample of the book that started it all by Maurice Sendak.

where the wild things are

sketch....where the wild things are :)

www.anitamejia.com

Leanne Biank has a new website

I am super stoked about Leanne Biank's New Website she just finished up tonight. It includes her own Tribute to Where the Wild things Are!

CB NEWS: WTWTA TRAILER!

Looks like Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are is getting the movie treatment by the imaginative Spike Jonze. Check out the awesome poster!

More at S-JONZE.BLOGSPOT.COM

Sendak

20x16", pencil and digital

Hi all. So, I submit this post for he approval of the Autumn Society (has anyone made that joke yet..?). Here's the finish for another commission. It's the one in which two young girls are exploring and find an old mural on which a scene from Where the Wild Things Are has been painted. The client liked it a lot, which made me pretty happy, and there's a lot of pieces that I felt came out really successfully. I'm kinda glad that this project is completed though, since there's another project that's been kinda burning on my desktop that I can now devote more time to. Thanks guys.

Crop of my favorite section

Sendak Commission

20x16", Red pencil on Arches 140lb. hot press

Hi guys. Here's the final drawing for another privately commissioned piece. The client wasn't sure about what he wanted from me, other than that the piece would involve characters from Where the Wild Things Are. We talked about it a bit and when he said that he liked the elements of antiquity in some of my work, I got the idea of kids discovering an old mural that has a classic scene from the book on it. He loved the sketch and I went ahead with the drawing.

Even though the client wanted a classic piece from the book, I still tried to personalize it in some ways. The monsters and Max are done a bit differently then Sendak's originals, with some added line work and a bit of a proportion change in some places. This piece was also physically out of my comfort zone, because he wanted it to print larger than my original proposal. So, I got to try my hand at a bigger drawing. I'm not a fan of huge pieces- they can be big time holes and unnecessary in the case of illustration, and less intimate in the case of fine art. Nonetheless, it's something I've wanted to try out anyway, just because some of my favorite artists do work well above the reproduced size (I generally do 150% of print size), so we'll see how the piece holds up when it's shrunk down..

ps- sorry if it's a bit out of whack. big pieces are also sometimes difficult to scan...grrr