House of Cards

This is a submission meant for the Pencil Club's current contest, to go along with Arthur O'Saughnessy's 'Ode' (poem here: [link]). I had to rush this a little - both because it took me about three weeks just to come up with a workable idea for it - and because I now feel like complete crud (my lower back is bothering me to the point where it hurts just to sit and draw), so I don't have the patience I normally would with things. I also have homework and a series of tests next week, so even though the contest deadline is on the 30th, I really don't have that much time to spend. I'm NOT dissapointed with it (I'm actually very happy with this), I just know that I can give more attention to things than I did. I have to go to work now (back or no back), but I can explain more about it later (I know I have said that about other pictures and then seemed to have forgotten about it, but in this case it's important I think that I justify the picture. I also left this actual size (If you can't see the details on the cards, pretty much the point is lost, so I kept it big).

Okay - returned from hell....and my back is also slightly better for now. Judging from some of the comments, I don't really have to explain this as much as I thought at first (which is a good thing - in general, I hate explaining - it kind of ruins the whole idea of having the viewer figure it out.

As someone already commented, the different cards represent different ideas or beliefs in human history (some of them we laugh at now, some of them we respect, some of them we are horrified by - the main point being, that our view of them now is radically different than the way people viewed them then). The idea behind the card tower (everyone's tried making one at least once right?) is that is very fragile. It doesn't take much to knock it over - and the bottom cards still affect the top - so mistakes, no matter how long ago they were made, can still ruin it. I do want to point out that the choices for what went on the different cards had a lot to do with just how possible it was for me to draw the image in halfway decent perspective and have it be recognizable, and also have it not make me crazy while trying to do it (I think I mostly succeeded on both points). So, there are other very valid things that could have been in there, that aren't, but only because of those restraints. The cards also aren't 100% chronological, although in general, the older ones are on the bottom and newer ones are on top. The card the child is holding is purposely hidden from view, because it's supposed to represent a future that we can't imagine (but that future generations will work to create). Will it make our cards seem foolish? Will it add to the tower, or will it all come down? Who knows.

The poem this goes with seems, at least to me, to be more of a celebration of the process creativity and faith in ideals - what one generation believes in/likes, the future generations (and past ones) don't tend to agree with much - maybe just in simple things (like what type of music they like), but also more serious issues - what one person may fight and die for, another person might just find stupid, or future generations might decide to completely abandon beliefs that their ancestors gave their lives to preserve. So the poem is solemn in that respect, but also celebrates the human desire to have hopes and dreams and strive for ideals. So this is what I was trying to capture with the picture

Originally, I also wanted to put a snow-globe in this (on top of the books), maybe with a lighthouse in it (with the idea behind that being that someone has to come along and shake it for it to work), but my back has been bothering me so much for the past day, that I can't sit down and draw for long lengths of time (may have something to do with why it hurts now) - so I decided to just call it done as is (I'll save the lighthouse idea for some other time). I also didn't title the books - the thought crossed my mind at first to have them after current popular fiction, but then thought that might cause more problems than it might be worth.