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Apr 04

Ya'all be leavin' my catnip alone now.Click for full image

GK Comments: Alternate ending to The Lion King.
Published 1978

Actually, that cover IS a classical work of art!I would touch it without protective gloves.I've seen worse. Far, far, worse.Interesting, but I would still read it in public.Middlng: Neither awful nor awfully goodWould not like to be seen reading that!Awful... just awful...That belongs in a gold-lame picture frame!Gah... my eyes are burning! Feels so good!Good Show Sir! (Average: 7.53 out of 10)
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36 Responses to “Beasts”

  1. The Tag Wizard Says:

    First commenter to recognise the artists signature gets a free…. uh… virtual cookie. So you know in other words. Nothing!

  2. THX 1138 Says:

    Let’s hear it for Kris Kristofferson, everybody!

  3. Smith Says:

    Lion-o regretted buying second hand Glo-sticks.

  4. Smith Says:

    I like the fact Lion-o here has a bit of a beer belly straining at his shirt.

  5. L.B. Says:

    Lion-o and Wednesday Adams. I’ve seen worse pairings.

  6. Dead Stuff With Big Teeth Says:

    Is that Lars Ulrich in the background? Why looks he so melty?

  7. Jon Says:

    Love the critic quote. “Unforgettable.”

    Not necessarily in a good way. I’ll never forget having kidney stones, but that doesn’t mean I’d like to have ’em again.

  8. Yoss Says:

    What are the odds that both of them would get hit in the left sides of their faces with shovels?

  9. Pat Says:

    Dorian La Padura? He seems to be old enough, though now he is a fine artist and colour consultant. Difficult to find anything about him except for a few abstracty paintings and a violently yellow door for which he suggested the colour.

    He did illustrate a Philip Roth story in Penthouse in 1977.

    http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=vkAhAQAAIAAJ&dq=dorian+la+padura&source=gbs_navlinks_s

  10. NGpm Says:

    It’s hard to believe … but this is better than the first edition cover art. I like the hayseed lion look better than the whatever it is behind broken bars dealy.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beasts_(John_Crowley)

  11. Alessandra Kelley Says:

    John Crowley is a marvelous writer, but Beasts has gotten some pretty awful covers. We have the really lovely Gollancz Classics edition:

    http://webpages.charter.net/jsa1/jcrowley/images/beasts_p2uk.jpg

    @Pat: I suspect your identification of the artist as Dorian La Padura is correct, for all that his current work is very abstract.

  12. Dead Stuff With Big Teeth Says:

    @Alessandra: that is a fine cover. My eye wanders naturally around the lion, and the lines that lie on it liven it likewise.

  13. fred Says:

    Alternate ending to Beverly Hills 90210. Shannon Doherty and Luke Perry.

  14. Jane Says:

    Post-Apocalypse “American Gothic”?

  15. A.R.Yngve Says:

    With a sense of gloomy foreboding, Leo flicked his Giant-Size Flame-O-Fast gas lighter… and nothing happened. And he knew from the look on his wife’s face that the furry barbeque had been ruined.

  16. Arch9enius Says:

    On, it’s a rifle. I thought it was one of those things you could use to force the ignition on a Saab.

    Yoss: Depends on what part of town they’re in.

  17. rev Says:

    “Excuse me Mr Lionface, the Crucible dress code insists upon a bow-tie and waistcoat.”

  18. Anna T. Says:

    The woman looks kind of like a middle-aged Jenna Coleman. Lion Man looks fine.

  19. Tat Wood Says:

    @Anna T.: Leo is actually Matt Smith without make-up.

  20. fred Says:

    I wonder if he has ever had any other hairstyle besides the built in mullet.

  21. JuanPaul Says:

    “Hi, we’re just passing through the neighborhood spreading the word about Mormon, cross species, open carry, marijuana farmers. Can we trouble you for 15 minutes of your time?”

  22. Bibliomancer Says:

    They were right. They said gay marriage would lead to something like this.

  23. Tor Mented Says:

    Ah hear tell you said “The Lion King” ain’t such a good pitcher.

  24. GSS ex-noob Says:

    I distinctly remember an SFBC cover which was NOT the one given in the Wiki article, but it’s also not on ISFDB (though we know their standards, eh?). It was mostly a white background with a simple line drawing of a lion face behind broken bars. I don’t have it any more to check. But it sure beat this one and several of the others.

    Second American paperback is better http://www.isfdb.org/wiki/images/4/4a/BSTSDTLDSR1983.jpg

    Spanish cover is pretty good
    http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?628977

    German cover… ach du lieber! Lion’s become an ape!
    http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51eVNtbTXjL.jpg

    Dutch cover might need Space Sheep.

  25. Dorian La Padura Says:

    Thank you to the few positive comments
    Received. I don’t understand the amount
    of negativity directed towards this piece.
    I believe that because few people use their
    Hands to paint and draw any longer that the ability
    To judge whether or not something is well drawn
    Or well painted is hampered. It’s easy to bully, and not so easy to sit at an easel for weeks trying to bring life to oil paint with hand to eye coordination and great patience.

  26. Tag Wizard Says:

    Greetings Mr Padura and welcome to our site. You misunderstand what we do here. The artwork here is (for the most part) excellent and your talent is to be admired. We make jokes at the subject matter. Not the talent.

    [OK guys. It’s time to crack down on the bullies on this site. #BeBest]

  27. THX 1139 Says:

    Don’t take it to heart, Mr La Padura – we’re just arseing about. And if nothing else, this site makes for industrial strength arseing about.

  28. B.Chiclitz Says:

    Once it is sent into the world by an artist, a work belongs to the world, not the artist. My mom thinks I’m the greatest human being ever to walk the earth, but the world thinks slightly otherwise. I respect the personal attachment an artist obviously retains to his or her work, and I deeply respect that artists put themselves out there, for whatever reasons of ambition, compulsion or whatever, but tweaking the work is not attacking the artist. It’s impossible to “bully” an inanimate object. (And, finally, some of us are able to judge things as good or bad.)

  29. Bibliomancer Says:

    Mr La Padura, I too can appreciate the talent and artistic skill needed to sit at an easel for weeks creating a painting. Since I cannot do what you do I am always curious about the mechanics of the craft. Please tell me, how difficult was it to get the lion-man to wear clothes and sit for his portrait?

  30. B. Chiclitz Says:

    @Bibliomancer—Your comment brilliantly illuminates the fine, fuzzy line between “arseing about” and incisive critical analysis. GSS!

  31. Bibliomancer Says:

    @B. Chiclitz – Thank you. Remember, always #BeBest!

  32. B. Chiclitz Says:

    @Bibliomancer—I think the guy on this cover misread that as “#BeBeast.”

  33. Bibliomancer Says:

    @BC – Ha Ha GSS! I suppose the cover models from last Thursday misread that as #BeBreast.

  34. B. Chiclitz Says:

    😉

  35. Monty Says:

    What makes it look off is the near-photorealistic lady on the left. She’s got shadows aplenty, he does not.

  36. GSS ex-noob Says:

    @Monty: yes, that’s so. Besides his own key light, he also apparently has a hairdresser (groomer?) and a good supply of hairspray.

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