i'm not too sure why i'm a bit fascinated with these birds (aside from the way the look) but i think it's because of the different interpretations they lead to, depending on the culture. they're scavengers, plain and simple. they're smart but they apply their intelligence mostly for their scavenging ways. historically, those in the west seem to have thought them to be more ominous and negative on account of their blackness and what they eat. yet in parts of asia, they were thought of as gods. they're just there, to me; just part of the chain of things. i didn't know that they're the official bird of the yukon. corvus corax in moleskine, 9x10"
My understanding (if you could call it that) of ravens comes solely from Edgar Allen Poe's "The Raven" and then a series of delightfully silly children's books by Joan Aiken about a little girl named Arabel and her Raven Mortimer. (In other words, I really don't know much about them.) In the Poe poem, it's really the speaker who is so dark--the raven is just an excuse, and in the children's stories, the raven is smart and mischievous.
ReplyDeleteI love these sketches--the exquisite details of the heads. Sigh. So beautiful....
these are amazing, become a full time illustrator
ReplyDeletethanks a lot guys.
ReplyDeleteemily - ha ha, i'm working on it!
Really striking! Great work
ReplyDelete