A short post – as I plug away (slowly but surely) on the follow up to Unflattening – with the working title Nostos – I wanted to send out a call to anyone who has always wanted me to draw their baby (or themselves as a baby) in a book! I’m looking specifically for images of learning to roll over, crawling, and first steps. I’m not planning to draw anything with particular resemblance (the may serve as basis for composite drawings, in silhouette, near stick figures), but I will most definitely make use of any and all poses I can. I have composed a ton of tiny panels across three pages and I want the types of movement as truthful as I can. Here’s a teaser above from the midst of these pages (an homage to the Flammarion engraving). I’ve posted a few teases of the work on the site, and quite a bit more – from sketches to details to unlettered finished pages on twitter – under the dual hashtags #nostos #unflattening. All participants will get an acknowledgment in the book and my gratitude! If you’re so inclined – message me through the site or email here nick @ spinweaveandcut.com. You can let me know if you want your name, your child’s name, both – whatever you want in the acknowledgements. I did something somewhat similar with Unflattening, where I received tracings of people’s feet for what is a several pages in the last chapter and used in the cover. (The initial call for feet is documented here.) The purpose there was more research driven, this is more, I just want to get some of these movements accurate and reflective of the distinct ways different children set in motion (the way my two children rolled over are dramatically different from one another…). Thanks for the kind support! Oh, and one randomly selected person will win some sketch, sneak peek, or other artifact from the making of Nostos! Deadline for sending images – Monday, February 8, 2021!
Also, I made a short piece on January 20th, reflecting on the shift in attitude from me to WE on that day. It’s posted in my previous post here with details. Wishing all brighter days ahead – N