This is Kabuki Katze, you may know my handiwork from the Radames' header here or some of his other online haunts (more likely than not, I drew his profile picture).
Recently, I had the unusual opportunity of collaborating with him in illustrating a poem of his, "Relapse." In honor of that, he has invited me to talk about the experience.
Illustrating the ideas of others is nothing foreign to me; as a freelance artist I make it my business to climb into minds and try to tease out the images within. The difference between my regular work and the pictures I make with the Radames lies in the nature of the images. To be honest, the vast majority of what I tease out for customers involves pretty ladies, pert bosoms, and polished smiles. Not often am I asked to illustrate poetry, particularly not poetry of the gut-grabbing, visceral nature that Radames' work exemplifies. A rough time for me might be drawing a nasty villain facing down our comely heroine, not our ravaged hero looking for a shot of heroin.
As a result, working with Radames usually involves a greater investment on my part, emotionally speaking. Working with a poem is like striking a deal with the fae—you have to give in order to get. In my case, I have to give up some feeling, let myself be absorbed in the experience of the piece, to be given an image in return.
For this poem, I decided to play on the mythological elements in the text. The hummingbird, symbol of the Aztec Huitzilopochtli—yes, I looked it up—was my springboard. I took my cues of rich jewel colors, strange swirls, stylized features, from the bird-god. In the next few days I was amazed by the wealth of pictures of dead hummingbirds on the internet—type it in Google, but be warned that you'll be gone a while—and the strange ways of Aztec mythology. But eventually I had to sit down and hammer out the picture.
Every time I draw for Radames, I slip into a similar style: thick lines, sharp edges, and a feeling of aggression. While I tend to smooth curves and soft smiles in my personal works, these are not parts of this poet's world, so I have to set them aside. I also trot out a myriad of grungy textures and settings, from peeling paint to rusted walls. In this picture, I think the background comes from a bridge covered with years of spray paint, each layer peeling off to reveal the ages before. The end result is a mesh of urban decay and sharp modern imagery, something that fits comfortably in the dark world of the Amplified Bard.
Bio: Kabuki Katze is a freelance artist whose work appears on various websites, posters, invitations, etc. You can read more about her on her blog. If you enjoy my profile pics, then I urge you to contact her and hire her for a commission.
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