Der Gruntlig
Now:
Sometimes I’ll still find myself ready to draw but nowhere near my computer. Though at the time of posting this it’s more that I haven’t actually done any drawing in a long time, digital or otherwise. Speed of life I suppose. Back on topic, this is one example of a traditional pencil drawing I enjoyed doing. It was much more about the inspiration than the medium.
While you’re entitled to interpret this piece any way you like, some may appreciate the notion that there’s a little bit of H.R. Giger’s egg pod from Alien in it, in case it wasn’t obvious.
Then:
To the best of my knowledge, gruntlig is not an actual German word. I formed it from a combination of the words “grüne” (greenness, verdure) and “gruselig” (creepy, uncanny), to name a rare and mythical floral species you’d never want to encounter in the middle of a dark, decaying forest. Inspiration for this drawing was simply my desire to draw something creepy; I didn’t know what it was while I was drawing it, only when it was nearly complete did I deliberately enhance certain contours and characteristics to make it look like something, and Der Gruntlig is what I came up with.
A genuine pencil-on-paper drawing, I created Der Gruntlig while sitting in on a college-level sculpting class. The professor was lecturing on the use of natural forms, such as animal bones, in designing sculptures, which prompted this organic type of drawing. Afterward I scanned it and converted it to a duotone for color.
This drawing was done on January 14, 2002.
