Ryan Durney Illustration

& UNKNOWN TOME

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Representation ‘n All That Entails…

Representation ‘n All That Entails…

Posted by on Jun 11, 2015 in News & Thoughts |

Representation helps me stay focused more on producing creative work, and less on marketing and beating the bushes. For that, it’s worth its weight in gold.

To my knowledge, if you are not a pre-existing client, and you are of the ilk of a Pearson or Scholastic, looking for work in the children’s genre, then go ahead and contact Gwen.

If you are someone I’ve been working with for years, or an independent author, or a startup imprint, or you want more mature audience sci-fi or fantasy, then you can contact me first and we’ll figure it out.

Thanks!

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Alice’s 150th Birthday

Alice’s 150th Birthday

Posted by on Jun 11, 2015 in News & Thoughts |

That’s approximately 55,600 unbirthdays, if the poor girl were still stuck in the animated version of the Mad Tea Party.

Since Alice’s first tumble down the rabbit hole of Victorian times, there have been over far over 100 illustrated editions of Alice in Wonderland published. Why has this book been commissioned through the ages so many times? Do we need anything but Sir John Tenniel’s beloved, perfectly period illustrations?

If Alice editions had never started to become a tradition, I’d say, perhaps, that we wouldn’t, but Lewis Carroll himself changed the format three times in his career, coloring it and releasing a younger children’s edition. Then there were 8 editions released the year that its copyright expired in the UK alone.

The classic tale remains a staple of adolescent literature, landing in the hands of children between the ages of 9-12, and simultaneously collected and coveted by all ages, especially if the illustrations successfully convey the curious ambiance of her adventure through Wonderland.

Lewis Carroll’s tale is unique in that it captures the strangeness of dreams (and in parallel, the mercurial nature of adolescence) better than most children’s stories. The imagery in Wonderland sets an artist free in exactly the same way that our dreams do, each night. It’s not just another children’s book, but a keepsake kept as a treasured piece of ephemera.

I fully admit that it’s always been a dream goal of mine to create a “choice collectible Alice,” that looks the proper part of an heirloom book. I believe that very few titles are released this way today, making my planned edition worthy of attention, perhaps. Using the original text, I am highly motivated to create not just the illustrations–but an entire book, from cover to cover, as a high caliber work of art. With the recent film by Tim Burton being popular, but ultimately missing the mark, it’s high time to release an unforgettable version in print, true to the nature of the story.

It used to be an unspoken tradition for illustrators to be frequently paid to take on Alice in Wonderland, and reflect their times and their modern illustrative style in the work. For illustrators, this is like an art history imprint that we now seem to be losing.

I currently have finished 18 art pieces and 23 border and design pieces. Contact me if you are interested in working together to finish an extremely lavish version of this cherished classic.

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This Blog of Mine

This Blog of Mine

Posted by on Dec 31, 2014 in News & Thoughts | 2 comments

On this site, I will mostly talk about my life and career as a full-time illustrator…as a creator, appreciator and adorner of books and stories.

UNKNOWN TOME is simply my publishing imprint. It is my personal playground to practice my art and release unbridled creations. You could say that anything I generate (book, game supplement, poster, fine art) outside of someone else’s contract, brand, label or vision falls under UNKNOWN TOME when it is published.

The name implies underground work. The logo that I made implies a love of books, be they ancient paper or fresh pixels. The bookworm is eating the book, which is symbolic of how I feel when I see artwork or writing that I like. I feel like I am eating something that I needed, and never realized it. The muzzle of the worm is a key, because consuming stories or knowledge is how I believe we advance together, as people.

Eventually, there will be some sort of store page here, where you could support my label, if you wished to be kind or wanted one of my creations. I will always try to offer work that I believe is the absolute best I can do. Thank you for being here.

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