Chalk Thing

My piece for today is a sidewalk chalk drawing. I've gotten into the habit recently of drawing on our driveway and this seemed like a fun opportunity for a Terrible Yellow Eyes.

If you like, stop by my blog to see some of this drawing in action as well as a couple other monsters drawn in chalk leading up to this piece.

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Thank you for stopping by! That's all the Terrible Yellow Eyes for today -- have a great Friday!

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Be sure and check back every Friday morning for more TYE!

crowned.

Oh man! I just love Jared Chapman's work. And I am terribly envious of the shapes he comes up with. And his color theory. And the humor. And the. Fine, I love it all.

Check out more of Jared's staggering works of heart-stopping beauty over at his blog.

The King of all Wild Things

Jake Parker is just one of those guys -- I don't even know where to start! He does amazing work at Blue Sky and has been done some incredible work on some really great projects. I just love his drawings. I mean, just look at it!

Visit Jake's blog and be ready to get your socks rocked off.

Wild Thing

Mike Lee works at Blue Sky and is one of my favorites; his pencil work is just breath-taking and I'm so pleased that's what he chose to do for Terrible Yellow Eyes!

Stop by his blog and prepared to be destroyed by pure draftsmanship and control of pencil.

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Bonus! Mike sent me a colored version as well!

The magic trick.

Mike Boldt is a great artist and keeps an interesting blog with terrific work. I love his take on the "magic trick of staring into all their yellow eyes..."

And a bonus for us? He included the Bird Thing!

Check out Mike's blog here.

A Year and Two Days

Cedar Leidigh is one of my all-time favorite people. We've known each other for years. I'm not even sure what exactly to say about him other than he's an awesome, true friend; an awesome, true friend who does some phenomenal ink work. It's just amazing. In fact, here's the full resolution piece just so you can get a better look :

Cedar's got several blogs lurking around the internet and here is his most recent venture : blogging his 15 day trip from the east coast, across America, up to Alaska.

reading.

I like this little introspective piece by Kate Burgess. And I especially like the Wild Thing looking in the window.

To more of her delightful work, visit Kate at her site.

without blinking once...

Vincent Joubert does some amazing work, I mean it's just spectacular. I love the feeling of his piece.

Check out more of Vincent's excellent work at his site.

Iced cream.

Bryan does such great work, I especially enjoy the lino-cut-like quality of his piece.

Check out his blog for some details of this contribution as well as watch a little video of the making of the piece. Awesome!

Wild parade

This wonderful little piece is by Renee Kurilla. I love the birds she does and her interpretations of the Wild Things are particularly enjoyable!

Visit Renee's blog to see more of her work.

Summer

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detail.

These are two of my favorite Wild Things. They always seem to be pal-ing around together. The little goat-like one is scary and I'm not sure what he's about to do that little butterfly.

If you like, you can stop by my blog and see some of the thumbnails and roughs that led up to this piece.

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Thanks for stopping by! That's it for today, check back next Friday for more Terrible Yellow Eyes!

"He found his supper waiting for him."

I try not to use the word "gorgeous" too often. I just don't like the way it sounds or the way it looks written out, but in this instance it's the most appropriate word I can think of. Annie's painting is just gorgeous.

Annie is my sister-in-law and I've known her for sometime. She's probably the biggest Sendak fan that I know personally, and I just love her paintings. I hope you enjoy her little Acrylic masterpiece.

See more of Annie's beautiful works here.

Friends.

Enjoy this little piece by the illustrious Chad Frye!

Also, be sure and stop by Chad's blog to see his several posts detailing the creation of this watercolor!

Business Thing

Coming to you all the way from Barcelona, it's Oriol Roca's contribution!

I really like this one. I mean, I just never would have though of it, what a funny idea.

See more of Oriol's work at his blog.

The Wild Rumpus

Check out this crazy and awesome contribution by the excellent Christian Meesey!

My favorite Wild Thing? The green one slinking around in the background.

Visit Christian's blog to see more of his work.

...And Another

I loved Tim's drawing for his piece so much that I wanted to post it along side his painting. His drawings in particular have always floored me, and this piece of insanity is no exception.

Mischief of One Kind...

When I was in school, Tim Banks is the guy I followed as close a second to Maurice Sendak as you can get. His last year of college was my first and I could not get enough of Tim's drawings and paintings. They opened up an entire new world for me.

See more of Tim's work at his site : Timothy Banks Illustration

Be sure and check out his new series of little monsters, and visit his blog to see "Monster Mouth" painting in progress!

Windy and wild.

A watercolor by the wonderful Alina Chau. What a beautiful piece! Thank you, Alina!

See more of her work at Ice-Cream Monster Toon Cafe.

"To where the wild things are"

And another by Pascal!

When we talked, Pascal and I discovered we had a similar experience of revelation rediscovering Sendak's work while in school and this was actually just a piece in his collection, done before we ever got in touch about the project. Awesome!

"Where Are They Now?"

Contributed by the super amazing Pascal Campion, a fellow whose artistic proliferation astounds me. Every morning one new, beautiful piece. You can see more of his work, every day, at his blog.

And if you can't read it, the headline reads "Where Are They Now?" -- which is perfect.

Water Thing

I've always liked this moment, the first time Max meets a Wild Thing. It's an interesting moment because it's not only the first one, it's the only one that Max seems to be just a little afraid of.

The rest all "roar their terrible roars" and they "roll their yellow eyes" but Max isn't afraid and he tames them.

I hope you'll go back to the book and see; this Wild Thing, this water beast, shows up exactly once and the look on Max's face isn't at all like his look on the next page. He doesn't look afraid, exactly, but, yes a little.

Oh, I don't know. Maurice Sendak is amazing and I love this book.

"Shadows"

"Shadows"

(details)

This is one of those ideas that I don't know where it came from but it seemed to make sense. Plus, it includes my three favorite Wild Things. I am pleased as well, for this piece has those "terrible yellow eyes."

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In other news, there are some incredible artists lined up to contribute to this project. I could not be more pleased. I'll be posting my own contributions these first few Fridays but in a couple weeks we'll start seeing some contributors. These people are amazing. And I'm terribly excited.

"Almost Over a Year"

"Almost Over a Year"

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This the first piece I wanted to do for Terrible Yellow Eyes, though tragically it is lacking in the aforementioned terrible, yellow eyes. Even so, I wanted to make an iconic piece that sought to honor the spirit of the book. In that respect, among others, the piece needed to be completely traditional watercolor. It's been some time since I've pursued a straight watercolor and it proved (as always) to be challenging. But I'm pleased with the result.

I just can't get over how beautiful Where the Wild Things Are really is, every page. In some ways I've only just discovered how truly gifted Sendak is by working on these pieces. There is some magic to making a Wild Thing.

Sendak has given us all such a gift in this book. And I only hope to give something back with this little project. Give something back, and honor the sacred tradition of children and monsters.

Terrible Yellow Eyes

I don’t remember when I first read Where the Wild Things Are, but I do remember the feelings I had.

At the time I lacked the vocabulary to express those feelings and now, how ever many years later, I find myself in the same situation.

I'm fairly inarticulate when talking about the things I love most, especially the art of Maurice Sendak, and in particular his masterpiece, Where the Wild Things Are.

And that’s why I turn to pictures. I can let the drawings do the talking for me and I find that I can say visually what I mean, and express what I love.

The book has always been tremendously special to me. Truthfully, after I read it, it changed the way I looked at stories, drawing, picture books... everything. Discovering Maurice Sendak's work was, for me, one of those water-shed moments -- it helped me decipher what it was I wanted to do as an artist and it crystallized for me the sort of stories I love.

Simply put, Where the Wild Things Are has had a massive influence on me.

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What I've wanted to do for sometime is make a collection of paintings inspired by Where the Wild Things Are as a tribute and celebration of the book. And now with the release of the film later in the year, the world of Wild Things has opened even wider.

My goal for this project is really just that, expressing of my love for the story. None of the art has been done for any profit but has all been created out of admiration for Maurice Sendak and Where the Wild Things Are.

Over the coming weeks and months I'll display a growing collection of works created by invited contributing artists and myself. We share a love and admiration for Sendak's work and the pieces we present here are done as a tribute to his life and legacy.

Simply put, like a visual love letter to the book, with Terrible Yellow Eyes I am seeking to celebrate and promote the original masterwork by Maurice Sendak in the best way I know how -- with pictures.

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I have been taken in by Maurice Sendak’s terrible and wonderful monsters.

I love the anger, and the frightfulness, and the joy I find there.

I hope you will find something here as well.

-- Cory Godbey