One Bad Day

(A Pattern based on The Killing Joke)

Edgar Allan Poe - Quotes // Motifs // Characters // Locations etc

Quotes // Pieces of writing

- "I have no reason to be Ashamed"

- The Raven -Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door —
Only this, and nothing more."

Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December,
And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.
Eagerly I wished the morrow; — vainly I had sought to borrow
From my books surcease of sorrow — sorrow for the lost Lenore —
For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore —
Nameless here for evermore.

And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain
Thrilled me — filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before;
So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating,
Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door —
Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door; —
This it is, and nothing more."

Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer,
Sir," said I, "or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore;
But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping,
And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door,
That I scarce was sure I heard you"— here I opened wide the door; —
Darkness there, and nothing more.

Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortals ever dared to dream before;
But the silence was unbroken, and the stillness gave no token,
And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, "Lenore?"
This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, "Lenore!" —
Merely this, and nothing more.

Back into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning,
Soon again I heard a tapping somewhat louder than before.
Surely," said I, "surely that is something at my window lattice:
Let me see, then, what thereat is, and this mystery explore —
Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore; —
'Tis the wind and nothing more."

Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter,
In there stepped a stately raven of the saintly days of yore;
Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he;
But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door —
Perched upon a bust of Pallas just above my chamber door —
Perched, and sat, and nothing more.

Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling,
By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore.
Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou," I said, "art sure no craven,
Ghastly grim and ancient raven wandering from the Nightly shore —
Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night's Plutonian shore!"
Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."

Much I marveled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly,
Though its answer little meaning— little relevancy bore;
For we cannot help agreeing that no living human being
Ever yet was blest with seeing bird above his chamber door —
Bird or beast upon the sculptured bust above his chamber door,
With such name as "Nevermore.” 


- "I see no one among the living as beautiful as my little wife"

-  "Each time I felt all the agonies of her death—and at each accession of the disorder I loved her more dearly & clung to her life with more desperate pertinacity. But I am constitutionally sensitive—nervous in a very unusual degree. I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity"

- "We busied our souls in dreams - reading, writing, or conversing until warned by the clock of the advent of true darkness."

- If you wish to forget anything on the spot, make a note that this thing is to be remembered.

- "During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens, I had been passing alone, on horseback, through a singularly dreary tract of country, and at length found myself, as the shades of the evening drew on, within view of the melancholy House of Usher."

- "she had seen that the finger of death was upon her bosom ...she had  been made  perfect in loveliness only to die"

Motifs
- Death; particularly the death of young women - influenced by the illness and death of his mother, and his wife Virginia. Also man's relationship with death.
- Love ( "we loved with a love that was more than love")
- Madness / Insanity (versus rationality)
- Curiosity
- Some elements of nature - valley of many coloured grass becomes sort of barren after Eleanora dies. Weather giving more ambience to the writing.

Characters
- Lenore (&The student) - The Raven
- C. Auguste Dupin  - Murders in the Rue Morgue (and other stories)
- Roderick Usher  - Fall of the House of Usher
- Eleanora - Eleanora
- The narrator - The Tell Tale Heart

Locations
- The Rue Morgue
- The House of Usher
- "The Valley of the Many Coloured Grass"
- The Students chamber (of which the Raven comes rapping, rapping at my chamber door)
- Dupin &his pal's house - "a time eaten and grotesque mansion ... in a retired and desolate portion of the Faubourg St. Germain"

Pieces of information
- Had a tortoise shell cat called Caterina - who became distressed when he travelled and died two weeks after his death

- Most images of Poe show him in the year of his death - where he was ill / dying, drinking and generally not ok - portraits before this show him to be a "handsome, ladies man" - Life did not treat him well. 

-  A friend said of him, "the loss of his wife was a sad blow to him. He did not seem to care, after she was gone, whether he lived an hour, a day, a week or a year; she was his all."
Poe regularly visited Virginia's grave. As his friend Charles Chauncey Burr wrote, "Many times, after the death of his beloved wife, was he found at the dead hour of a winter night, sitting beside her tomb almost frozen in the snow"

- Went as Edgar A. Poe, not fully taking or rejecting his foster fathers name. (but we all know him today as Edgar Allan Poe. 

- The Poe Toaster - an unidentified person or persons who each year pay respects to Poe at his grave. ("The shadowy figure, dressed in black with a wide-brimmed hat and white scarf, would pour himself a glass of cognac and raise a toast to Poe's memory, then vanish into the night, leaving three roses in a distinctive arrangement and the unfinished bottle of cognac")

- Possible asexual - speculation (said that Poe did "not need women the way other men need women" and had no sexual desires for them but only love, care and inspiration)

"Quit the bitching on your blog and stop pretending art is hard...

...just limit yourself to three chords and do not practice daily"

There's this whole thing about shying away from doing stuff because it won't look/sound/be good but how do you expect to learn and have fun if you're not willing to do things.

When I tell people I do illustration they usually reply "thats cool I can't draw at all" but it's not even all about the drawing, it's about ideas. You can make a shitty drawing with a totally radical idea behind it and chances are it's still gonna look great because of the IDEA. You can work on drawings, you can practise and perfect and get better, that's how stuff works but ideas are like the darned basis of everything. 

I feel like I've taken a lot of inspiration of doing things from Amanda Palmer this summer and started learning how to play the Ukulele and just doing what I feel like regardless of whether it's going to turn out good or not. Worry less. Make Good Art

Procrastination

When you know you have lots of work to do but you just sit at your computer like

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

William Shakespeare

Birth: 1564 (Baptised 26th April)
Death: April 23rd 1616

Notable Works: Romeo & Juliet, Midsummer Nights Dream, Hamlet, MacBeth, Othello, (all them sonnets), Twelfth Night etc - lots, very popular. Lots of notable works which means lots of material to work with.  - There's also a lot of modern adaptations and interpretations of Shakespeare's work

I thought Shakespeare might be a cool one to do because his work got some interesting & rich imagery particularly the sonnets and I am also intrigued by the "mystery" of Shakespeare being queer and a few of the sonnets being written about male lovers. I also thought the characters would be fun to draw and such.

Yet another author whose personal life is a mystery due to the time he lived. Between 1585 and 1592 are considered shakespeare's lost years as he went of the grid after the twins were born. There are many theories on where he may have gone. In 1592 he appeared in London's theatre scene.

Married Anne Hathaway in 1582 and had 3 children - Susanna, Judith and Hamnet (Hamnet died aged 11 of unknown causes)

Him and his buddies stole what became the Globe Theatre. (It was originally a theatre in shoreditch, whose 21 year lease was up but they weren't gonna let it go so easily. They dismantled it and reassembled it elsewhere)

Canvas Club // Dr Sketchys

Canvas club and Dr Sketchy's Anti Art School Leeds are both run by my good pals Terri and Steve, they are some wild drawing events.

Dr Sketchy's is alternative/ burlesque life drawing 'class' / club / event - everyone is welcome, at any drawing ability and there's basically no rules - you can win some sweet prizes for churning out some wild art too. Also there is usually a burlesque performance which is always good fun.

Canvas Club is a drawing club focused around music as a stimulus - with different themes (Hip Hop, Woodstock, Anime etc). It's a pretty fun time.

I helped out my pals by drawing up a design for a flyer/poster which is now on the Belgrave website and all around the bar, it's weird seeing your own drawings in public, I kinda like it.

Here are some of my initial sketches for the canvas club flyer - I toyed with mimicking a Fight Club type thing but decided it would be best to try and not rip off any big names yet. (but one day I will). After I got the go ahead I made a slightly neater version of the design - though looking back on it now I  would have liked to have tidied it up more and had some smoother more defined lines on it. 

Edgar Allan Poe

Birth: 19th January 1809
Death: 7th October 1849

Considering Poe because I am a goth cliché and would like to make some spooky drawings based on spooky writings.

Notable works include: The Raven (of course), The Tell Tale Heart, The Pit and the Pendulum, Annabel Lee, The Murders in the Rue Morgue, The Black Cat, The Masque of Red Death
- A large body of work including poems and short stories - considered one of the pioneers of the short story.
- Common themes of Death and Loss - Very Macabre
- Considered the inventor of detective fiction & contributed to the science fiction genre.
- First well known American writer to earn a living through writing alone - He was real poor a lot of the time.

A lot of his actual life is a mystery due to the time he lived and the fact that after his death he was subject to a lot of slander due to the enemies he made when writing reviews for the "Southern Literary Messenger". Basically he was the original starving artist, attempting to live with some alcohol problems and with not a lot of money.

- married his cousin Virginia Clem in 1935.
- Previously may have been engaged to another, but she left him for another man while he was attempting University.
- had a bus load of drinking problems
- Died in 1949 - the cause is still a mystery.
- Jules Verne wanted to be buddies - I know this from a Kate Beaton comic

- A lot of writers love the Poe. Arthur Conan Doyle described him as "the supreme original short story writer of all time" 

About his works:
The Raven :
-Spooky and Atmospheric - I am about that life
Why was he so obsessed with death and loss? - Something to investigate.