Manic nightmare boar boy
Recently (a week or two before I scheduled this post, which was several weeks ago now), pigs or boars or hogs were a meme and theme on social media. I’m having a brain fart and can’t find images, articles or even relevant tweets. However, I’m a bit tired and very sick of trying to come up with funny things to say about Ian Gunn’s silly illustrations. However, something about that drawing and my brain connected, I almost audibly heard Will Kostakis say ‘manic pixie dream girl’. Thus the title clicked: manic nightmare boar boy!
Is it just me or does that boar look like the Hog’s Breath Cafe Hog on ice?
The backstory behind these silly illos
Ian Gunn, creator of these silly illos (illustrations), was an award-winning artist based in Melbourne, Australia. Cancer took him too soon. But his legacy includes numerous illustrations for zines, books and even school textbooks.
We’ve published a veritable museum of Ian’s Silly Illos here. Many of these illustrations are available for sale.
Victoria’s science fiction convention, Continuum, occasionally presents the Ian Gunn Memorial Award recognising the ‘unsung heroes’ of fandom. Recipients work in obscurity for years without recognition. This award commemorates Ian’s selfless efforts to reach out to others, encouraging others and thereby building the science fiction community.
K’rin Pender-Gunn, Ian’s widow, gave Dark Matter Zine permission to republish Ian’s artwork. Thanks, K’rin!
