lots of tiny faces
i had a scary thought today - cramming as many tiny faces onto one piece of paper has kind of been "my thing" for over twenty five years now. as a miserable semi-scholarship kid at a posh all boy's school, i longed that i was attending something a bit, well, jollier... something along the lines of greyfriars rather than the angry, arrogant sons of the rich and snooty that i was saddled with. as such, i used to draw school photos of this idealised school - initially st dominic's, until i realised someone had already taken it and changed it to st jude's - which were basically rows and rows of odd looking types... my mum still has one i did as a pencil holder somewhere in her house in wales. i may photo it next time i'm there...
anyway. five years later, and i kind of met my first girls (like i said, all boys' school) and decided that all letters i sent to them would involve these overly detailed, face crammed envelopes. this was partly because if i fancied said girl, i never knew what to say so would try and impress via pointlessly intricate letters and partly because i was just so grateful to finally meet people who weren't arses like those i was saddled with at school. i had a fair few male correspondents by this time as well, but i never quite - well - felt they were worth the same kind of effort. sorry chaps.. girls were still a novelty and tended to be a bit nicer to me at this stage
fast forward to university and my ill fated university life was heralded by a breakdown caused by my 1. drawing one of my lots of small faces on a piece of paper things as a label for my door and 2. said drawing being ripped to bits by very drunk, overly raucous hallmates who terrified me rigid for the next six months straight. yet still i banged them out.. and still do...
here's the earliest example i could find on the hard drive, the cover of the initial and never completed version of "the common swings" fanzine - issue two to be precise...
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and here's my latest example - i'm kind of doing a book of them (tentatively "the big book of small faces" - as in small faces of people rather than a bit book of pictures of steve marriott, kenny jones, ronnie lane and ian mclagan) so i can keep a few of these for once... most of them are now on envelopes long since lost to old friends over the years. this one is annoyingly a bit variable in the inking style which seems to range from black to a bit grey for some reason, but it's a start. there will be more of these! SOME OF THEM THEMED!
anyway. five years later, and i kind of met my first girls (like i said, all boys' school) and decided that all letters i sent to them would involve these overly detailed, face crammed envelopes. this was partly because if i fancied said girl, i never knew what to say so would try and impress via pointlessly intricate letters and partly because i was just so grateful to finally meet people who weren't arses like those i was saddled with at school. i had a fair few male correspondents by this time as well, but i never quite - well - felt they were worth the same kind of effort. sorry chaps.. girls were still a novelty and tended to be a bit nicer to me at this stage
fast forward to university and my ill fated university life was heralded by a breakdown caused by my 1. drawing one of my lots of small faces on a piece of paper things as a label for my door and 2. said drawing being ripped to bits by very drunk, overly raucous hallmates who terrified me rigid for the next six months straight. yet still i banged them out.. and still do...
here's the earliest example i could find on the hard drive, the cover of the initial and never completed version of "the common swings" fanzine - issue two to be precise...
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(obviously click the above to see the detail)
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