Wednesday, November 23, 2011

From the Sketchbook Archives: Dancing Hand

I’ve always been disturbed by hands with more than five fingers or hands in a configuration other than human. I think at the base it may be the same kind of reaction I have to bugs that I consider to have “too many legs”. It makes my skin crawl for some reason.

I used to be afraid of Spiders, but we made a truce. I don’t kill them and they stay off me. I let them have the unused corners of rooms so they can eat annoying things like flies and gnats and buzzy little annoying bugs. We get along. However Millipedes, Silverfish, and Centipedes...not so much. Yuck.

Sorry for the crappy reproduction here. This is another from the sketchbooks.  Graphite also reflects the flash of a camera quite dramatically.

{Graphite}

UPDATE:  Fresh scan from my new scanner as of 01.29.12.  No blur here and I am amazed at the amount of line detail that the scanner picked up.  Yay Scanner!

7 comments:

Real Queen of Horror said...

That's an awesome sketch. And that is super cool that you & spiders have a truce! :P Please...tell them you're friends with me so I can have a truce with them too!


Enjoy your Thanksgiving! Embrace all the yummy delights. :)

Campbell3555 said...

I sow good will with the eight-legged folk by occasionally picking up strays that have wandered inside and placing them outside. I scoop them into a cup and send them on their way. They are pretty easy to lead. If there is one in the corner of the room, I just leave it so it can eat the gross bugs. However, if I find black widows or brown recluses that are in my space, I will kill them for obvious reasons.

Regardless though, I will put in a good word for you. :-)
Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Eddie said...

I have to agree with you on the creepiness of more than five fingers. Even Christopher Guest's character in the fluffy fluffy Princess Bride creeped me out when they showed his hand.

As for spiders, I am a diligent assassin of all eight-legged entities, as my wife is an arachnophobe. And regardless of my wife's feelings, if a creature anything similar to what you created in your sketch appeared to me I'd be grabbing a shovel and playing for KEEPS!

Campbell3555 said...

Vincent-
Fewer fingers doesn't bother me...4...3...even 2. I guess it is that feeling of something beyond human. Extra fingers means something extra across the board - a greater predator than human. I keep thinking of that scene in the Thing when Norris' head drops off and grows spider legs and skitters away. When I first saw that, my stomach dropped, and now every time I see it I get that ghost feeling...queasy and unsettled.

My sympathies to your wife. I had a friend once who would become semi-paralyzed if one crawled where she could see it. Someone had to kill the offending eightlegger. Yes, please though, If this thing ever shows up, get the shovel!
Also...Your wife MUST NEVER... and this goes for you too Real Queen of Horror...see a picture of a camel spider.

Eddie said...

That's a good point about more fingers equating to a greater predator than human. Perhaps that's what gives spiders such a formidable presence. While they might look like fingers, those are actually LEGS. Much more powerful than a hand and fingers.

Campbell3555 said...

I guess that is what gives insects, arachnids, etc. that strangeness - they are on the other side of that "line" where leg, hand, and finger are kind of moot. It all becomes one utilitarian thing. Legs are used like hands but also as legs. Human hands, generally, are fairly specific in their use unless survival requires them for some other purpose. I feel similarly about Octopi and Squid. Here is another example from a previous post of too many fingers.

I just had a strange idea of fingers being the equivalent of legs and arms on a smaller scale, like a fractal. Or perhaps the next evolutionary iteration of legs and arms, as though our next step would be to grow smaller fingers on our fingers. Then it all takes on a root like quality...and to actualize that thought, here is something completely wrong. eep.

Eddie said...

Thanks for pointing me to that dactyl fractal. It's a tad freaky at first but after that it gets pretty mesmerizing!

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