Happy Conjectural Birthday, Mr. Shakespeare

M is for Magic and Monsters

From Magic Fish to Monster in the Lake, we have monsters and mayhem and magic. The AI refused to reproduce the irregular pumpkin of the Man Who Lost His Head (I'm always struck by how many pumpkinheads I collect; that may be a post in itself someday). It also refused to reproduce the naked breasts of the 200-year-old picture of Melusine; I tried to edit it myself several ways (cover with scales or a wisp of hair) but no go. Finally I basically said, "Magic, do what you will,' and it came up with that armor-plating. Mim's Whims comes from those few seconds Madame Mim proves that she "can be beautiful, lovely and fair." Miramon Lluagor is from The Silver Stallion. Momots memorializes the fearsome critters of my youth.

Who the Heck is Pepper Street?

Variation Situation

Here are those earlier versions I mentioned. Each worthy and interesting in its own way. Some might not notice any difference.

What the L?

From Lessons of the Fauns to Lurker in the Back Yard. I may publish some interesting variations the AI threw up to me before we came to these versions. Lurker was based on our own back yard at Loop Drive.

Bestiary Feastiary

King's Hoard and Lantern Led are the only two originals here; the rest, including the horrific Kinderfresser, are from other sources.

Tolkien Tuesday: Animations

As promised, a special post for Tolkien Tuesday. Includes stuff embellised from Tolkien himself and John(?) Severin. Very hard to wrangle Bag End; the'herding cats' effect was strong there, as it was in Crack of Doom. Many of the original pictures were done when there was not so much of a range of iconography to draw from, especially Fangorn. The difficulty of depicting Ents is a strange carryover from the books themselves, where Merry has a hard time describing them and Sam can't wrap his head around the concept. I give you two efforts at Fingolfin and the Hosts of the Noldor Greet the First Rising of the Sun; somewhere between them you may glimpse what I was going for. Illustrations from The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion, and even The Adventures of Tom Bombadil with Frodo's Dreme.