Pseudooctopus: Presented by the Undead Bazaar

Sara Ross (Todd Jepperson)

You may be wondering why Saturday’s post is going up on Monday. Well, to make a long story short, I [Todd] work too much and I’m in the middle of trying to survive college. When I get a chance to unwind with my wife and my kids, I may get slightly over-excited about it and let myself get a little carried away. You’d be surprised how ragged two tiny kids can run you in one day. Trust me, though, this feature is worth the wait.

Please welcome watercolor magician and fine artist extraordinaire Georgia Dunn; the heart and mind behind Pseudooctopus. Georgia grew up “weird and loud; the hyperactive child of a politician and an artist,” bringing the fantastic worlds and creatures from her mind into our world, through her art. She spent a lot of time telling Crayola stories across the paper battlefields of her childhood in the back of the rooms where her mother worked her political magic in council meetings. She eventually attended the University of Rhode Island where she graduated with her Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts and now works as a full time freelance illustrator out of Seattle, WA.

Up until recently, Georgia spent about half her time creating children’s art and the other half creating grizzly masterpieces. Now, she spends the majority of her creative energy toward the cute and cuddly, but she still has a good following for horror. Every now and again, she breaks out the red paint and practices her splatter.

Science fiction, fantasy, and nature around her come to life in her careful watercolor representations of the way she views the world through her mind’s eye. Like we said before, she’s more than an artist; she’s a storyteller. Sometimes she allows her audience to climb aboard and experience the journey with her. I definitely recommend reading about her paintings Escape from the Factory, Gnome Home, and Monster Parade; however, more along the lines of Z&T Georgia has created these uniquely creative Paper Dolls.

As each one of our participants is interesting and unique, we really are fortunate that they’re good sports as well. It was our pleasure to have a conversation with Georgia about her art and how it came to be:

How long have you been in business?
I have been selling my artwork in one way or another since my teens, however this past January I really buckled down and made selling prints and paper dolls online and in small, independent shops my full time job.

How did you get started?
Scribbling the adventures of an extraordinary house cat named Marmalade when I was six. Marmalade faced dinosaurs, helped cowboys, sailed with pirates, and battled robots from Saturn. I used to share these stories weekly with my first grade class during Show and Tell and it got me hooked on 'illustration' before I even really knew what it was. Drawing became my main focus the summer between 6th and 7th grade, when I spent most days in my bedroom copying over the pictures from a tarot deck. My father encouraged me to learn watercolors when I was in college and they quickly became my favorite medium. I graduated with a bachelor's in Fine Art in 2004 and have been taking on freelance projects and painting various illustrations since.

What is the inspiration for your art?
It's hard to say exactly. I love nature, adorable creatures, mythology, adventure stories, monsters, and fairy tales. I prefer to paint things the way I wish reality was (like an octopus drinking from a tea cup).

Who/what are some of your favorite artists or art styles, or your biggest inspirations?
I absolutely love Tony DiTerlizzi, Jim Henson, Yoshitaka Amano, Sam Kieth, Bill Watterson, and Ashley Wood. Anything whimsical or with a lot of splashes and movement on the page catches my eye.

What is your favorite subject/image to craft/paint/draw, and why?
Anything make believe and rooted in the fantastic, I think. I don't really like drawing serious still lifes or portraits. I figure there are enough bowls of fruit, what the world needs now is bears riding bicycles. Not to say bowls of fruit can't be beautiful, they certainly can be and it takes a patient and very skilled eye to lend beauty to the every day. I just prefer astronaut penguins.

What is your favorite zombie movie/book/game?
My fiancee and I have a game when we're standing in line somewhere--the bank, waiting on the bus, etc--where we gage from 1 to 10 the potential for "zombie movie greatness" based on the setting and possible 'characters' found in the people around us. It's free and always hilarious! ("Ooh, the biker, the biker! He gets bit. The little old lady at the counter will take him out with her purse. She's much stronger than she looks. I'd give the DMV a 7 today!")

What was your first exposure to zombies?
Ha! Michael Jackson's 'Thriller'. I was about 5 at the time, and the song absolutely fascinated me. My parents, two horror movie/science fiction buffs, explained the concept to me from the lyrics. I can remember listening to it in the car and asking my Dad to rewind the Vincent Price part about 30 times.

How do zombies play a role in your art?
Liking watercolors as I do, I really delight in painting three things: rust, blood, and mold. Zombies are perfect for me, an endless canvas of rotting yuck, each one its own unique and gross rotting snowflake.

If bitten by a zombie, should we leave you to change or shoot you?
Oh no, you must shoot me. I know it's nothing personal, it's just what needs to be done to ensure the survival of the others.

If made into a toy, would you be a zombie or survivor? What accessories would you come with?
I'd prefer to be a zombie, so I could be missing parts and look gruesome! I'd come with a sketchpad filled with scrawled brains, a bloody tray with partial cooked brain cookies, a rolling pin covered in guts, and a zombie Siamese cat.

Up for grabs, we have a set of the aforementioned Zombie Paper Dolls, What can you tell us about them?
I had a wonderful time creating these dolls. I imagined as I painted them that the father was a 1920's prize fighter, and the mother was a 1960s beauty queen. While the little girl is my favorite, I had the most fun making the baby and the pets. I have a few new outfit sets planned for them later this year including 'Zombie Family Vacation' with Hawaiian shirts and Mickey Mouse ears and 'Zombie Family Bring Your Zombie to Work Day' with a police uniform for Dad, a nurse uniform for Mom, and scouts/school uniforms for the twins.

Thanks, again, to Georgia Dunn and Pseudooctopus for the fun interview, the hard work and especially the contest. Please do us all a favor and stop by her website, http://www.pseudooctopus.com/, as well as her Etsy Store, and don’t forget to follow her on Twitter. For your chance to win a set of the Zombie Paper dolls, send an email with your name and address to paperdolls@zombiesandtoys.com. We’ll draw winners sometime around the end of June.

Stay tuned, as there’s a whole lot more to feature (almost) every Wednesday and Saturday in the UNDEAD BAZAAR right here on Zombies and Toys!