The Albatross - Icon
- THE ALBATROSS: Icon - A pen and black ink drawing on an 8 x 10 size vellum paper. It was used without the border design in the book, "Out of the Storm," by William Hope Hodgson, Published by Donald Grant, 1975.
The original drawing is only 2 x 3 inches in size, a small icon that I drew intended to be reduced even further by about 50% or more and used with the opening letter of the story, The letter would be placed in the black lower right corner of the drawing.
It is a simple uncluttered drawing and does not include the border that you see surrounding it here. But publisher Grant decided not to use it for the opening letter, instead, he used it full size and placed the drawing all alone on the preceding page of the story.
In 2009, Centipede Press reprinted this story and my illustrations in a massive edition, "Masters of the Weird Tale: Hodgson". My small icon, including the frame that you see here was enlarged and used as a full page illustration. So, I originally drew this small icon intended to be printed about an inch or so high, and it now appears in this large book about 8 inches high . . .
The fact is that by enlarging a small drawing you can reveal flaws that aren't noticed in it's original small size; any rough edges or poor lines in its small size can become glaringly obvious in an enlarged appearance. So it bothers me when a publisher enlarges a small drawing of mine that was actually supposed to be reduced in the printing. However, and surprisingly, in this case the enlargement of my small drawing did not reveal any harmful flaws, so I have no complaint.
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