the white whale

I'm just going to be honest up front and say that I've never read Moby-Dick. Coming from someone with an MFA in Creative Writing this is bad. Well, what can I say? It's on my long list of books to read. And it's not like I'm totally unfamiliar with the story. Man vs. Nature. Hubris and destiny and vengeance and so on. 

Getting to the point: Moby-Dick in Pictures: One Drawing for Every Page

picture by Matt Kish. Book published by Tin House.

In 2009 Matt Kish embarked on a monster project: illustrating each of the 552 pages of Moby-Dick. At the end of his project, he'd created a weird and wonderful melange of artwork--using found paper, ink, paint, ballpoint pen, markers, and crayons, no less. Neat-o, right? 

Moby-Dick, page 019

Moby-Dick, page 345

Moby-Dick, page 130

Moby-Dick, page 034

Moby-Dick, page 320

Kish's original artwork is available here. Interested in checking out the whole dang odyssey? Peruse Kish's blog, One Drawing for Every Page of Moby-Dick. Already devoured Moby-Dick and find yourself hankering for more tales of high-sea derring-do? Try In The Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex, by Nathaniel Philbrick. The story of the Essex is what inspired Melville to write Moby-Dick. The sisters agree, it's an awesome read.

And I will read Moby-Dick eventually, I promise.