Sunday, July 8, 2012

H is for Harold

This week's entry for AlphaBooks is a fellow who inspired continual torments of envy when I first encountered him as a child. Harold's purple crayon enables him to create whatever he can imagine, & he inhabits his drawings as real environments. I longed fiercely for this magical ability when I was little (& still feel residual pangs now & then, to be honest!) but I've since come to understand that in a sense, all artists live at least part of their lives in the imaginary worlds they create. I'm sure that's one of the reasons we do what we do!

I still love Crockett Johnson's Harold and the Purple Crayon. It is a perfect, simple, brilliant little gem of a book. The art is so pure that it made me a little sick to interpret Harold in my own style, much like the way I felt when HergĂ©'s ligne claire was mangled into 3-D/motion-capture for the recent Tintin movie... (shudder)... 

So Harold, I owe you two heartfelt apologies. For my endless daydreams of getting hold of your magic crayon when I was little, & for messing with your gorgeous clean lines today. Please forgive me!

Acrylic on text scanned from Harold & an ad for Milton Bradley crayons scanned from Primary Education magazine, January 1923, ~6"x3.3"

Oh yes, about the "H"s-- this one is rather like those brain-teasers where you have to find all the overlapping squares in a geometric drawing. You have to imagine some lines out of the way. And in this case, imagine one line segment in. ;-) (Confession-- even I didn't bother to count them!)

7 comments:

  1. I love this! I have always considered Harold and the Purple Crayon my favorite book of all time. I am so glad to find another who felt the same power and emotions from this book. The artwork is stunning! Keep up the great work!

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  2. Aaawww! Harold is so cute. Can you imagine that magic crayon? I still wish I had some sort of magic pen or brush. So happy to see a post from you.

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  3. I had never heard of Harold before, but I can easily see how he influenced your life! Sweet, and wonderful.

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  4. So charming! I think many of us envied Harold as kids, and I think that Crockett Johnson would love it. I enjoy your attention to detail, using the crayon ad...perfect.

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  5. Gosh, this is the second time you've mentioned Harold. Sorry to say I never read this book. I'm kinda from the Cat in the Hat, A Fly Went By, era. But your version looks great to me.

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  6. Ha! I recognized him immediately. It's a perfect mix of perfectly Harold but perfectly in your style as well. I don't think you should apologize. You're not trying to replace Harold, you are doing him an honor. :D

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  7. I just love this series so much, and I love Harold and his purple crayon! Beautifully rendered. Can't wait to see what you do with the rest. Did I miss F, though?

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