Fans of Krazy Kat will be familiar with the "Enchanted Mesa," the mystical cliff in the remote desert. No human ever sees the top, but it is a place where magic occurs. For example, it is where babies come from.
Fans of the illustrator Harold Von Schmidt will be familiar with his own treatment of the Enchanted Mesa, an actual place in New Mexico:
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| from Von Schmidt's masterful illustrations for the book, Death Comes For The Archbishop (1927) |
It's my bias that when dealing with mystical subjects, line is a superior medium because it keeps a respectful distance from the magic. It is less literal than realistic painting, and less presumptuous in its response to awe. Drawing, by its nature, acknowledges its limitations, yet those limits leave more room for human supposition.
And as the Von Schmidt drawing demonstrates, all of this can be done without losing the power of the original subject.
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