Derek Hess

I do love Derek Hess, his line quality is something I have been insanely jealous of for some time now. I first discovered him through some album artwork he'd done, and his use of materials and drawing back on top of magazine pages is something I've recently begun to think a lot more about, especially in relation to my own drawing enquiry and drawing book.

 However recently, when I've been checking his website for recent images, Im finding myself thinking...is this it? Really? Penguins in army helmets? just...REALLY?

Its quite disapointing, I'm all for a sense of humour in your work, but I just cant understand how work in the same digital gallery, can range from this...

2002 "Valentine"

http://www.derekhess.com/sub.cfm?section=gallery&menu=gallery&year=2003&catid=1&ID=358

To This...

 2006 "Santa Devil"

Maybe I'm missing something.