Saturday, October 29, 2011

illustration friday (scary)


Scary (and likewise: spooky, horror, creepy, occult, etc) is a theme that I generally avoid in art, books, music, and movies. I do have a seed of an idea that I think might be fun to express as an etegami. However, it will take me a bit longer to finish it. In the meantime, here's an etegami collage I made last year to make your neck hairs stand on end.

Japan has many spooky stories of people (usually young women) who commit suicide by throwing themselves into wells. Their restless, unhappy spirits often return as ghosts to terrorize the living. I've seen many old wells like this one-- moss growing in the cracks between the stones, and the openings covered with half-rotted wood planks or bamboo poles tied together with decaying ropes.

7 comments:

  1. Yikes, what a spooky story to go with your lovely etegami. Well, I'm not sure lovely is the right word. But beautifully done. The hands are really great (and creepy!)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I try to avoid scary movies, but a good, scary book is hard to resist! It makes my imagination run wild! That is creepy about the wells! Great illo for the prompt and love the bit of history! :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Super spookie - I like the story too!

    ReplyDelete
  4. OK, your desciption did it for me. I'll never look at a well in Japan the same again.

    ReplyDelete