Monday, April 21, 2008

The Unsuspecting Fisherman


I've been thinking about doing this one for a long time now. I've always loved mermaids and I've always loved my friend Carl and I wanted to do a papercut featuring Carl. He is a marine biologist and so I thought, "Ooo...I'll do one where there's a fisherman and he's being beguiled by a mermaid and then other mermaids are stealing fish from him while he's not looking." Originally the guy was supposed to be freaking out because if a topless chick with a tail came swimming up to his boat, Carl would climb out of his skin. But then I decided to give this guy hair, so it's not a good representation of Carl and so I loosened him up a bit and now he's being entranced by the lovely lady.

4 comments:

Snippety Gibbet said...

Cindy, I think that is my favorite papercutting of your's. It is really, really beautiful. Wow!

I love the story that goes along with it as well.

You should write and illustrate your own book, my friend.

bug girl said...

I think you did wonders on this one. If I were Carl I'd be thrilled (for more reasons than a few topless chics swimming in the water, after all, he has a full head of hair). But for some reason the word THRILLED doesn't quite seem right for Carl.

I love the tails on the mermaids. They are so delicate and lacy.

Cindy Bean said...

snippety, thanks! I do have plans for a few little books...

bug girl, Carl probably wouldn't be thrilled that I talked so much about him on this post. It's more inspired by him than actually him anymore. Now it's more Disney prince. I like the tails too. I think they're pretty!

daysease said...

ooh, i agree with the "write and illustrate you own book" comment. you make everything so personal, creative, and fun... wow. And the details. How long did it take you to do this one? did you draw the whole thing on the back first? It would be neat to see you in action creating something and the steps you take to get it looking so good.