Verrill, Chad – Prelim

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Prelim

See, it’s books like this that show my knowledge of art history to be woefully inadequate and, as such, something that I’m bound to look uninformed and ridiculous in even commenting on some of the phenomenal artwork contained herein. That being said, luckily this is just a website about comics, meant to give smarter and more informed artists nudges in interesting and diverse directions, so let the nudging begin! As you can see from “The art of Chad Verrill” right there on the cover, you might get the idea that this is a collection of drawings, not so much a linear story, and you’d be right there. Chad plays with mirror worlds, various sexual escapades both real, implied and fantastical, and fables, along with more than a few uncategorizable pieces. If you’ve been around this website I’d say this is a cross between Pat Aulisio and Paul Hornschemeier, with maybe a dash of Jim Woodring thrown in, then Chad throws these possible influences away and makes his own unique creation. He also mention several artists who worked in woodcuts as influences (the influences I mentioned came purely from my own head). If you’re an artist who is constantly looking to push yourself, always on the hunt for something genuinely new and different, you’ll certainly find it here. As for me, I’m hoping to set this on a bookshelf, like Chad helpfully suggests, and going back to it in a few months to revisit the images that have stuck in my brain (there are already a couple, particularly the images sampled and some of the more bizarre sexual bits) and see what I can see again as new. $9.95