January 2011

I made this last Friday based on a sketch I did to bring with me to my Society of Childrens Book Writers and Illustrators meeting the following Saturday. I showed it to my wife and asked her what she thought of it. She said the dead rabbit bothered her.

I was taken aback by this. I had not intended to display the rabbit as one that had moved on into the afterlife, but there I am trying to imagine a rabbit being pulled from a hat by the neck by some half crocodile/half bird creature wearing a tuxedo with no pants and a fez and as an illustrator trying to figure out how to make the rabbit look alive. If you’ve ever held an animal by the back of the neck you know that an alternative pose to the one drawn above is not natural.

I took it to the SCBWI meeting the next day and asked their opinion. “Does this rabbit look dead to you?” I asked the group. The majority said yes and in a disturbing kind of way said they approved.  In their defense they did offer me some suggestions on how to make my illo look better and different poses to make the rabbit appear alive.

Has no other person in Summit Co Ohio ever held an animal up by the neck. Am I alone on this?

Am I that country?

As I ask myself this I look at the illo and say to myself, why do I care if the rabbit’s movements are unnatural? The creature holding the rabbit up is unnatural you knuckle head!

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