My Pizza Box Monster
One of my original pieces of work and possibly the one that I am most proud to have created.
James Pagen
6/20/20202 min read
I'd like to introduce to a creation of mine, my Pizza Box Monster.
I think I have such a soft spot for this piece as it's something I created myself and without it being directly inspired by someone else's work. I love doing my own versions of, say, video game characters but it feels closer to copying than creating at times. Whereas this is my own creation across several mediums - I even did an animated version!
I'm also simply happy with how it looks! It is easy to disappoint yourself, when the vision becomes distorted somewhere between the clear, crisp image in your mind and what actually ends up on paper. But in this case, this is pretty much exactly how I imagined it.
This actually started life as a pencil drawing and was a COVID creation when I was on a video call with friends (which was so much easier to organise when none of us had anywhere else to be). We got to joking about what might've happened to a pizza box left neglected due to lockdown preventing me reaching the flat to clean it up.
And so I got to sketching away whilst we spoke, and drew my vision of what the pizza box might have become. What it might have grown into. And I love it! One of my most redrawn pieces over the years, as I did variants of it, and one that I've used across many a profile picture.
My favourite bit was the little pizza slice for a tongue. An inspired choice, if I do say so myself. It's important that you allow yourself to be proud of things you've made. You might not love all of it, but you should at least love some of it. And this is one of my loved pieces, so much so that I did a revamped physical version to frame and display.
What do you think of my delicious (or disgusting?) monster?
