Creepy Santa Claus - 12/25/12

I think this piece is really good for what it is. I'm not going to being doing some hypercritical evaluation on the artistic nuances what have you. This is also not to say that I find glaring flaws or any such thing. It's quite obvious this piece was done for fun...and what a fun and great piece it is!

I really enjoy the work here both artistically and for it's affective impact of getting us to look at something with fresh eyes. That something being a tradition or belief, a sentiment if you will, that many of us have often taken for granite. Well, a song to be more specific.

But when you really think about it, not just the song; the whole concept itself can be a little unsettling. Even in it's own right, we should question some things. I'm still amazed how often though we do not.

A single man that rides a sleigh pulled by 9 'magical' reindeer and can deliver presents and toys to all the boys and girls in a single night. As this piece points to, quoting those well know lyrics, "He sees you when you're sleeping..." it's quite creepy indeed! Obviously, we don't believe in a real Santa, but I think we should question what it is we're asking our kids to believe in too.

I honestly find it hard to fathom how this has flown under the radar for so many years even for the children. But alas, I will not tirade down this avenue further. Suffice to say that those song lyrics are enough to make your skin crawl when examining them closer. <img src="e.deviantart.net/emoticons/w/w…" width="15" height="15" alt="" title="Wink/Razz"/>

In getting back, this piece does a brilliant job at getting us to look at things with a fresh set of eyes (or ears). I know I've abstracted this point out a bit further beyond just the song, however, perhaps the artist intended a broader application as well.

All that mumbo jumbo aside, I really, genuinely appreciate the overall effectiveness of this piece.

Vision:
Vision is a 5. This is relative to what the author was trying to convey and I really feel as if she had a great vision and was able to carry it out. I think this took some creative thinking and the composition compliments nicely to this end but more on that when impact is touched on.

Originality:
I give 5 stars here as well. I'll be completely honest. I have seen this concept before, but I also have about half the interweb downloaded into my skull. My gray matter is always feeding! Of course there is no way to know (not right in this instance anyhow) what influenced the artist when designing this. This is actually quite regardless to its originality. At least in my opinion the appeal here is extremely original especially in the face of how many have never considered this subject in such a light.

Technique:
I give a 4 here, 3.5 really. Technique is the only area where I could see some room for improvement. However, I will also say that this is also the only area that is much less subjective in my mind. Well that and impact actually. And what I mean by this is that I really only want to hand out a five in this category for artistic works that just blow my mind to smithereens. It's less subjective to the individual piece and more of an across the board rating for me. I also want it to mean a lot when I do hand out a five. That said I still give this a 4 because it is a comic work, and I actually don't want my focus to be so engaged in the art itself. But more specifically what I see. I really enjoy the art itself. Santa is great, I love every detail about him. The sleeping kid is great. I love the shading on his face and pillow and the details and texture in the hair all work very well. The style is perfect or at least works so well when I see it now that I wouldn't change anything. Compositionally speaking I think it should bother me that the bed is just kind of floating there, but it doesn't. I think I can appreciate taking this piece very lightly, even though my profusion of words may seem to say otherwise. let's just say I'm not what one would consider taciturn to any degree. I really like the writing, I feel like its' written on the walls given the plain and textured paper showing through. I like the bleeding in some spots like in 'sleeping'. the smudge mark on the last 'a' in Santa bothers me a little, but that's not huge.

Impact:
This gets a 6 for impact. It's very clear in delivering it's point, and it hits you square between the eyes. I believe that the vision of the artist is carried out true to form in this composition. It's impact is dead on. I wouldn't change a thing. I'll nuance this a little bit though. First of all the author is dealing with a pretty sensitive subject matter. Maybe you'll laugh at that, I actually am, but for some people you never know. And in that, although it's saying, "hey this whole Santa bit is actually pretty crazy/creepy", he's not portrayed as a menacing psychopath or similar deviant. <img src="e.deviantart.net/emoticons/w/w…" width="15" height="15" alt="" title=" (Wink)"/> Although I suppose I would not mind a piece that took it in that direction either, I feel this has much greater appeal. And certainly you could lose any Christmas sentiment it would have going for it. But also this must tie in with vision, and it is this artist vision that they have so well brought to life. The overall impact is just terrific.

Lastly, my apologies for misspells and/or (but not limited to) any other such shenanigans that my tired mind has pulled on me while I was away...wait what, wow, I really must be tired.

Certainly this piece was a joy and some good chuckles. I probably could have use like half the words I have, or maybe just a paragraph, but I also appreciate giving a piece like this some just dues. It's really fun and such a creative premise to share with others.