I’ve discovered a wonderfully strange little book which is unlike anything else you may have seen. A book of strange but intriguing pen and ink drawings which always have an eerily warm yellow back ground. I speak of course about Sticky Monsters, by John Kenn Mortensen.
Quite simply it is a book of drawings of monsters that Mortensen enjoys drawing for himself while he is busy making television programs in Denmark and has decided to put them in a small book for our viewing pleasure. So what you may well ask? Well first and foremost the drawings are highly stylised in the vein of Edward Gorey. I’m a big fan of the detailed pen and ink line ‘Edwardian’ style illustrations, and these have it in bucket loads. But beyond that the illustrations are in credibly intricate and in viewing them, be careful not to be fooled into thinking they are uncomplicated. Mortensen is a very talented illustrator.
What makes these drawings different (and the ‘Sticky’ part of the books title comes in here) is they are all exclusively drawn on post it notes (hence the always yellow background.) They’re presented in the book exactly as post its would be; ie they do not fill the whole page, rather there is a yellow rectangle ‘stuck’ on each page. It is only now when you see the original size that these creations have been crafted, that you fully appreciate how complex the process is.
If you are a fan of Monsters, Scandinavian mythology (there are lots of troll like monsters in here), Edward Gorey or H. P Lovecraft (see above for one of my favorite clearly Cthulhu inspired pieces), then please do go check out Sticky Monsters.
Chris
