[i started this initially as a warm up painting, a study in lighting and texture, but then it took on a life of it’s own so here is my tribute to king of the goblins]
Kemco’s Game Boy game Garfield Labyrinth, which asserts that Garfield and Odie are a couple in romantic love. Released in other regions as Mickey Mouse IV, and The Real Ghostbusters. It was also an unreleased (and unavailable) Kid Klown game. The romantic Garfield/Odie ending is copied from the Mickey Mouse version (or was it Kid Klown?).
It’s actually an unauthorized clone of PP Hammer and His Pneumatic Weapon (by Traveling Bits Production for Amiga and Commodore 64). A lot was lost in translation- the design, atmosphere, commentary, and what passes for adult humor in the original.
But the Game Boy game is much more forgiving and controls a lot better, at least without a good joystick. It has less “gotcha” moments than PP Hammer, where it’s easy to get stuck.
We’ve also got Garfield Labyrinth for Nintendo Entertainment System/Famicom, for some reason.
My next bookbinding project is my first fanfic by someone other than myself. It’s one of my very favorite fics ever. A Labyrinth fic from 2001 called A Forfeit of Dreams by KL Morgan or @entirelytookeen.
I typeset it in Affinity Publisher. The frontispiece is a costume concept sketch for the film by Brian Froud. The spine is bound in Italian bookcloth, which has a slight shimmer to it and refuses to photograph without twisting the light which somehow feels appropriate. The outer paper and endpaper are scrapbook pages from the Theater of Stars pack.
Bonus: the cutting board book press I finally made.
Three of my pieces are now available for order as 8" x 10" prints! Each is a cross-section of an imaginary architectural space inspired, in part, by the exploratory format for the later 2D Castlevania titles, such as Symphony of the Night. Each was done using colored pencil, pen, watercolor, and marker on paper. All originally are small-scale, too, perhaps no larger than 6″ x 4″.
Another painting based on the 21 letters from Ovidius, collectively known under the name Heroides. The story of Ariadne is most renowned from her helping her beloved Theseus to kill the Minotaur and escape out of the labyrinth that her father had built. She did this by giving him a ball of thread so that he could find his way back. Here she is shown sleeping on a bench, while her lover is leaving her behind and sails away. The two panthers represent the god Dionysus who seduces her and makes her his wife.
In the Vatican Museum, there is a marble Hellenistic sculpture showing Ariadne in almost the same pose as on this painting. Waterhouse must have used it as a model. There are also obvious resemblances with the painting of Saint Cecilia (1895): the ship in the background, the balustrade separation and the sleeping woman to name just a few. In 1895, there was a large exhibition of Venetian art in London and its effect on his paintings is undeniable. Waterhouse becomes more and more influenced by the paintings of Botticelli and other works from the Italian Renaissance.
Long ago, in an era long lost, several labyrinths stood across the land. They celebrated an old and powerful God, who in ages past commanded the devotion of entire nations. Now, the God is all but forgotten, and his places of worship have fallen prey to the decay of time. His church a fringe religion at the best of times, a despised cult at worst.
This is one of the labyrinths, now ruined and overrun by the plant life of the land. In the center, an ancient statue still stands, almost intact. And this statue, still a conduit to the old God, could speak to those who the Deity deems worthy.
Will the adventurers try to gain the God’s favor and gain his boon? Or will they try to desecrate this once (un)holy site?
You can see a preview of this map’s Patreon content by clicking here.
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