childrensillustrators.com - illustrator - John Aardema - die zauberflöte
childrensillustrators.com - illustrator - John Aardema - die zauberflöte
John Aardema
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illustration - die zauberflöte-..or in English, The Magic Flute. It’s an opera by Mozart. He was the guy the movie Amadeus was about. Anyway, he wrote this trippy masonic opera—it’s like the Freemasons meet Cirque du Soleil. I saw some opera posters that a friend of mine had, and I thought I’d like to make one myself. The characters shown in the poster are Tamino, the prince; Pamina, daughter of the wicked Queen of the Night; and Papageno, official birdcatcher for the aforementioned queen. They don’t actually ride beasts in the opera (at least not in any production I’ve ever heard of) but they do travel around a lot. I thought it would be cool to have vehicles that are representations of their personalities. - Aardema, John
..or in English, The Magic Flute. It’s an opera by Mozart. He was the guy the movie Amadeus was about. Anyway, he wrote this trippy masonic opera—it’s like the Freemasons meet Cirque du Soleil. I saw some opera posters that a friend of mine had, and I thought I’d like to make one myself. The characters shown in the poster are Tamino, the prince; Pamina, daughter of the wicked Queen of the Night; and Papageno, official birdcatcher for the aforementioned queen. They don’t actually ride beasts in the opera (at least not in any production I’ve ever heard of) but they do travel around a lot. I thought it would be cool to have vehicles that are representations of their personalities.
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Next four illustrations from John Aardema:
illustrator - portfolio - Aardema, John - pussageno-Of course, Papageno is the bird-catching character from Mozart's "The Magic Flute".  I must tell you that inspiration for this picture also came from Nick Cave's Soundsuits.

How many birds do you know?

A robin?
A black-capped chickadee?
A blue jay?
A red-headed woodpecker?
An owl?
A red-winged blackbird?
A parakeet?
A parrot?
A quail?
A grackle?
A cockatoo?
A toucan?
A sparrow?
A pheasant?
A cardinal?
A bluebird?
A kingfisher?
An oriole?
A purple finch?
A yellow finch?
A scarlet tanager?
A creeping nuthatch?
A ruby-throated hummingbird?

See, I bet you know a lot more than you thought you did!
illustrator - portfolio - Aardema, John - the wizard's chair-Happy Halloween! What happens when a girl wanders into the Wizard King’s haunted house, puts on his hat, and sits in his chair? I have no idea, but it doesn’t look like anyone in the house does either.

I’m not sure, but I think a story is starting to form. I was only making a painting for my October postcard, but it looks like I’ve got a children’s book along with it, to boot!
illustrator - portfolio - Aardema, John - claude claude the vampire moth-This is Claude Claude. He's the main character in my picture book dummy--Claude Claude, The Vampire Moth-- which won first place in the 2006 SmartWriters.com book dummy division! Yay, me!
illustrator - portfolio - Aardema, John - claude's class-This is Claude Claude's classroom. He's not there because he's skipping school. He must be celebrating the fact that I won first place in the 2006 SmartWriters.com book dummy division.
childrensillustrators.com - illustrator - John Aardema - die zauberflöte childrensillustrators.com - illustrator - John Aardema - die zauberflöte
childrensillustrators.com - illustrator - John Aardema - die zauberflöte
childrensillustrators.com - illustrator - John Aardema - die zauberflöte
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