Sideshow

Carnivals have always been a great source of creepiness for me, and I loved being able to throw some of that into this image. While the specific characters are all the author's, the overall effect is my own neuroses in visual form. It seems he may be as wigged out by the big top as I am. Anyway, this illustration posed several challenges, including the perpetually spinning Ferris wheel, which I didn't want to look like a simple PS filter was applied, and the widely varying characters, which needed their own personalities and hints of dark history. The level of complexity and composition had me backed into a corner several times during completion, and in the end I learned more than a few lessons from this work.