Hatch

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Another weird one. I was reading a lot of Moebius at the time I did this - sometime around 1993 or 1994. The influence is clear - I never really worked in this crosshatching style before or since. I usually avoid adding any kind of linear tone to my illustrations these days, though I did flirt with a horizontal messy line crosshatching style around this same time.

This piece was different, tough - I think I created it as a possible piece of art for my band cuppa joe - I can't remember if this was supposed to be a CD cover, a 7" vinyl single cover of something else. Regardless, I got a bit spacey (obviously), which was not too appropriate for our homegrown musical stylings, and the illustration never saw the light of day... initially.


Closeup of the illustration. Look at all the pretty, intersecting lines.

A quick aside about Moebius: In the early 90's, I was very much into him - as I still am, but I'd just discovered him then. And as he lived in France, I didn't expect I'd be seeing him anytime soon. However, at the end of my senior year of college, I decided to get my long hair cut off, so I went to a salon in a mall in central New Jersey (don't laugh) and asked them to give me what would be my "college graduation cut" - the shortest, most militaristic hair style of my life. It was also the longest haircut of my life, given by a guy who, ironically, had even longer hair than me.

Here's the kicker: while he was in the middle of my lengthy hair cut, my stylist and I were talking about art. This guy mentioned he was into comic books and asked me if I liked Moebius. I said yes (of course) and he looked at my curious and said, "Then man, I'm surprised you're not across the street seeing him! I'd be there if I wasn't working." Turns out Moebius - from frickin' France! - was making an appearance at the comic book store across the highway. I couldn't escape, though - I was mid-cut - and by the time I was finished and rushed to the store (five minutes away!), Jean "Moebius" Giraud was gone. I hate that story - I could have picked any other day to get my hair cut! Why then?!

So anyway... the reason I think this image was an alternate concept for my band's CD cover is the concept. The CD was eventually called Nurture - this was the actual cover I designed:


Actual Nurture CD cover. No crosshatching here.

You can see that either image works for the concept of "nurture", but in pretty different ways. And I was definitely locked into the same color scheme. I think the idea of such a sci-fi image just didn't work for our music - especially an image containing some nudity, allthough mild nudity (I was reading lots of Heavy Metal at the time - this is pretty tame by comparison). The other possibility, though, is that I did the alien-egg-hatching image after the CD came out, just riffing on the concept of nurture. Who knows? I can't remember. I also did a similar black and white image of a human woman breastfeeding an alien. I guess I was into aliens and motherhood back then.

For years the Hatch piece sat in my portfolio (a physical portfolio, pre-internet), most likely offending sensitive female art directors everywhere. Once I stopped using a physical portfolio, the piece pretty much disappeared. And then when I opened my online Print On-Demand stores, I decided it might appeal to some of the more spacey folks out there. I've sold a few mousepads and a couple t-shirts - here's one of them.

Check out the full Hatch product line on CaféPress