THE CARDIFF GIANT RISES AGAIN - PART 2!

In this first scene, George Hull is depicted trying to age the surface of the stone giant with sulfuric acid.  I utilized the old "ghost story-flashlight spooky lighting" here.  Apparently the acid is giving off a glow illuminating Hull's face from below.  I also like the rendering and lighting on his right hand.

This scene shows part of the origin of Hull's scheme.  A visiting preacher named Reverend Turk is shown telling of Biblical passages that say giants once walked the earth.  The minister is dramatically back-lit by the glow of the flames in the fireplace.  I did everything I could think of to make each scene as visually engrossing as possible.  Lighting was key to this process.

Here, the two sculptors hired to carve the giant from a large block of Gypsum are chipping off the figure's hair and beard, which had been originally part of his design.  It was discovered, however, that hair does not petrify, so it had to be removed.  All in the name of science!  And deception...

I used copious amounts of spatter on the men's shirts for added texture, style and visual interest.  Oh, and the guy at the top is based on an old musician friend, Dave Richardson.  Just for the record.

This image shows a man seeing a large iron box being transported toward Cardiff a year before the giant was "discovered."   Reports of that sighting started a controversy about the authenticity of the stone man.  I mentioned in my previous post that I was working on how to effectively paint clouds, of which there are several kinds.  This illustration is all about clouds.  Stratus, anyone?  Not sure I'd quite mastered the technique yet in this image, but it's dramatic!  I also added a little interest to the horses drawing the carriage by having one looking over its shoulder towards the men at the reins.  I was later told that that would be impossible unless the horse somehow slipped his reins.  But I like that horse anyway.

Here is Newell pointing out to his hired diggers exactly where he wants his well.  They are skeptical of his choice, but eventually give in and start digging in the hard, dry earth.  I recall that when I was initially finished with this illustration, I decided I was dissatisfied with the figures of the two workmen, so I painted them out and rendered them again.  I've always been glad I did, because the second version was much better.  You can tell I painted over them because the gray tones are cooler, having obliterated the warmer gray background washes I used for mid-tones and shadows.  Shadows transparent, highlights opaque!

Finally, here we see P.T. Barnum watching over a couple of sculptors he hired to create a duplicate of the Cardiff Giant after unsuccessfully trying to first buy, and then even rent the original from the uninterested owners.  He did quite well with his own fake petrified giant, even outselling the original when both accidentally simultaneously ended up in New York City.  The "real" phony had to flee town and go to Boston, where he was once again a huge draw.  

I saved this piece for last because I rendered my old boss Gary Newton, for/with whom I worked at three separate establishments back from late 1975 to 1982 or so, as the bearded sculptor in the center.  Gary was one of those "most unforgettable characters" I ever knew, and a multi-talented, creative dynamo nonpareil!  I worked with him at three establishments, a local TV station, a popular counter-cultural newspaper, and his own design studio, all of which where he served as creative director.  I met Gary not long after his run as a TV horror host had finished!  "Simon's Sanctorum" ran on WCVB TV and in syndication in the early 1970s and was very popular.  And creative!  Some episodes can be seen on Youtube on Penny Dreadful's Shilling Shockers here and here, and also on Vimeo, sans Penny, here.  Sadly, Gary passed away much too young 23 years ago, and as I write this, I'm remembering that today December 31st is Gary's birthday!

Backtracking ever so slightly here, I'd like to thank my editor, the charming and very expert Jane Hyman (whom I'm sure I thanked quite thoroughly 40 years ago) and another skilled and clever old friend John Treworgy, whose name appears in the credits of The Cardiff Giant book and may have been the person who got me the job!  Memory fails, but John worked as a consultant with Gary and me around the time I did all that art for JEM Books, including the next book I did later that year, "UFO Teen Sightings."  More on John in future posts.