Brian Froud and Imperfections

Brian Froud is arguably my favorite living artist (the closest competitor is Kinuko Craft, but please don't make me compare them, since they speak to different parts of me.) If I want to feel close to magic, often I'll just go to Pinterest and search under his or Wendy Froud's name, or go to the pin boards I already have set up with their work. Brian Froud has mentioned before in numerous articles and interviews that one thing that is very important to him in his work, and in giving his work that spark of magic, is to add an element of imperfection to it. Some sort of asymmetry, something unexpected. Of course some people, like me, think Brian and Wendy are truly channeling another realm when they create, but this element to his creations really does work to add something special.

Apparently when he was working on Henson movies (I believe this has been a constant in all of them, Dark Crystal, Labyrinth, and the new Age of Resistance series) he had a few instances where artists tried to translate his work into another medium to prepare it for production, and something just wasn't quite right. The moment Brian would see it he would know: they cleaned it up. They made it all symmetrical and took away the character that gave it life. 

My (tied for) favorite artwork of Brian's is the Faery Hare. It took me a while actually to find the "imperfect perfection" in this piece, because I loved it so much from first sight. But when I bought a giclee of the piece and framed it on my wall, at certain angles the strange proportions of his two eyes and face became more noticable. But it's this very strangeness that makes the Faery Hare so magical. Without this spark of strangeness and the touch of Froud's hand, the Faery Hare would just be a glowy portrait of an animal of the family Leporidae. 

Recently, I was drawing through a few of his creatures for a project of mine, and I came to Ffaff the Ffooter. It wasn't until I was trying to draw him that I noticed his wings are completely asymmetrical. Like, not even subtle differences, but distinctly two different wing patterns and sizes. But his wings are utterly perfect. And for some reason, it suddenly struck me that Brian's insistence that the imperfections, strangenesses, extra lines, lopsidedness, and asymmetry of his work is part of what joins it to Faerie and gives it its magic...........can all be applied to us as well.

Our imperfections give us character. They draw us closer to Faerie, and give us more to our stories. And, like Brian's work, there is an inner glow to us as well that gives us beauty because of our strangenesses, not in spite of them. My heart broke open when I realized that the very characteristics that made me love Brian's work, and that drew me closer to Faerie when I looked at it...was not something I applied to myself as well.

So, dear heart, love yourself in all your flaws and strangenesses. Love the nose that doesn't quite fit the size of your face. Love the face that stretches a little longer than what media culture tells us is "ideal." Love your injuries, your struggles that have marked your body. They are all a part of your story. And you are magic.