Heavy the Whale by Chris Leavens

It's (the whale) makes heavy (much more) live in that city. :)

oooh, creepy and well done! the flash of salmon pink works really well!

a : )

hehe, very heavy!

I like this one more as time passes.

It's a difficult piece which, by its complex use of straightforward tones and line, seems to seek the establishment of a kind of bridgehead to a new paradigm. Insofar as a flying whale is the heaviest of all sky-beasts, both metaphorically and in the ways that make generals salivate and realtors quiver, this one makes me feel very nearly heavy with awe at your valid and sophisticated stab at showing us how it might really go down.

It's like more than one notion is being challenged, really. That whales can fly and sing their bodies electric is pretty easy to understand. That they can light up a couple of ultra-modern skyscrapers and use them for quality audio loudspeakers, through which to announce in no uncertain terms their hopes and desires for the world they will make their own, is beyond the scope and scale of many previous notion-challenging exercises of yours.

The half-lidded eyes of the beautiful aerial leviathan suggests that there is much more to come and that it will be like the stuff we simultaneously fear and desire ourselves...

This makes me think: what if Toho Films made a version of Moby Dick? Take that Seattle!!

No uncertain terms for other whales, Alex. Unfortunately, our human ears are not tuned, nor are our minds prepared to hear their cetacean dreams. The Seattlits below probably think all that whalesong is just some new "indy" music.

They would be partially right, though, since of the twelve sentient species on the planet, whales have the heaviest shoegaze and prog influences, and it shows in a lot of the things they do. To say that's all this airwhale is getting at, though would be a misreading on the level of tragesty.

I hate when I get the whale flu. I know exactly what the beast is feeling.

Interesting side note, the city of Shamokin was glorious before a giant whale with the flu blow-holed lightening all over the place.

i know how he feels. i've been feeling ill the [ast few days myself :D your illustration fits the theme wonderfully!

This is what happens when you leave a Carvel Fudgie the Whale in the back of the freezer next to a slit bag of frozen pearl onions.

Neil Pye would definately label this one both, like, totally uncool and heavy.

Weaver: These were two of my very thoughts. Combine the two and you'd have Neil running into the room, Fudgie all candlelit, saying, "Surprise." I guess this can only truly be appreciated by fans of The Young Ones.

Johanna: Hope you feel better soon.

Everyone else: Thanks for commenting. You are excellent.

Holy crap this is a good one! A sick whale would make for a fantastic monster movie. And those incisors, whoa. Fantastic job.

Andre: Thanks! Accidental monster destruction is much more interesting than the aggressive type.

Ed:

You are correct, I had been approaching the issue from a cetacean perspective and I know that that is both species-ist and un-American. It's just that I was overwhelmed by the very shoegazing you allude to in your fine post; because therein lies what must surely almost be the somewhat hidden genius of that Leavens guy's picture: The whale itself has no shoes.

I doubt it took to the friendly skies just to gaze at other peoples' shoes, and yet... it could see an awful lot of shoes from such dizzying heights.

Irregardless, whales must really be the most prog mammals on Earth.

Yes, oh I loved The Young Ones!..."we sow the seed, nature grows the seed, we eat the seed"...*sigh* now that will be an earworm for me...I should only visit your site for Illustration Friday, so that doesn't happen! such silliness!

a : )

andi: Yes, stay away, far away, as the madness here is pretty infectious. Consider yourself warned. I would have attempted to rhyme that, but I'm no "People's Poet." I am, however, a fascist bully boy.