A revolution has quietly taken root in the dazzling world of comic books, where vibrant panels burst with stories of heroism, fantasy, and conflict. For years, the comic book industry, like many others in art and literature, was predominantly male-dominated. However, as the pages turn and times change, a new era has dawned—an era marked by the rise of incredibly talented female comic book artists who have begun to redefine and reshape the landscape of visual storytelling. These artists have not only matched the skill and creativity of their male counterparts but have brought fresh perspectives, styles, and narratives to the forefront, enriching the comic book world with diversity and depth.

This list celebrates ten incredible female comic book artists who have left an indelible mark on the industry. Each entry delves into these talented creators’ lives, work, and influence, highlighting their journey in the industry, signature styles, and most memorable works. From the imaginative worlds of Fiona Staples to the expressive characters of Amanda Conner, these artists have expanded the boundaries of what comic books can be, proving that the heart of a hero—and an artist—knows no gender.

Related: 10 Comic Books Deemed Too Hot to Handle

10 The Trailblazing Artistry of Fiona Staples

Fiona Staples has revolutionized the comic book world with her groundbreaking work, particularly in the critically acclaimed Saga series. Her innovative approach to storytelling and character design has not only garnered a vast, devoted fanbase but has also redefined what is possible within the medium of comic books. Staples’s art is characterized by its dynamic compositions, vibrant colors, and remarkable ability to convey deep emotional narratives through subtle visual cues.

Her work on Saga has been pivotal in pushing the boundaries of the genre, blending science fiction and fantasy with poignant, relatable human experiences. The impact of Staples’s contributions extends far beyond the pages of her creations. As a beacon for aspiring artists, particularly women in a historically male-dominated field, she has opened doors and shattered ceilings.

Staples’s accolades, including multiple Eisner and Harvey Awards, are a testament to her prowess and influence in the industry. Her legacy is not just in the stunning visuals she crafts but in the way she has masterfully woven inclusivity and diversity into the fabric of comic book culture, proving that the pen, or in this case, the stylus, is indeed mightier than the sword.^[1]

9 Amanda Conner’s Unique Blend of Energy and Humor

Amanda Conner’s artistry in the comic book industry is a vibrant explosion of energy, humor, and expressive storytelling. Known for her distinctive work on Power Girl and Harley Quinn, Conner has a unique ability to infuse her characters with life, making each panel burst with personality and dynamic expression. Her style is not just about visual aesthetics; it’s about creating a connection between the characters and the readers, often through humor and relatability that transcends the typical superhero narrative.

Conner’s contributions to the comic book world extend beyond her art; she has been instrumental in bringing female characters to the forefront, showcasing them not just as sidekicks or love interests but as complex, powerful protagonists with stories worth telling. Her portrayal of Harley Quinn, in particular, has been celebrated for balancing the character’s chaotic energy with moments of depth and vulnerability, offering a fresh take on an iconic character.

Amanda Conner’s work challenges the norms of comic book storytelling, proving that a good laugh can be just as impactful as a dramatic battle scene in bringing characters to life and engaging the audience.^[2]

8 Becky Cloonan’s Journey Through Gotham

Becky Cloonan stands as a pivotal figure in the comic book industry, marking her territory as the first woman to draw the main Batman series for DC Comics. This historic achievement is not just a personal milestone for Cloonan but a beacon of progress in the diversification of the comic book world.

Her artistry blends a unique mix of indie sensibilities with mainstream appeal, creating a Gotham City that feels both familiar and eerily enchanting. Her Batman is a shadowy figure that moves through the night with grace and vulnerability seldom explored, making her contributions to the series both groundbreaking and deeply humanistic. Cloonan’s work transcends her milestone with Batman, touching on a variety of genres and stories that showcase her versatility and depth as an artist.

Her ability to convey complex emotions and atmospheric tension through her pencil strokes has garnered her critical acclaim and a dedicated following. Beyond her technical skills, Cloonan’s success has paved the way for future generations of female artists in the industry, challenging the status quo and inspiring a more inclusive comic book community.

Her legacy is not just in the characters she brings to life but in the doors she has opened for others. Becky Cloonan’s journey through Gotham and beyond is a testament to the power of perseverance, talent, and the breaking of barriers, proving that the world of comic books is vast and varied, waiting to be shaped by the next generation of artists.^[3]

7 The Versatile Worlds of Jill Thompson

Jill Thompson’s artistry in the comic book realm is a mesmerizing journey through a canvas of dreams, where the whimsical and the macabre dance in harmony. Her award-winning work on The Sandman alongside Neil Gaiman has been celebrated for its ethereal beauty and intricate detail, capturing the essence of dreams and nightmares with a delicate touch uniquely hers.

Thompson’s versatility shines as she transitions from the dark, brooding realms of The Sandman to the colorful, spirited world of her original creation, Scary Godmother. This range not only showcases her skill as an artist but also her ability to adapt and innovate across genres and themes.

Beyond her ability to enchant and terrify, Thompson’s work carries a profound sense of emotion and depth, inviting readers to look beyond the surface and find the stories woven into the very fabric of her art. Her characters are not merely figures on a page but beings with histories, dreams, and fears, rendered with an empathy that resonates with readers of all ages.

Jill Thompson’s contributions to the comic book industry are a testament to the power of art to transcend boundaries and explore the depths of the human (and sometimes non-human) experience. Through her visionary work, Thompson has carved a niche that is both fantastical and profoundly human, reminding us of the magic that exists at the intersection of ink and imagination.^[4]

6 The Elegant Tapestry of Colleen Doran

Colleen Doran’s career in the comic book industry weaves an elegant tapestry that blends the fantastical with the meticulously real. Her extensive body of work, including the seminal series A Distant Soil and contributions to The Sandman, showcases a detailed art style that is both elegant and intricate. Doran’s ability to create expansive worlds and intimate character portraits with equal finesse has made her a respected figure among peers and fans alike.

Her artistry goes beyond mere illustration; Doran infuses each panel with a depth of emotion and storytelling that elevates the narrative. Her characters are imbued with a sense of life and movement often missing in the static pages of comic books, turning each story into a living, breathing entity. This unique blend of realism and fantasy has garnered her critical acclaim and influenced a generation of artists to push the boundaries of their own creative landscapes.

Doran’s legacy is not just in the pages she has illustrated, but in the barriers she has broken down for women in the comic book industry. Through her dedication, talent, and vision, Colleen Doran has paved the way for future artists, demonstrating that comics are richer and more diverse because of her contributions.^[5]

5 Emma Ríos’s Visual Poetry

Emma Ríos’s contributions to the comic book industry are a breathtaking blend of visual poetry and narrative depth, marking her as a unique voice in a sea of artists. Known for her work on Pretty Deadly, Ríos has a distinctive style that merges the ethereal with the grounded, creating a mesmerizing reading experience that lingers long after the last page is turned. Her ability to convey complex, emotional narratives through lush, atmospheric artwork sets her apart, making each project she undertakes a journey into the unknown corners of the human psyche and beyond.

Ríos’ artistry is not just in the images she creates, but in the spaces she leaves open for interpretation, inviting readers to dive deeper into the layers of story and symbolism. Her panels are not merely pictures but portals into worlds where the boundaries between reality and imagination blur, challenging perceptions and encouraging exploration. This interplay between the seen and the unseen in her work invites a dialogue with the audience, making her art a collaborative experience.

Emma Ríos has carved out a niche that transcends traditional comic book art through her innovative approach and commitment to storytelling. She has contributed significantly to the medium and inspired a new generation of artists to explore the vast possibilities within the pages of a comic book. Ríos’ work is a testament to the power of visual storytelling, reminding us that art can be both a mirror and a window to the world.^[6]

4 Babs Tarr and the New Age of Batgirl

Babs Tarr burst onto the comic book scene with a style so fresh and energetic that it revitalized not just the character of Batgirl but also the very medium itself. Her tenure on Batgirl brought a new generation of readers to the fold, drawn in by her vibrant artwork and innovative approach to storytelling. Tarr’s art is a dynamic blend of modern sensibilities with a nod to classic comic traditions, creating a visual experience that is both familiar and utterly new. Her Batgirl is a character full of life, embodying strength, intelligence, and a relatable vulnerability that has endeared her to fans worldwide.

However, Tarr’s influence extends beyond the pages of her comics. She has become a symbol of change in the industry, advocating for diversity and representation in comic book narratives and the creative teams that bring these stories to life. Her work on Batgirl has shown that superhero comics can be accessible, fun, and deeply meaningful, resonating with a wide audience and challenging the status quo.

Babs Tarr’s contributions to the comic book industry signify more than just artistic achievement; they represent a cultural shift toward inclusivity and innovation. By reimagining Batgirl for a new era, Tarr has left an indelible mark on the world of comics, proving that with enough creativity and passion, old heroes can find new life and new audiences.^[7]

3 Sana Takeda: Crafting Worlds Where Beauty Meets the Beastly

Sana Takeda’s artistry in the comic book realm is a breathtaking fusion of delicate beauty and monstrous elegance, best exemplified in her work on Monstress. Takeda has crafted a universe so rich and detailed that each panel could be a standalone masterpiece, yet they come together to tell a story that is both epic and deeply personal.

Her illustrations are a testament to her skill in blending Eastern and Western art influences, creating a visual storytelling language that is uniquely her own. The world of Monstress is a place where the grotesque and the gorgeous are intertwined, where Takeda’s characters navigate through landscapes that are as stunning as they are dangerous.

Takeda’s work goes beyond mere illustration; it’s a narrative force in its own right, conveying emotion, tension, and the story’s nuances without a single word. Her ability to depict complex characters and intricate worlds has garnered her numerous accolades and challenged the conventions of the comic book genre. Through her art, Takeda invites readers into realms that defy expectation, where beauty is found in the most unexpected places, and strength comes in many forms.

Sana Takeda’s contributions to the comic book industry are a vivid reminder of the power of visual art to transport, transform, and transcend. Through her visionary work, she has opened doors to new worlds that captivate the imagination and stir the soul, establishing her as a true master of her craft.^[8]

2 G. Willow Wilson’s Creative Crusade

G. Willow Wilson has carved a unique space for herself in the comic book industry, not just with her evocative storytelling but also with her role in reshaping the landscape of modern superheroes. As the co-creator of Kamala Khan, the first Muslim character to headline a Marvel comic book (Ms. Marvel), Wilson has used her platform to weave narratives that challenge perceptions, celebrate diversity, and speak powerfully to a new generation of readers.

Her work transcends the traditional boundaries of comic book genres, blending fantasy, religion, and real-world social commentary into stories that resonate with a profound sense of humanity. Wilson’s creative vision is a testament to the power of storytelling as a tool for change.

Through Kamala Khan, she has introduced a character who is not only a superhero but a symbol of resilience, identity, and the struggles of growing up as an immigrant in America. This groundbreaking creation has won her critical acclaim and sparked important conversations about representation and inclusivity in comics and beyond.

The impact of G. Willow Wilson’s contributions cannot be overstated. By bringing diverse voices to the forefront of popular culture, she has opened the door for more inclusive storytelling, proving that the pen can indeed be mightier than the sword. Her legacy is one of inspiration, challenging both creators and readers to imagine a world where everyone can see themselves as heroes.^[9]

1 Joëlle Jones: Sculpting the Noir Elegance of Comic Art

Joëlle Jones has masterfully carved her niche within the comic book industry with sleek and stylish art that captivates at first glance. Her work on Lady Killer, a series that combines the aesthetics of 1950s advertising with the dark underbelly of assassination and intrigue, showcases Jones’s ability to blend beauty with brutality in a dance of ink and paper.

This noir elegance, coupled with her contributions to Batman, has redefined the visual language of comic books, introducing a blend of classic and modern that resonates with a diverse audience. Jones’s artistry is marked by its dynamic characters and detailed settings, each panel meticulously crafted to tell a story beyond words.

Her characters are not merely drawn; they are sculpted with a depth of emotion and complexity that brings them to life, engaging the reader’s imagination and pulling them deeper into the narrative. Her distinctive style is both a tribute to the past and a bold step forward, pushing the boundaries of what comic art can be.

Joëlle Jones has become a beacon for aspiring artists and a prominent voice in the comic book community through her innovative approach and unwavering dedication to her craft. Her work not only entertains but challenges and inspires, proving that the true power of comic art lies in its ability to evoke emotion and provoke thought. Jones’s legacy is one of elegance, empowerment, and endless possibilities, firmly establishing her as a visionary in the field.^[10]

Many consider dreams to be a door into the subconscious mind. The hidden truths they reveal can appear in various forms. Nightmares that evoke disgust, shame, or sorrow or terrify you to your very core are one. Or they could show up as a thrilling, once-in-a-lifetime experience you don’t want to wake up from—and just about everything in between. For some, they can even inspire masterpieces, the likes of which the world has never seen. Check out these 10 masterful works of art, music, literature, or film inspired by dreams.

Related: Ten Renowned Artists Who Were Unappreciated in Life

10 “#9 Dream” (1974): John Lennon

After a months-long bout of writer’s block, John Lennon fell into a “half-sleep” and heard a mysterious voice speak to him in a language he didn’t understand. The sound jolted him from his sleep, and the words kept playing in his mind: “Ah! böwakawa poussé, poussé.” For the first time in months, lyrics flowed freely. Lennon discussed the process of writing the song in an interview with BBC:

“That’s what I call craftsmanship writing, meaning, you know, I just churned that out. I’m not putting it down, it’s just what it is, but I just sat down and wrote it, you know, with no real inspiration, based on a dream I’d had.”

May Pang, an Apple Corps employee with whom Lennon had a Yoko-Ono-authorized short affair, described the track as one of his favorite songs from his 1974 album Walls and Bridges:

“This was one of John’s favourite songs… because it literally came to him in a dream. He woke up and wrote down those words along with the melody. He had no idea what it meant, but he thought it sounded beautiful. John arranged the strings in such a way that the song really does sound like a dream.”^[1]

9 Songs of Innocence (1789): William Blake

William Blake, an English poet, artist, and printmaker, pioneered a printing method he used to create some of his most famous works. These include Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience, two illustrated books of poetry that provide a “profound commentary on the human condition, from the purity of youth [Songs of Innocence] to the harsh realities of life [Songs of Experience].” To create the “illuminated” works, Blake used copper plates for the text and illustrations, then finished each picture by hand with watercolors.

Even more unique than the artworks was the inspiration for the printing process used to make them, which Blake described as a dream in which his youngest brother, Robert, visited. Blake was training his brother in drawing, painting, and engraving when Robert suddenly fell ill during the winter of 1787. As Robert died, Blake claims to have watched his spirit rise through the ceiling, “clapping its hands for joy.” Robert continued to visit him after that, eventually showing him the printing method for which Blake would become renowned.^[2]

8 Waking Life (2001): Richard Linklater

An image near the beginning of independent filmmaker Richard Linklater’s movie Waking Life was based on one of his childhood dreams. In the scene, a 9-10-year-old boy wearing a striped T-shirt holds the handle of the family car when his body suddenly begins to float upward. A mysterious force appears to pull him up and away from the world and its “everyday reality.” Holding onto the car with all his strength, the boy resists the temptation to drift away.

“That’s a very early memory of mine,” said Linklater, “I call it a memory, but obviously it took place in a dream state. When you’re a little kid, you don’t really make the distinction that clearly. As you get older, you build up a solid model of real versus unreal, and you start depreciating the unreal. But that moment was weird. I remember it very clearly because it was scary but kind of exhilarating—a sort of non-gravity, upward pull away from what you felt the whole world was, but at the same time, there was some force begging me to stay. That was some strange memory.”^[3]

7 The Red Book (2009): Carl Jung

Carl Jung’s famous Red Book is a compilation of illustrated journal entries from a particularly dark period in his life when he was “haunted” by troubling visions and heard inner voices. He ultimately considered this time a “confrontation with the unconscious.” Though kept private during his lifetime, the entries were found and published after his death.

Journalist Sara Corbett describes The Red Book as “a kind of phantasmagoric morality play, driven by Jung’s own wish not just to chart a course out of the mangrove swamp of his inner world but also to take some of its riches with him. It was this last part – the idea that a person might move beneficially between the poles of the rational and irrational, the light and the dark, the conscious and the unconscious—that provided the germ for his later work and for what analytical psychology would become.”

Or, in Jung’s own words, “All my works, all my creative activity, has come from those initial fantasies and dreams.”^[4]

6 Frankenstein (1816): Mary Shelley + Other Classics

Mary Shelley wrote in her preface to the novel Frankenstein that her inspiration came from a nightmare she had while staying in Geneva with the poet Lord Byron. When she went to sleep, she wrote:

“I saw—with shut eyes but acute mental vision—I saw the pale student of the unhallowed arts kneeling beside the thing he had put together. I saw the hideous phantasm of a man stretched out and then, on the working of some powerful engine, show signs of life and stir with an uneasy, half-vital motion…”

Similarly, Robert Louis Stevenson is said to have developed the storyline for The Curious Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde after a nightmare where he witnessed “a man forced into a cabinet after ingesting a potion that would ‘convert him into a brutal monster.’”

Another example is Bram Stroker’s (1897) Dracula. According to his son, Stoker claimed the book’s inspiration came from a nightmare induced by “a too-generous helping of dressed crab at supper”—one of several theories supported by his notes.^[5]

5 Book of Dreams (1960): Jack Kerouac

Dreams were a consistent source of inspiration for American Writer Jack Kerouac, a pioneer of the Beat Generation of the 1950s. He believed they held a more profound meaning beyond the surface level and eventually published a collection of personal dream journal entries titled Book of Dreams. In it, he writes: “Dreams are the touchstones of our characters.” Through his writing, Kerouac presents a fascinating insight into his mind and creative process while encouraging readers to examine their dreams as a powerful tool for self-discovery and artistic expression.

The Book of Dreams defies traditional structures and styles by its lack of organization. Divided into sections, each with its theme, there is no straightforward narrative or plot. Kerouac presents the dreams in a stream-of-consciousness style that reflects how dreams unfold. Also thrown into the mix is a dream that inspired Kerouac’s most famous novel, On the Road, in which he saw himself and his friend Neal Cassady driving cross-country in a car.^[6]

4 Dreamcatcher (2001): Stephen King

In 1990, a minivan smashed into Stephen King as he walked down a country road near his home in North Lovell, Maine. He underwent three operations and endured a months-long recovery, during which he experienced vivid dreams. Some of these dreams ultimately led to the creation of one of his best-selling novels, Dreamcatcher, later adapted as a film directed by Lawrence Kasdan.

“The first really strong idea that occurred to me after the accident was four guys in a cabin in the woods,” said King. “Then you introduce this one guy who staggers into the camp saying, ‘I don’t feel well,’ and he brings this awful hitchhiker with him. I dreamed a lot about that cabin and those guys in it.”

Due to the severity of his injuries, King was unable to type. He wrote the story in longhand in just six months. His vivid dreams were the closest he had gotten to the type of otherworldly phenomena present in so much of his work.^[7]

3 The Devil’s Trill Sonata (1799): Giuseppe Tartini

Giuseppe Tartini’s most famous musical piece, “Violin Sonata in G Minor”—more famously known as “The Devil’s Trill”—contains a dreamlike harmonic vibe and a melody that is hauntingly poignant and deeply dramatic. It is one of the most challenging scores to play, even by today’s standards. Equally stirring is the sonata’s inspiration: a nightmare in which Tartini made a deal with the devil.

Tartini explained in an interview with French astronomer Jerome Lalande just moments before his death on February 26, 1770:

“One night, in the year 1713, I dreamed I had made a pact with the devil for my soul. Everything went as I wished: my new servant anticipated my every desire. Among other things, I gave him my violin to see if he could play. How great was my astonishment on hearing a sonata so wonderful and so beautiful, played with such great art and intelligence, as I had never even conceived in my boldest flights of fantasy.

I felt enraptured, transported, enchanted: my breath failed me, and I awoke. I immediately grasped my violin in order to retain, in part at least, the impression of my dream. In vain! The music which I at this time composed is indeed the best that I ever wrote, and I still call it the ‘Devil’s Trill,’ but the difference between it and that which so moved me is so great that I would have destroyed my instrument and have said farewell to music forever if it had been possible for me to live without the enjoyment it affords me.”^[8]

2 Persistence of Memory (1931): Salvador Dali

Spanish artist Salvador Dali considered sleep as a tool that could fuel his Surrealist practice due to its connection to the unconscious mind. He would take many brief naps to enter into a “fleeting hyper-associative state,” enabling him to combine unpredictable associations and concepts to challenge perceptions and evoke dreams. It was a technique that became known as the Paranoiac-Critical Method. In the artist’s words, the technique was a “spontaneous method of irrational knowledge” that allowed him to tap into his subconscious and explore the depths of his psyche.

The unusual method relied on self-induced paranoia and hallucinations, allowing Dali to accurately create “hand-painted dream photographs” that were simultaneously rotted in realism and fantasy, deliberately designed to confuse the viewer’s eye. He used this method to make many artworks, including one of his most iconic paintings, The Persistence of Memory. Dali hallucinated the entire scene before painting what he saw.^[9]

1 Avatar (2009): James Cameron

More than one idea for a movie scene has come from what James Cameron describes as his “spectacular dreams.” As he said in an interview with GQ magazine, “I have my own private streaming service that’s better than any of the sh*t out there. And it runs every night for free.”

Not only did he dream of the iconic scene in Aliens where Ripley sees the Alien Queen after standing in a silent room full of eggs, but his fantasy epic, Avatar, also came from his subconscious:

“I woke up after dreaming of this kind of bioluminescent forest with these trees that look kind of like fiberoptic lamps and this river that was glowing bioluminescent particles and kind of purple moss on the ground that lit up when you walked on it… And these kinds of lizards that didn’t look like much until they took off. And then they turned into these rotating fans, kind of like living Frisbees, and they come down and land on something.”

When he woke up, he was so excited that he drew it. The drawing later saved him from at least ten lawsuits after some claimed he’d “beamed the idea out of their head.”^[10]

Artists sometimes explore unique and unconventional methods in their attempts to create masterpieces. Some take things a bit further and turn to very obscure art forms or even end up creating their own. These artists’ work can either make us go, “Wow!” or cringe in disgust.

Some artists take to painting with unconventional paints made from their own feces or semen. Others turn their own genitalia into brushes. Some media artists also use unexpected programs like Microsoft Excel to create their artworks. Whatever their methodology, every artist on this list has some unique selling point.

10 Tatsuo Horiuchi Draws With Microsoft Excel

When we think of Microsoft Excel, we think of spreadsheets and the occasional graph. But thanks to Japanese artist Tatsuo Horiuchi, we can start thinking of art, too.

Horiuchi uses Excel to draw, which is the last thing most people would consider using it for. Horiuchi started to use Excel to draw at the time he neared retirement. He had never used the program before then but had seen his workmates use it to make spreadsheets and graphs. The colorful graphs were the reason Horiuchi thought Excel would make a good drawing program.

Horiuchi did not consider regular graphic and drawing programs because they were too expensive. Excel also came preinstalled in Windows, which made it sort of free of charge. Horiuchi continues to make unbelievable artworks with Excel, which he says is easier to use than Microsoft Paint.^[1]

9 Tim Patch Paints With His Penis

Tim Patch is an Australian artist who paints with his penis. No joke; he uses his penis as if it were a paintbrush. This is why he calls himself Pricasso, which is obviously a portmanteau of “prick” and “Picasso.”

Patch got the idea to use his member as a drawing tool while attending a Christmas party. He quickly checked the Internet and was glad to discover that no one was doing something similar.

He started off with dipping his penis into regular acrylic paint and rubbing it on canvas, but the canvas was too harsh on his penis. These days, he mixes the paint with petroleum jelly before applying it to the canvas.^[2]

8 Martin Von Ostrowski Paints With Poop And Semen

German artist Martin von Ostrowski paints with his own feces and semen. Ostrowski first made the news when he created a painting of Adolf Hitler using his poop. He later created fecal paintings of Friedrich the Great, Otto von Bismarck, and Kaiser Wilhelm II—all of whom had ruled Germany or its predecessor states at some point.

Ostrowski also got the idea to use his semen as paint after observing some oil paintings of ejaculations created by an unnamed artist sometime in 1988. That artist masturbated on his artworks, as the paint didn’t look authentic enough. Ostrowski does not masturbate on his paintings, though. Instead, he masturbates and freezes his semen for later use.

Ostrowski says he had to orgasm over 1,000 times between 2003 and 2008 for his art. A single portrait requires 40 ejaculations. The Gay Museum in Berlin, which exhibited Ostrowski’s work in 2008, claimed that the smell of dried semen set off sexual feelings in people. Nevertheless, Ostrowski says he is just being organic.^[3]

7 Milo Moire Paints With Her Vagina

Milo Moire is a performance artist who paints with her vagina. She calls her art form PlopEgg painting. This is because she inserts small eggs filled with ink and paint into her vagina. Then she stands over a canvas and aims the eggs right at it. The eggs burst as they hit the canvas, creating a splashing effect. The piece pictured above is called The PlopEgg Painting Performance #1—A Birth Of A Picture.

Moire, who is often naked during her performances, says PlopEgg is all about feminism. However, some people do not think so. Jezebel called it “the best advertisement you’ll ever see for Kegel exercises.”^[4]The Guardian was more critical with its words. It called her work “silly” and said it should be considered a “joke.”

The Guardian added that PlopEgg was Moire’s weird but desperate attempt at becoming popular. The writer said that it made no sense, even though many artists thought it did. The Guardian then went on to attack performance art, saying that people who claim to be fascinated by performance art were either lying or likely to fall for dumb ideas.

6 Uwe Max Jensen Also Paints With His Penis

Tim Patch is not the only artist capable of painting with his penis. Danish artist Uwe Max Jensen paints with his genitals as well. Jensen’s most popular penis artwork is a recreation of Kim Kardashian’s famous “Break the Internet” photo where she bared her naked butt to the camera.

Jensen painted the portrait by inserting his penis in acrylic paint and applying it straight on the canvas. In an interview with The Daily Dot, Jensen mentioned that larger penises are better for painting because they can recreate small details which smaller penises cannot. He added that he held his penis and the canvas in his hands until he completed the painting.

Jensen also revealed that the Kim Kardashian portrait was actually the second painting he’d done with his penis. The first was a portrait of a male politician in his native Denmark. He gave the portrait to a friend but sent a picture of it to the politician through Facebook. The politician responded by blocking him.

The two penis artworks add to the list of eccentric things Jensen has done. He has made the news before for destroying the head of a statue of the Little Mermaid as well as for urinating in a water sculpture exhibited in a museum.^[5]

5 Graham Fink Draws With His Eyes

Graham Fink draws using only his eyes and computer software. Fink had a programmer develop a special software program that tracks his eye movement. The setup works with two infrared lights that are directed into his eyes.

A camera tracks the movement of his eyes and sends it to the software. The software straightens the lines Fink makes with his eyes, which soon become visible on his computer. And it continues like that until Fink completes a drawing.

Fink requires lots of concentration to complete a single drawing. He makes the drawing using a single line, since breaking off eye contact would end the portrait. He is also unable to erase anything. Fink says he spends between five minutes and an hour to create a single portrait, depending on his level of concentration.^[6]

4 Ian Sklarsky Draws With A Single Line And Doesn’t Look At His Artwork

Like Fink, Ian Sklarsky draws with just a single line. However, he does not use any software. Instead, he uses his hands. Interestingly, Sklarsky does not look at his artwork until it is completed. This technique is called blind contour drawing—an art form that forbids an artist from looking at his drawing until it is completed.

Sklarsky says he has been making blind contour drawings since childhood. He often visits bars and events where he creates blind contour drawings for interested people. A single drawing takes seven minutes to complete, after which he will sometimes add colors while looking at the drawing.^[7]

3 Steven Spazuk Paints With Fire

Fire is one thing that we generally want to keep away from our artworks. However, Steven Spazuk wants his art near fire because that’s how he creates it. To be clear, Spazuk does not actually paint with the fire but with the soot from the flame.

This art form is called fumage and was not invented by Spazuk. It has been practiced by artists throughout history. In fact, historians suspect early humans used it to create cave paintings.

Spazuk creates fumage paintings by putting his artwork right above a candle or blowtorch. The soot from the flame rises to the paper, where it forms blackened outlines. Thereafter, Spazuk draws around the soot using a pencil or feather. Sometimes, he uses acrylic paints to add more color to the artwork.

The process of creating fumage on paper is a bit complicated, since the paper needs to be as far away as possible from the flame to make sure it does not catch fire. At the same time, it needs to be near enough so that the soot will create the required outline.^[8]

Spazuk said he got the idea of painting with soot after dreaming about wandering into an art gallery. The gallery was black and white, which Spazuk said was caused by soot after a fire. He tried out the fumage technique the next day. However, the paper repeatedly burned until he switched to a thicker cardboard paper.

2 John Bramblitt Paints Despite Being Blind

John Bramblitt is blind. You’d think painting would be the last thing he would consider for a career, since he obviously needs to see to get the job done. However, he has broken that barrier and proven that you do not need sight to become a painter.

Bramblitt lost his sight after suffering complications caused by epilepsy when he was just 30 years old. He fell into a serious depression—one which he only defeated by painting. Bramblitt paints by using his hands to trace the outline of drawings he makes himself. He determines and mixes his colors by just feeling their textures.

Interestingly, Bramblitt draws people, too. He cannot see but makes a mental outline of his subject’s face after touching it with his fingers. This simple touch is more than enough for him to create a portrait of the person.^[9]

1 Katsu Draws With Drones And His Poop

Cops have a hard time catching graffiti artists. It seems that it’ll only get harder as graffiti artists turn to drones. In 2015, Katsu, a popular and radical but anonymous graffiti artist created the first drone graffiti when he attached a spray can to a DJI Phantom drone.

His target was a six-story-tall billboard of Kendall Jenner in Manhattan’s SoHo neighborhood. Katsu used the drone to spray red paint on Jenner’s face. Katsu later commented on the incident, saying, “It’s exciting to see [drones’] first potential use as a device for vandalism.”

Katsu made the news earlier that same year when he used his poop to create a smiling portrait of Mark Zuckerberg. Katsu does not like Zuckerberg, and his criticism of the Facebook billionaire worsened after he watched The Social Network, a movie about the founding of Facebook. Katsu had earlier attacked Zuckerberg by pasting posters of him with a blackened eye around New York.

For the poop portrait, Katsu ate a lot of Thai food before pooping into a container. He was so dedicated to the task that he used a mirror to confirm that his fecal matter was getting into the container. Then he drew Zuckerberg, using his poop in place of a pencil.

Katsu later stated that the whole thing was so messy that he frequently changed his gloves. He also wore a respirator and had incense burning to weaken the smell. He added that it is actually difficult to draw with feces, since poop contains excessive amounts of moisture that could destroy the artwork.^[10]

[Note from JFrater: It is not all too often that we publish lists on music for their own sake. But with my recent return to the site and my own personal love of all things ’80s retro, it was impossible to pass up this awesome list covering one of the most fascinating and fast growing musical genres of today.]

Top 20 Most Beautiful Songs Of The ’80s

Thanks to pop culture embracing the all-powerful ’80s nostalgia over the past few years, with shows such as Stranger Things or movies like Guardians Of The Galaxy, the unique electronic music genre that is Synthwave (or Retro Wave for nerds) has become quite popular. Some of the most recognized artists in the world, like The Weeknd or Taylor Swift, have been adopting its influences and slowly bringing it to mainstream audiences.

But there are artists who have been keeping Synthwave alive since its creation. Artists that most people might not know about. Brilliant minds who have explored the genre and shaped it into what is today and what it will be tomorrow. Here are the 10 most influential Synthwave artists of all time:

10 NINA

Meet the German Mother of Synthians. NINA made a name for herself after her single “We Are The Wild Ones” made its way into the Syfy TV show Being Human in 2013. She built an impressive track record, leading up to her 2018 debut album “Sleepwalking”, and solidified herself as a powerful vocalist and an undeniably gifted writer.

NINA is without a doubt one of the leading ladies of Synthwave. She is an important figure of the genre, and she has now reached a strong notoriety amongst fans and is thriving on the stage as well, doing live shows all around the world with her band.^[1]

9 FM-84

Originally a band with only one regular member, creator Col Bennett, FM-84 already had an impressive run over the years. But everything changed after collaborating with singer and songwriter Ollie Wride on their 2016 hit “Running In The Night.” The song (and their next collaborations) formed a long lasting relationship that eventually lead Wride to become an official member of the band.

FM-84 represents everything there is to love about classic ’80s bands. Their 2016 debut album “Atlas” is a dynamic ride that perfectly captures the nostalgic nature of Synthwave that makes you want to get in your car and drive on a road full of palm trees during sunset.^[2]

8 Tokyo Rose

[WARNING: The video above may cause epileptic fits in those with photosensitive epilepsy.] Tokyo Rose is an enigmatic producer from Jersey who has been present in the Synthwave world for almost a decade, since the release of his first EP “Chases” in 2014. He established his style early on, an imaginative mix between Cyberpunk and Dark Electro, and he has since become one of the most respected artists in the genre.

He is also known for his work with his best friend ALEX, with who he has released two joint albums. The first one, “Akuma” came out in 2017, and its sequel “Akuma II” came out in 2019. Both we released to great acclaim that eventually lead them to chart on Billboard, making them two of the few artists in the Synth-verse to do so.^[3]

7 Timecop1983

One of the most commonly known artists in the genre is none other than Timecop1983. The American producer is sort of an embodiment of what could be considered “traditional” Synthwave. From his very first body of work — which came in the form of his 2014 EP “Daydreaming”, his music became a true model of the genre. The smooth and melodic vibes of his songs bring you right back to the 1980s and make you want to dance the night away.

Timecop has explained over the years that his inspiration comes from cinema, more specifically from the 2011 movie “Drive”, that started it all for him. Since his start, he has collaborated with most of the best artists in the genre, and he shows no signs of stopping. His 9th album is set to be released in 2020.^[4]

6 Jessie Frye

Some of the greatest artists in Synthwave did not come from the Synth world. Jessie Frye is one of those artists. Originally a well known Rock girl in Texas, Jessie made a strong entrance in the genre during the summer of 2018. She teamed up with Timecop1983 on the song “Faded Memory”, an instant hit that made her an overnight sensation with fans.

She followed up that success with two singles, “Fantasy” and “Angel”, as well as two collaborations, “We Are The Night” with DJ Ten and “Fractions” with Wayfloe. The success of those projects quickly earned Jessie the status of superstar in the genre. Her vocal style takes roots from many different genres, making her songs incredibly unique and impossible to copy. She recently teased the release of her highly anticipated album “Kiss Me In The Rain”, which will serve as a continuation of this new artistic direction that has made her such a powerful figure.^[5]

Top 10 Classic Fantasy Movies of the 1980s

5 Starcadian

Starcadian is a producer and a movie director who has been around since 2011. He has had a significant impact on the Synthwave world, especially with the success of his 2012 song “HE^RT”, but in a different way than most artists. His music has since been featured in movies, TV shows and even in commercials for video games such as League Of Legends.

Starcadian’s albums (which he calls “original soundtracks” or “ear movies”) have a cinematic feel that distinguish his sound from most Synthwave artists. His music is so expertly produced that it eventually brought him to work hand in hand with companies like Izotope and Arturia to develop new sounds and synths for other producers to use. He is a true genius, with an impressive legacy forming around him.^[6]

4 The Midnight

Any person who has dipped a toe in the world of Synthwave has heard this name before. To make it simple, The Midnight are essentially Synthwave 101 for anyone entering in this era. They became icons of the genre pretty much as soon as their first EP “Days Of Thunder” hit the scene in 2014, and they since have been consistent with their success.

Their 2016 debut album “Endless Summer” is a staple of the genre, and their 2017 follow-up “Nocturnal” became one of the first Synthwave albums to chart on Billboard’s Dance/Electronic chart, reaching #17 upon release.

Their music sounds like what dreams feel like. It will transport you right back to the ’80s and make you feel so nostalgic, you will wish you could be in the next season of Stranger Things. With multiple albums and multiple sold out tours under their belt, The Midnight are without a doubt the current frontmen of the Synthwave universe, more so than any other artist currently active in the genre.^[7]

3 Wayfloe

Few artists can be credited for taking the Synthwave genre forward in a more creative way than this mysterious duo from Canada. Wayfloe is one of the newer acts on this list, but it is also by far its most unique.

Their body of work is one like no other. Their 2019 album “Neon West” has received acclaim for its originality and its unique sound that manages to seamlessly blend genres together, in a way that creates a sub-genre that is very much their own. In other words: if you hear a Wayfloe song, you know it’s them.

And while they only have one album on their resumé, it has not taken much time for them to dominate the Synthwave world in 2019, especially with their song “Fractions”, a collaboration with Jessie Frye that topped Iron Skullet’s “Top 40 Synthwave Songs of 2019” list, beating well known artists like The Midnight, FM-84, and even The Weeknd.^[8]

2 Danger

On the darker side of things, we have Franck Rivoire, AKA Danger. An older artist in the world of Synthwave some would even consider to be one of the pioneers of the genre. He has been around for well over a decade and is known for his sinister style — a strange mix between electronic and a retro horror movie soundtrack.

Danger is also known for the titles of his songs and EPs, generally comprised of series of numbers that represent important dates and times from his life, such as his hit songs “88:88” and “9:20”, or his first EP “09/14/2007”.

His influence in the Synthwave world is still very present today, and he continues to release some of the most original and out of the box work the genre has ever known.^[9]

1 Kavinsky

If there is one artist who has a right to take credit for shaping the Synthwave genre into what it is today, most people would tell you that Kavinsky is that guy. He appeared in 2006 and quickly built an audience with his dark production style compared to other French artists such as Daft Punk and Justice.

Kavinsky became an overnight star when his song “Nightcall” was featured in the Ryan Gosling movie “Drive” in 2011, making him the first artist in the genre to kick down the mainstream doors. The song became a huge hit, followed by the release of his first album “OutRun”, a classic that now serves as one of the biggest inspirations for most producers in the genre.

But, while he now has a true status of legend in the Synthwave world, Kavinsky has not released any music since 2013, and fans are impatiently awaiting a return that will probably never come.^[10]

Top 10 Most Nauseating Rip-Off 1980s Cartoons

These days, “Artists” live for innovation (historically they lived for transcendent beauty). Art is a creative act and artists have always been creative in how they use materials to create their art. Some of these materials can strike us as unusual, even when they become traditional. For hundreds of years artists that work in tempera use egg yolks to bind pigment in their painting.

Here are ten materials used in new, exciting, and sometimes disgusting ways by so-called artists. Be careful which ones you try at home

10 Crazy Things That Make Us Love Or Hate Art

10 Blood

If you are looking for a red paint you might think that blood would make a cheap alternative. Unfortunately blood dries to a dark brown colour. One modern artist, Vincent Castiglia, works exclusively with human blood to create his nightmarish visions. Perhaps the most famous use of blood in art was when Marc Quinn sculpted his own head out of his own frozen blood. Called ‘Self’ it takes 10 pints of blood to create each bust. Every five years he crafts a new one to show his ageing process.

There were reports in 2002 that the bust had melted after being stored in a freezer that was unplugged by builders working on art collector Charles Saatchi’s home. This is unlikely however because the artwork travels with its own refrigeration unit. Part of the meaning of the piece is dependency – if the freezer ever breaks then the art melts. Marc Quinn is fairly relaxed about what happens after his death. One thing is sure, with no more Marc there’ll be no more blood and these portraits will become a lot more valuable.^[1]

9 Toast

While some media used in art, like marble and bronze, are meant to last through the ages there are those who prefer their art to have a more ephemeral lifetime. One artist, Lennie Payne, was inspired by the artistic potential of toast when they cut smiling faces out of toast for their child. Payne uses a blowtorch to scorch bread black and then scrapes away at it to create the right pigment. Using a number of slices he creates portraits of famous people as a meditation on how quickly fame fades. Some of the portraits he creates in bread that will eventually go mouldy will barely outlive the fame of their subject.

To help his artwork survive a little longer Payne has experimented with soaking the toast in resin and painting them with varnish. This has not always been done in time and he once lost several slices of a portrait to the nibbling teeth of mice. Everyone’s a critic…^[2]

8 Fruit

The beauty of photography is that it can capture a moment and make it last forever. When you seductively finger fruit you no longer have to worry about the image being lost. For Stephanie Sarley her videos and photos have brought her fame and infamy – and brought her up against Instagram’s rules about sexually suggestive content.

But then challenging society’s standards is part of the point of the work. Some see Instagram and other social media company’s rules as being illogical. Why is a man’s nipple okay to see but a woman’s worth banning? If you photoshopped a man’s nipple over a woman’s would that be okay? By pushing her fingers into juicy fruit Sarley is pushing the boundaries of what is acceptable.^[3]

7 Cheese

Some people just love to smother their food with cheese. Who can blame them, it is pretty delicious. But does melting cheese all over everything make pretty art? Yes, according to Cosimo Cavalerro. Inspired by a time when he accidentally dripped some cheese on his chair Cavalerro has put cheese on everything from sheds, to entire hotel rooms, to dresses. Once applied he takes photos of the cheesy messes to immortalise them.

He has branched out into other media, as when he made a controversial statue of Jesus out of chocolate, but cheese is where his heart is. In 2019 to protest the building of a wall along the Mexican-US border Cavalerro constructed his own out of cheese nearby to show how absurd the wall was. “It sounds cheesy,” he remarked, “but just love one another.”^[4]

6 Ants

What would you do if you had 200,000 ants on your hands? Probably call an exterminator, but artist Chris Trueman decided that that was exactly what he needed to create his masterpiece. Ordering ants in batches of up to 40,000 at a time he would kill them and individually position them with tweezers to make the image he had in mind. When he was done his artwork “Self portrait with a gun” was put on sale for $35,000.

The ants would be killed by exposing them to nail polish remover but eventually even this relatively human death began to bother the artist. “It took several years, not because of the actual labour, but because at one point I started to feel bad about killing all of the ants and I stopped the project for over a year. Then I decided that the first ants would have died in vain if I didn’t finish the work so I decided to continue.” It is believed that the piece ended up being sold to Ripley’s Believe It or Not.^[5]

10 Tragic Cases Of Life Imitating Art

5 Fish heads

We tend to discourage children from playing with their food but we might be denying them a potentially lucrative source of income. For artist Anne-Catherine Becker-Echivard playing with food is at the centre of her work. Taking fish heads she crafts little scenes to place them in as if they were humans.

Her desire to play with animals, both living and dead, began in childhood when she would transfer her doll’s clothes to her pet rats. It was only when she started to train in the fish industry though that she discovered her love of severed fish heads. Her creations may not be everyone’s idea of high art but they make you smile and make you think. As the artist says:

“Take the fishes in my factories for an example, they are in uniforms. They are asexual and give a global message. That is neither the condition of women nor the condition of men. That is man, the human being, in general. The factories represent a state of conformity to the man, to the common citizen as there is so much work in the production line, ‘the modern times’. The dehumanization.”

Can fish be art? You’ll just have to mullet over for yourself.^[6]

4 Pencils

Artists have been using pencils for art for hundreds of years, so this entry surely isn’t that weird. But it is the way some modern artists are using their pencils that is strange. Instead of just drawing with them they are turning the pencils themselves into art. While some are attaching pencils together to construct large artworks others are cutting into the graphite core of the pencil to sculpt miniature masterpieces.

Salavat Fidai is just one artist making use of his very steady hands to work on a tiny scale. Using a very sharp blade to carve out the soft and brittle centre of pencils Fidai has recreated everything from world landmarks, to Game of Thrones swords, to astronauts. While the artist needs a steady hand to make them his viewers need good eyes to see them. Some of his works are less than 0.5 mm across.^[7]

3 Pennies

The face of Abraham Lincoln is one of the most recognisable in the United States. Featured on the 1 cent coin he appears in almost every handful of change. Those images of him are tiny however and Richard Schlatter decided he wanted to make a big one. Using over 24,000 pennies he created an image of Lincoln 12 feet high and 8 feet across.

Schlatter was inspired when he was counting out some pennies and noticed how they each varied in colour. Because of the difference in how they are handled pennies can appear as brilliant shiny copper or almost black, and all the hues in between. Schlatter decided to use these variations to create a portrait of Lincoln. Each year that Lincoln has been on the penny, from 1909 to 2017, was represented in at least one coin.

Overall it was not a bad outlay on the part of the artist. Using pennies worth around $245 he walked away with an art prize of $200,000.^[8]

2 Copper sulfate

In 2006 the artist Roger Hiorns took advantage of some high school chemistry to create some extraordinary art. Many students will be familiar with copper sulfate from a simple experiment where a blue crystal is dangled in a saturated solution of copper sulfate and the crystal is seen to grow over time. Hiorns took this crystal growth and applied it to a BMW engine – the copper sulfate crystals converting the metal into a glistening mass of deep blue jewels.

This was not large enough for Hiorns however. For his next work with copper sulfate he took an entire British apartment and flooded it with 90,000 litres of copper sulfate solution. Left to react for a month the artist returned and pumped the mixture out to reveal a home transformed into a cavernous blue geode. When the artwork was donated to a charity it took a great deal of effort to cut the whole apartment from its building without destroying either the art, or the neighbour’s homes.^[9]

1 Poop

There are many people with strong feelings about the effect of Facebook on society and democracy. Few people are willing to go as far as expressing their views via the medium of their own poop. Thankfully for art history KATSU, a graffiti artist, was willing to step up to the plate, or the toilet.

Using his own faeces KATSU created a more than passable likeness of Mark Zuckerburg, Facebook’s founder. KATSU apparently does not mind getting his hands dirty, though when painting with his poop he does admit to using many gloves and a face mask. But sometimes the medium an artist chooses perfectly captures their feelings towards their subject matter.

“Mark is Mark.” KATSU said. “He’s this mutation, this gross aspiration everyone idolizes… He deserves to be ridiculed… I want to let people know my beliefs.” With KATSU creating a series of poop portraits of the titans of Silicon Valley I think his beliefs are pretty clear, if not always pretty.^[10]

10 Fascinating Old-Timey Art Trends

Sampling is what you call it when a musician takes a recognizable piece of music that already exists and incorporates it into their own song. The practice dates back to the 70s and Guinness gave the credit to 1971’s “He’s Gonna Step on You Again” as the first track to sample another.  This became hugely popular in early 90s hip hop and rap. 

The music from two of the biggest hits of that era, MC Hammer’s “U Can’t Touch This” and Vanilla Ice’s “Ice Ice Baby” were sampled from Rick James’ “Superfreak” and Queen/David Bowie’s “Under Pressure,” respectively. Neither was done with permission and, as we’ll soon see, that caused problems. Sampling and ensuing lawsuits have become something of a tradition in the music industry, and it seems almost no one is immune.

10. Nicki Minaj was Sued By Tracy Chapman For Sampling a Song Despite Being Told Not To

In 2018, Nicki Minaj released a song called Sorry that sampled lyrics and music from Tracy Chapman’s “Baby Can I Hold You.” Being that this was 2018 and well after many notable copyright claims had been made against many other musicians over the years. Minaj and her team were on the right track with this one.

Minaj’s people sent a request to Chapman for permission to use her song. She refused. Minaj’s people sent another request. And then several more. Chapman didn’t budge, she just didn’t want her song to be used like that. So Nicki Minaj did what anyone in the music industry would do. She used it anyway.

Despite not having permission, she recorded the song but didn’t include it on her 2018 album. Instead, the song was “accidentally” leaked to a DJ who got it on the radio. You know how it is, you’re walking along with your copyright infringing song and you trip and it falls onto Funkmaster Flex’s social media and radio show.

Chapman sued Minaj, and the case took two years before Minaj finally offered a settlement of $450,000, which Chapman accepted.

9. Biz Markie Lost the First Major Sampling Lawsuit Ever

Biz Markie was a larger-than-life name in hip hop and if you are familiar with him already, you know what that means. If not, maybe check out a video or two when you have a moment. He was goofy and weird but he was also very likable. That said, Biz Markie was at the center of sampling’s would-be downfall.

Prior to a 1991 lawsuit against Markie, sampling had mostly flown under the radar in the legal sense. But Markie was sued for sampling Gilbert O’Sullivan’s 1972 track “Alone Again (Naturally)” in his own song “Alone Again.” 

Markie had asked O’Sullivan for permission to use the sample but was turned down. He used it and released the song anyway and that’s what came back to bite him in the butt, legally speaking. O’Sullivan sued and refused to settle like all previous cases had done, and it went before a judge.

The judge raked Markie over the coals. He had to pay O’Sullivan $250,000, the studio couldn’t release the track or the album and then referred the matter to criminal court, accusing Markie of theft. It was a massive and terrifying blow to artists but more to studios who would bear the financial burden of future claims. 

Markie never got criminally charged but tons of already recorded tracks went unreleased or removed from circulation when rights couldn’t be acquired for the samples. This was the one case that changed how sampling worked forever and it showed that original songwriters were entitled to a cut of any profits from then on. 

8. MC Hammer Never Asked Rick James to Sample Superfreak in U Can’t Touch This 

Getting back to an example from the intro, MC Hammer’s “U Can’t Touch This” was a seminal song of the 90s and introduced a lot of suburban folks to the world of rap. Kids loved the peppy track but a lot of them had no idea that the catchy music was actually from Rick James’ 1981 hit Super Freak.

MC Hammer never got permission for his blatant sampling of the song’s baseline which is the entire musical backing to his release. James sued when he heard it and the case was settled out of course not just for money but for a songwriting credit. The result of that was James actually won a Grammy for “U Can’t Touch This”, the only one of his career, in 1991. 

As a co-writer, James was also entitled to profits from the song and it’s a safe bet he’s made a bundle from the royalties.

7. Vanilla Ice Settled With Queen and David Bowie for Sampling Under Pressure

Our other intro example is a little more famous and also more complicated. Vanilla Ice, also known as Rob Van Winkle, released his most famous track “Ice Ice Baby” in 1990. The bass line from the song was the famous bass line from Queen and David Bowie’s collaboration “Under Pressure.” Van Winkle infamously and embarrassingly tried to deny this, on camera, by demonstrating a difference between the two bass lines in a way that showed they were exactly the same. 

Ice went on to claim it was a joke but he was nonetheless sued by Bowie and Brian May from Queen. He ended up settling with them and, according to Van Winkle, he paid them $4 million as a result. But the story doesn’t end there.

In later years, Van Winkle claimed that he had actually bought the rights to the song “Under Pressure” because it was cheaper than paying out royalties to Queen and Bowie’s estate. That seems like it should wrap things up but Brian May later responded that this is not true either and that an “arrangement was made” that allows them to share the song. 

6. Chuck Berry Sued the Beach Boys for Surfin’ USA

Sometimes good intentions backfire and that’s what Brian Wilson learned when he wrote “Surfin’ USA.” The song was perhaps meant as a kind of tribute or homage to Chuck Berry and his song “Sweet Little Sixteen” which Wilson really liked. So, while not acknowledging it was wrong, he admitted to taking the music Berry had written and turning it into his own song.

Chuck Berry heard the song and didn’t take kindly to the obvious rip off, though word is he liked the song. His label contacted the Beach Boys and their manager, who was Brian Wilson’s father, handed over the rights to the song. 

In a devastating twist for the Beach Boys, not only did they get no royalties from the song,they didn’t know they were getting no royalties. It was 25 years before they realized they didn’t own the track and that Chuck Berry was credited as the writer.

5. Mr. Rogers Sued Ice Cube for Sampling His Theme Song

Imagine how terrible it must feel to get sued by Mr. Rogers. If you can’t imagine, try asking Ice Cube because it happened to him. 

The song in question was “A Gangsta’s Fairytale,” released on Cube’s first solo album back in 1990. The original intro to the song sampled the theme music to the Mr. Rogers TV show. As Cube himself put it, “It’s a wonderful day in the neighborhood and all that.” Apparently Rogers ended up getting a nickel per record until the song was edited and that part was cut out.

Cube spoke about the lawsuit previously, mentioning that they asked for permission and got denied and still had to pay because they say his name at some point. 

4. Run DMC Sampled a My Sharona Riff and Got Sued by The Knack 20 Years Later

Run-DMC is hip hop royalty at this point, having paved the way for many acts that followed after their debut back in 1983. Among their many hits is the track “It’s Tricky” off of their third studio album, released in 1987. The song sampled the song “My Sharona” by the Knack, which was released in 1979 and became the band’s biggest hit.

Despite being released in 1987, the band The Knack had nothing to say about the sample for nearly 20 years.Them in 2006, they decided to sue Run-DMC for copyright infringement claiming they hadn’t heard of the song until 2005 and apparently no one pointed it out to them. They also sued iTunes and Napster and anyone else distributing the song. The case was settled in 2009.

3. Diddy Has to Pay Sting For His Massive Sampling of I’ll Be Watching You

After the death of the Notorious B.I.G in 1997, Diddy released a memorial track called “I’ll be Missing You.” That track unmistakably samples “Every Breath You Take” by the Police, the rights to which are owned by Sting. Despite being one of the most famous producers in the world at the time, Diddy didn’t think to seek permission before doing so.

Sting later claimed in an interview that Elton John first heard the song on the radio and called him and told him he was about to be a millionaire. For his part, Sting said he was getting a check from Diddy for $2,000 a day for the song. Diddy later clarified it was $5,000 per day. Then went on to say that was all a joke. Whatever the fine details are, it’s safe to say Sting made a lot of money off of the song. 

2. The Hollies Sued Radiohead Who Later Sued Lana Del Rey, All for the Same Song

Proving that no band is above sampling without asking, Radiohead was sued by the band The Hollies for lifting some of their music in Radiohead’s popular song “Creep”. In the 90s, Albert Hammond and Mike Hazelwood approached Radiohead about the similarities between “The Air That I Breathe” and “Creep.” Both men ended up with a writing credit on “Creep” after a settlement was reached, giving them a share of royalties and the matter seemed settled.

Jump ahead to 2018 and Radiohead threatened to sue Lana Del Rey for her song “Get Free” which they feel ripped off “Creep.” Del Rey said on social media she didn’t consciously rip anything off but she offered 40% of the publishing rights but the band insisted on 100%, meaning they would get any money made off of the song and Del Rey gets nothing. Keep in mind, this is a song they acknowledged stealing from another band already, though they never explicitly had to admit to that.

The case was eventually settled though it’s unclear if Radiohead are now considered writers of Del Rey’s song, or if it’s the Hollies, or her alone. 

1. Too Much Joy Got Sued by Bozo the Clown for Sampling Him

No sampling lawsuit has ever come close to achieving the feat performed by a band called Too Much Joy. They didn’t get sued by another singer or band for stealing a track, they got sued by Bozo the Clown. 

Bozo was a TV clown, for those who only know the name. He was created in 1946 and was played by a number of different performers over the years including NBC weatherman Willard Scott. So he’s more of a character than a specific person in the makeup. 

Too Much Joy sampled a clip from Bozo, not a song, just him saying “And then I found something in one of my pockets. It was about as big as your shoe, but it was shaped like a rocket.” We can only guess at the context of Bozo saying that, but the band was using it for comedic value and Bozo didn’t take kindly to it.

The band got a cease and desist from Larry Harmon, who owns the rights to Bozo. They were ordered to stop pressing the album or face a lawsuit. The band was actually not going to release any more of the album anyway so they agreed and later found out that Bozo got $200 from the studio.

The paintings of the old masters are more than just pretty portraits. A closer look has revealed hidden codes, fascinating bloopers, and original designs that the world has never seen.

From a unique sketch that escaped Michelangelo’s pyromania to numbers in the Mona Lisa’s eyes, here are 10 rare finds involving well-known painters.

10 Amazing Artistic Works Lost To History

10 The Grasshopper On Van Gogh’s Brush

Vincent Van Gogh painted “Olive Trees” in 1889. Countless people have seen the painting since but it took a surgical microscope to spot the grasshopper. The artist did not hide a drawing of a bug between the trees. The grasshopper was real and stuck in the paint for 128 years.

In 2017, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Missouri examined the painting. A conservator was looking at the artist’s trademark thick paint through a microscope when she noticed a strange object. At first, she thought it was the outline of a leaf. But a closer look revealed that it was a tiny grasshopper.

The creature did not land on the painting. Apparently, the famous Dutch painter did not realize that the insect was on his paintbrush and smushed it onto the canvas. There is no sign that the grasshopper struggled so either the smush killed the creature or it was already dead.^[1]

9 A Master’s Fingerprint

Pieter de Hooch is not a household name like Michelangelo or Vermeer. But like Vermeer, de Hooch was also a Dutch Old Master. When conservators recently cleaned his work from the 1650s, they discovered three fascinating things.

De Hooch apparently picked up and moved a painting called “Cardplayers in a Sunlit Room” while it was still wet. One of his fingers, possibly his thumb, left a print on the tiled floor of the painted scene. De Hooch must have noticed the paint on his finger so why did he allow the blemish to stay?

He liked to leave personal marks on his work. One of the other discoveries proved this when conservators examined “Woman Weighing Gold and Silver Coins” and found the painter’s name hidden on a window frame.

The third finding was a fleet of ghost ships. Alas, this was not de Hooch having a lark. He re-used the canvas to paint “A Dutch Courtyard.” The original canvas had ships that were never entirely erased. As a result, their faintly-visible masts now float through the sky in the upper left-hand corner.^[2]

8 Hidden Details Of A Vermeer

Around 1665, Dutch master Johannes Vermeer painted the “Girl With a Pearl Earring.” The painting became world-famous and inspired curiosity and mystery. Who was the girl? Why did Vermeer forget to give her eyelashes?

In 2020, an analysis of the painting solved the eyelash question. The painter never forgot. The eyelashes were there but too faded to see. The examination revealed other surprising details. Vermeer had originally painted a curtain in the background. Then, for some reason, he covered the green curtain with a dark, detail-less void.

Another unexpected find was the amount of blue paint that Vermeer had used. Modern artists can splurge on all shades of blue, no problem. But back in the day, blue pigment came from a semiprecious stone called lapis lazuli. Called aquamarine, the pigment was worth more than gold and the Dutch master used a fortune’s worth to paint the girl’s headscarf.^[3]

7 Mysterious Vandalism Finally Solved

Edvard Munch’s “The Scream” is one of the most iconic paintings in the world. In 1904, an art critic examined the painting and was aghast to discover that the top-left corner had been vandalized. The guilty person was clearly not a fan. He had written in pencil, “Could only have been painted by a madman!”

In 2021, experts identified the vandal. It was Munch himself. Infrared technology made the sentence clear enough to compare it to known samples of the Norwegian’s artist’s handwriting.

No one knows why he did it. But Munch was worried about mental illness. Several members of his family members suffered from such troubles and when “The Scream” was shown in his native Norway for the first time, some people questioned his sanity.

The artist could have been influenced by the criticism. At one point, he probably thought he was mad and he scribbled the message on the painting.^[4]

6 The Da Vinci Study

Artists often draw a sketch to prepare themselves for their real artwork—usually a painting. This sketch is called a “study.” Leonardo da Vinci was no different.

In 2020, an Italian scholar dropped a bomb. He claimed to have identified a new study by da Vinci. Tests confirmed that the paper dated to the early 16th century, a time when the Italian master was alive. The drawing also showed da Vinci’s techniques.

While not everyone agrees that he drew the study, the experts that are convinced believe two things. First, the sketch was likely a study for a painting called “Salvator Mundi.” Those familiar with the name might remember a portrait of Christ that sold at Christie’s for $450 million.

Secondly, they believe that the painting sold at Christie’s was not the real Salvator Mundi. The old master might have helped or it came from his studio but the work was not 100 percent da Vinci. According to them, the sketch shows the real face of da Vinci’s yet-to-be-discovered Salvator Mundi.^[5]

5 Painter Protected Her Art With Hidden Signatures

Artemisia Gentileschi was the daughter of an Italian painter. By the time she was 15, her own art was already at a professional level. But as a woman in the 17th century, her work was often dismissed as that of her father’s or other male painters.

Artemisia Gentileschi persevered. She was the first female accepted into the Academy of Arts and Drawing in Florence. Both royalty and the powerful Medici family commissioned her paintings. She even befriended Galileo.

Despite her success, Artemisia knew that her work might be attributed to men in the future (which happened on several occasions). So she hid a secret in one of her paintings. A magnificent painting called “David and Goliath” surfaced in 1975 and experts decided the artist was a guy called Giovanni Francesco Guerrieri.

But in 2020, Artemisia was identified as the true creator of the work. The now-famous Baroque artist had hidden her name on the hilt of David’s sword, a fact that was discovered during restoration.^[6]

4 The Other Salvator Mundi Artist

By now, anyone familiar with the painting “Salvator Mundi” knows that the painter is not 100 percent agreed upon by the art community. In recent years, two studies tried to clear the water. But instead, there were more questions. One project found that the artwork had a different original design while the other found signs that more than one artist was involved.

The well-respected Louvre museum examined the portrait and determined that Leonardo da Vinci was the painter but that he had never meant to paint Christ’s arms. But then, for some reason, the hand with the famous globe and the other hand, raised in blessing, were added at a much later stage.

The second study was performed by scientists who had nothing to do with the Louvre and they were also unaware of the museum’s findings. They used a computer program that was designed to separate original art from forgeries by analysing the painter’s techniques. The computer agreed with the Louvre. The head and torso were classic “Leonardo.” But the program flagged both arms as the work of someone else.^[7]

3 Codes Inside The Mona Lisa’s Eyes

]
The Mona Lisa is among the most studied paintings in the world. But despite all the attention, a major mystery remained undetected until 2010. When Leonardo da Vinci painted his masterpiece, he added hidden codes to the mysterious woman’s eyes.

In the left eye, there was something that resembled B or CE. The right eye’s letters were more clear—LV. Although the meaning is unclear, LV could stand for da Vinci’s own name. But these were not the only oddities found at the time. On the arch of the bridge in the background is the number 72 (the mark could also be L and 2).

The numbers and letters are invisible to the naked eye. The painting’s age plays a role but da Vinci made the numbers tiny on purpose. So tiny, in fact, that they were only discovered because of high-resolution microscopic photography. The purpose of these hidden codes remains unknown.^[8]

2 A Childhood Michelangelo

The Renaissance master Michelangelo died in 1564. A couple of days before he died, the painter burnt most of his drawings in two bonfires. This was enough to make experts scream but Michelangelo was also a perfectionist—an obsession that made him destroy all his earlier art. Apparently, he did not want people to see his work as a novice.

Despite his scorched earth habits, Michelangelo might have missed one piece. In 2019, a private collector had a sketch assessed to find the artist when a Michaelangelo expert recognized the master’s work. Even more remarkable, the sketch was made sometime between 1487 and 1490. This means that Michelangelo was 12 or 13 years old.

“The Seated Man” had been drawn with two types of brown ink—a trademark of Michelangelo. The artist also drew faces using certain techniques. These were found in “The Seated Man.” If this is indeed the work of the Renaissance master, he need not have worried. The sketch shows a sophistication that would turn most 12-year-old artists green with envy.^[9]

1 The Mona Lisa 3-D Set

For years, another “Mona Lisa” languished in a museum in Spain. She was viewed as an insignificant copy of the real thing and neglected. That changed in 2012 when scientists noticed the portrait closely resembled the original. This was not a cheap knockoff. It was the work of Leonardo da Vinci or one of his students.

The paintings were not identical and one difference could add a remarkable chapter to the story of the Mona Lisa. When viewed side-by-side, the painter’s perspective was not the same. Da Vinci had painted the famous Mona Lisa while the woman sat directly in front of him. The other painter stood closer to her and a little more to da Vinci’s left.

Experts believe that da Vinci created the Mona Lisas as a stereoscopic pair. Stereoscopy involves two 2-D images that create a 3-D illusion when viewed with both eyes. Interestingly, the perspective difference between the two Mona Lisas was 2.7 inches (69 millimetres) which is the average distance between a person’s eyes.

The art world has not unanimously embraced the idea but once confirmed, the Mona Lisa could be recognised as one half of the world’s oldest 3-D art.^[10]

10 Fascinating Old-Timey Art Trends

Many writers and artists had cats and dogs, and sometimes used them as inspiration for their stories or their paintings. The poet Emily Dickinson owned Carlo, a large dog that she took with her on long walks and that she mentions in a few poems and letters. The Argentinean writer Jorge Luis Borges had as a companion for 15 years a white cat, Beppo, to whom he dedicated at least two poems. The painter Edward Munch, creator of “The Scream”, had a dog that became so inseparable from him that he took him even to the movies. But other artists had a bit more unusual pets. Here there’s a list with some of the more exotic ones.

10 Heartwarming Stories Of Pets Who Survived Natural Disasters (Videos)

10 Frida Kahlo’s deer, Granizo

Frida Kahlo loved all kind of animals and had several unusual pets. In her famous “Blue House” in Mexico where she lived and worked, the famous painter kept several monkeys, cockatoos, parrots and an exotic dog of the Xoloitzcuintli breed — hairless dogs that, it is believed, were first domesticated by the Aztecs. Of the 143 paintings by Frida Kahlo, 55 are self-portraits that include at least one of her animals. But one of her most beloved pets was the deer Granizo (Hail), which posed with her in many photographs, used to sleep with her, and served as inspiration and model for one of her most famous paintings, “Wounded Deer” (1946), where she portrays herself as a deer with a human face.

9 Ernest Hemingway’s Six-Toed Cat, Snowball (or Snow White)

Not many people would think of Ernest Hemingway as a cat-person, but he loved cats and owned several of them during his life. When he lived in Key West, Florida, he received as a gift from a captain’s ship a cat that he named Snowball (or, according to other accounts, Snow White). The unusual thing was that the cat had six toes on each paw, because he suffered from a congenital anomaly called polydactyly. Today, several of Hemingway cat’s descendants, about half of them also polydactyl cats, live in his former house that was transformed into the Hemingway House-Museum.

8 Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s Wombat, Top

The writer and painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti, perhaps the most famous member of the “Pre-Raphaelite” group in the 19th century, loved exotic animals. He was especially fascinated by wombats, those rare Australian marsupials. He adopted one that he named Top and let him sleep on the table during meals, to the horror and chagrin of his guests. When the pet died, he cried and wrote him an epitaph in verse. He also immortalized him in at least two drawings. Rossetti’s growing interest in exotic animals over the years culminated in the adoption of a llama and a toucan that he brought from South America. According to legends, he trained the toucan to ride on the llama with a gaucho hat and to gallop around the dining room table.

7 Charles Dickens’ Raven, Grip

The English writer Charles Dickens had a beloved pet raven called Grip, which he even used as a character in one of his novels, Barnaby Rudge (Edgar Allan Poe, who later reviewed Dickens’ novel, might have been inspired by it to write his poem “The Raven”). Dickens, who was fascinated by taxidermy, preserved his raven after its death, and kept the stuffed bird on his desk as a source of inspiration. After the death of Dickens, the stuffed Grip was sold at an auction, and eventually bought by an American collector. Today it can be seen in a museum in Philadelphia.

6 Lord Byron’s Tame Bear

Lord Byron most famous pet was likely his dog Boatswain, who followed him in several adventures and to which he composed an epitaph in verse. But he also had many other pets during his life, including a tame bear. The story goes that Trinity College, in Cambridge, where he studied from 1805 to 1808, did not allow dogs to be kept on the college grounds. Angry at the rules, Byron reportedly bought a tame bear at a fair, and took him to live at the college with him. Since there was no mention of pet bears in the statutes, the college authorities had no legal right to expel the bear or its owner. Byron walked the bear on a chain and treated it like a dog, and when he left Cambridge he took the bear to his estate in London.

10 Bizarre Ways People Have Been Killed By Pets

5 Flannery O’Connor’s Backward-Walking Chicken

Before becoming famous as the author of “A Good Man is Hard to Find” and other brilliant short stories, Flannery O’Connor was briefly famous as a 5 year old child, but for owning a chicken that could walk backwards. The animal and the young future author were recorded in a Pathé newsreel in 1932, a film that can still be seen today. Her fascination with fowl continued throughout her whole life. Besides chicken, which she used to dress in clothes she made herself, Flannery owned several beloved peacocks (her favourite animals), and reportedly also a toucan and an emu.

4 Charles Baudelaire’s Bat

Charles Baudelaire, the famous French author of Les Fleurs du Mal, lived at the Hotel du Grand Miroir in Brussels from 1864 to 1866. One day as he was walking in the hotel courtyard, a bat fell to his feet. Worried that it might be ill, he picked it up with a handkerchief and took care of the animal as he recovered, feeding him with bread and milk. The bat slept upside down in an empty cage that had before housed a canary, and Baudelaire enjoyed caressing it, to the horror of his young maid, Nelly. When the animal was fully recovered, Baudelaire promised to release it back to the crevices of Sainte-Anne chapel across the street, where it seemed to have resided before.

3 Alexandre Dumas’ Vulture, Diogène (previously Jugurtha)

Alexandre Dumas (father), the author of The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte-Cristo, was another writer who enjoyed having exotic animals. In his country estate, besides five dogs and a cat, he also kept three monkeys, two parrots, a golden pheasant and a vulture. He purchased the vulture at a cheap price from a local in Constantine, Algeria, but bringing him to France cost him quite a bit more. He named the bird Jugurtha, in homage to the ancient emperor of Numidia who was born in the same city (called Cirta at that time). However, when at the writer’s house, the vulture took an empty barrel as his preferred residence, and so it was renamed Diogenes, in homage to the Greek philosopher who reportedly lived inside a barrel as well.

2 Henrik Ibsen’s Scorpion

In 1865, the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen was still unknown and was living in Rome, surviving on a meagre scholarship. There he started to write “Brand”, the first play that would make him famous. As he wrote the play, he found a scorpion crawling on the floor, and decided to keep him at his desk as he wrote, inside an empty beer glass. As he later told it in a letter to a friend, “During the time I was writing Brand I had on my desk a glass with a scorpion in it. From time to time the little animal was ill. Then I used to give it a piece of soft fruit, upon which it fell furiously and emptied its poison into it —after which it was well again”. Of course, it could be that the animal was simply enraged at his fruit diet, as scorpions are predators who normally prefer to eat insects.

1 Princess Vilma Lwoff-Parlaghy’s Lion, Goldfleck

Almost forgotten today, Princess Vilma Lwof-Parlaghy was quite famous as a painter in the late 19th and early 20th century. Perhaps her most famous painting is her 1916 portrait of Nikola Tesla, the only portrait for which the inventor posed during his life. Born in Hungary, Vilma lived in several cities including Paris and Prague, where she married and quickly divorced a Russian prince, earning her Princess title, then she relocated to New York in 1909, taking residence at the Plaza Hotel. She loved animals and once took a fancy at a lion cub that she saw at a circus. When the circus owner refused to sell her the cub, she asked her friend and Civil War hero Daniel E. Sickles to get it for her. The circus owner could not refuse to give the cub to a war hero, and he then gave it to the Princess. She called him Goldfleck and lived with him and several other animals at her suite at the hotel. She occasionally took him for walks on a leash in Central Park. The animal unfortunately didn’t live long, becoming ill just two years later and dying in 1912. He is the only lion interred at Hartsdale Pet Cemetery.

Top 10 Exotic Pets That Killed Their Owners

About The Author: Tomas Creus is the editor of Contrarium and the author of the book “Our Pets and Us: The Evolution of a Relationship”.

So often, what’s considered good and bad in art can be dictated by a very small group of people working within very narrow parameters. That’s why outsider art is such an important thing, then. It allows for mediums to grow beyond these constrictions, usually with no fear of being rejected, as so many of the figures that fall under this banner separate themselves from the rest of the world, choosing to work on their own terms instead.

However, this can lead to some of the purest and most honest works you’re ever likely to see. With the quality of these ranging from high to low, the creativity that’s on display is never up for debate. So, let’s take a look at ten of the best outsider artists today, starting with…

Related: 10 Artists With Insanely Unique Art Forms

10 Chris Sievey (1955–2010)

Manchester-born musician Chris Sievey’s career started off fairly normal as, like so many others in working-class 1980s England, he would get heavily involved in the punk scene. From this influence, he would form his own band, The Freshies, around this time.

That said, his real breakout as an artist wouldn’t happen until he created a superfan character for the group named Frank Sidebottom. The purported man-child had an oversized papier-mâché skull for a head and spoke in a distinct nasally voice.

Pretty quickly after this, Frank would catch on so much that he took over Sievey’s life entirely, with the character launching his own music career. From there, Frank would often sing the praises of his native Timperley in purposely awful tunes, all while simultaneously hosting a chat show live from his garden shed. He also featured as a regular on the Manchester club circuit, where his naïve comedy stylings often brought the house down.

But while his creator would eventually tire of Frank’s overwhelming presence and retire him for a period starting in 1995, he would remain popular enough to inspire the 2014 movie Being Frank, starring Michael Fassbender as a character loosely inspired by the cult figure himself.^[1]

9 Adolf Wölfli (1864–1930)

Swiss artist Adolf Wölfli was actually one of the first to ever be given the label of outsider artist and so, in many ways, is a grandfather of sorts to the entire movement. And his body of work would span drawings, music, and literature. His art would see him create highly intricate pieces that acted as a visual reflection of his own psychosis, something which had developed after a childhood of both physical and sexual abuse.

Not only was this artwork—much of which was drawn in pencil—extremely impressive given his untrained status, though. It would also include idiosyncratic musical notation buried within it, with this allowing for it to be recorded by notable figures in the industry such as Terry Riley and Graeme Revell in the years following Wölfli’s death.

And as if that wasn’t enough, Wölfli would also begin writing his own self autobiographical novel in 1908, an epic that eventually stretched across 45 volumes and included 25,000 pages and 1600 illustrations.^[2]

8 Florence Foster Jenkins (1868–1944)

Florence Foster Jenkins will probably be one of the more well-known entries on this list, primarily because of the Meryl Streep biopic made about her in 2016. For those who haven’t seen that, though, she was, in short, one of the worst operatic singers of her time. However, she was one who, given her socialite status, was able to afford to put on grand shows at the likes of Carnegie Hall anyway.

But while many came to listen to her ironically, often laughing at the poor performance she was giving, this didn’t seem to bother Florence at all. Instead, when asked about this, she would famously reply, “People may say I can’t sing, but no one can ever say I didn’t sing.”

And sing she did, all the way to the top as it so happened. She proved that you don’t need to have the most talent to succeed, just the most passion and persistence, something which our next entrant learned a lot from too.^[3]

7 Tommy Wiseau

If you’re aware of Tommy Wiseau, then it’s likely due to his 2003 cult classic The Room, a film that’s often labeled amongst the worst ever made. And while it is undoubtedly bad, with every decision from a direction and production perspective seeming to be the wrong one, it remains fascinating entertaining regardless, partially because of how sincere it feels.

Yes, everything Tommy does is, for better or worse, one hundred percent his. And this has allowed fans a rare glimpse into his psyche as, outside of his movie work, very little is actually known about him, with his age, country of origin, and source of his seemingly bottomless fortune still remaining unclear to this day.

Hopefully then, fans will get a new insight into the notoriously strange figure when his upcoming new movie Big Shark is released. So whether he’s accepted by the Hollywood system or not, he remains one of the most beloved filmmakers around right now because, regardless of the quality, you can feel the love in every frame.^[4]

6 Henry Darger (1892–1973)

Growing up in Chicago at the beginning of the 20th century, Henry Darger would, as a result of early bad behavior, spend time in an asylum, something which no doubt helped to shape his later reclusive attitude.

Today though, he’s best known for being the author of In the Realms of the Unreal, a 15,145-page work filled with his own writings and illustrations, the most memorable of which is “The Story of the Vivian Girls.” This tale features an elaborate mythology and sees Darger himself appear as the titular children’s protector.

None of this would be shown to the world during his lifetime, however. No, it wouldn’t be until after he’d died that his magnum opus would come to light. And many, after reading it and seeing the subsequent illustrations, questioned whether or not Henry showed pedophilic tendencies, something which may have contributed to him being such an outcast in life.^[5]

5 Wesley Willis (1963–2003)

Diagnosed with schizophrenia while in his thirties, Wesley Willis was able to channel his suffering into some of the most bizarre music ever recorded. With a spoken-word punk rock style, he performed passionately over the same basic Technics keyboard beats, using absurd and often obscene lyrics to get his message across.

And this reason for doing this was, in his mind, so he could keep the demons at bay. This was something he seemed able to achieve for a little while, at least with songs such as “Whip the Llama’s Ass,” “Casper the Homosexual Friendly Ghost,” and “Rock ‘n’ Roll McDonalds.”

These hits, among others, would eventually find Wesley a cult following. in fact, the oddness of his work struck a chord with the ’90s generation, turning him into a hero for the disaffected everywhere.^[6]

4 Vivian Maier (1926–2009)

Vivian Maier is another outsider artist whose work came perilously close to never reaching the public at all.

In life, she’d spend 40 years working as a nanny while, unbeknown to the rest of the world, she was building up a portfolio of impressive photography at the same time. Her dedication saw her snap more than 150,000 shots, most of which focused on the people and the architecture of Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles.

Seemingly having no interest in seeking accolades or recognition, however, her photographs would go unpublished during her lifetime. Surprisingly, many of her negatives were never even developed at all.

But all that would change when, after her death in 2009, her photos were discovered by a group of art collectors. They subsequently shared them online, resulting in her becoming a viral sensation and receiving much posthumous critical acclaim for the stark and uncompromising humanity of her work.^[7]

3 Joe Gould (1889–1957)

As with so many other outsider artists, Joe Gould, also known as Professor Seagull, refused to ever take the easy path. Despite growing up in an upper-middle-class family and attending Harvard University, in fact, he would spend adulthood enduring repeated periods of homelessness. Apparently, this was something brought on by his lifelong struggles with mental health that saw him dip in and out of psychiatric hospitals and struggle to hold down a job.

Still, he remained friendly with many other heavyweights of the literary scene at the time, such as E.E. Cummings and Malcolm Cowley. These friends encouraged him as he set about creating what he believed to be his masterwork, An Oral History of Our Time. This would allegedly be the longest book ever written and one which would aim to tell the life stories, word for word, of everyone he had known across his life.

Unfortunately, the book would never end up being published, so it’s unknown if he achieved this lofty goal, but those few who saw extracts did attest to its gigantic length. Ezra Pound even once claimed that a mere fragment he got to read came in at around 40,000 words in length.^[8]

2 James Hampton (1909–1964)

Like others on this list, James Hampton lived somewhat of a secret double life. By day he was a janitor. But at night, he was quietly creating a huge work of religious art that he would later name The Throne of the Third Heaven of the Nations’ Millennium General Assembly.

It all started in 1950 when he rented out a garage in northwest Washington. From there, he spent the next 14 years using only scavenged materials such as aluminum, gold foil, old furniture, and cardboard, creating an intricate piece that included a seven-foot-tall throne, dozens of altars, and numerous crowns, lecterns, tablets, and pulpits.

In his writings, Hampton himself would describe this as a monument to Jesus Christ. He’d decided to build the enormous art piece after having been visited by God, Moses, the Virgin Mary, and Adam on multiple occasions. Sadly though, none of this would be discovered until after his death. After he’d passed away from stomach cancer, the owner of the garage unlocked the garage to clear it out, discovering the masterwork. It has since been placed on display at the Smithsonian.^[9]

1 Daniel Johnston (1961–2019)

To his fans, listening to Daniel Johnston’s music can be a quasi-religious experience. There’s something so pure about it, in fact, that it can often draw you right back into your childhood, where everything once seemed so simple and peaceful.

As for Daniel himself, though, he had no such peace as he’d spend his life struggling with bipolar disorder/ This caused him to cycle through numerous psychiatric institutions throughout his adult life.

But what makes him so special is the way he was able to take this pain and turn it into some of the most heartfelt music ever recorded. Sure, it was usually done on 8-track tapes with instrumentation provided by a Casio keyboard. However, even with these limitations in place, if you listen to songs such as “Just Like a Widow,” “The Story of an Artist,” or “Walking the Cow,” you can hear all the same brilliance that was there in the likes of The Beatles and Elvis Presley before him.

In some ways, even more so because, with his childlike production and lyrics, Daniel Johnston was able to evoke a sincerity that could only be achieved in outsider art. And this sincerity will see him still remain beloved to audiences years after his death.^[10]

Posthumous albums are one of pop culture’s most enduring mysteries. With the artist gone but not forgotten, we’ll never know whether these packages are something that they would’ve approved, whether they’re something they planned, or whether they’re cynically cribbed together by faceless record execs. The mystery leaves these albums with a mixed legacy, but sometimes, it’s just nice to hear the voices of the departed one more time.

However, one thing is certain: there is always a demand for them.

Related: 10 Eerie Quotes From Musicians Who Died Before 30

10 Lioness: Hidden Treasures (2011)–Amy Winehouse

For fans, there’s a pain to seeing their favorite stars deteriorate. It wasn’t long after she became an international star with her mainstream breakthrough album Back to Black that Amy Winehouse’s struggles with addiction became tabloid fodder. Fans hoped that new material from her would turn her public image back toward that of a talented musician and away from being a public spectacle. But those hopes were dashed when producer Mark Ronson admitted in 2008 that she simply wasn’t in any state to record new music. Also, sessions for a theme song for the Bond film Quantum of Solace had been abandoned without Winehouse recording her vocals.

But when stars pass, fans seem to be able to remember the best version of them. The version of Winehouse, who heartbreakingly deteriorated before our eyes, was gone and replaced by a sad-eyed chanteuse with show-stopping talent. So, of course, an album followed. Happily, the album was compiled by producers who worked with her, Ronson and Salaam Remi, and her family. But sadly, due to her inability to record before she passed, the tracks mostly came from sessions that predated her debut, Frank, when she was still finding her feet as a musician. As an album, it lacked the flair of Back to Black, making that gem, sadly, her sole hit album.^[1]

9 Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk (1998)–Jeff Buckley

Listening to Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk, one has to make peace with the fact that we know categorically that Jeff Buckley did not want these songs to see the light of day. The recording process for the album, intended as a follow-up to 1994’s cult hit Grace, was torturous, and Buckley discarded the recordings, planning to start over.

A handful of tracks was all he had produced when he died a death as beguiling and poetic as his songs. Buckley had decided to take a dip in Mississippi’s Wolf River, wearing Doc Martens, reportedly while singing Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love.” Unfortunately, he was caught in the wake of a passing river barge and disappeared.

His estate passed to his mother, who did what she could to preserve his wishes when she learned that Sony intended to release the songs from the initial recording sessions that Buckley had scrapped. The compromise she reached with the corporate giants was a second disc that included those demos from just before his passing. It wasn’t a great compromise, but I think the world is richer for having one more Jeff Buckley album in it. Even if it must be regarded more as a document of his creative processes than as an artistic statement. More diary than autobiography.^[2]

8 An American Prayer (1978)–The Doors

Believe it or not, The Doors released three albums after Jim Morisson passed away. But only one of them featured the late lead singer. The 1978 album An American Prayer was made up of recordings of Jim Morisson reading his poetry, set to music by the band.

Reviews were mixed, with many speculating on whether Morrison would’ve approved of the project. Longtime Doors producer Paul Rothschild called it the rape of Jim Morrison and likened it to “taking a Picasso and cutting it into postage-stamp-sized pieces and spreading it across a Supermarket wall.” While John Haeny, the engineer who made the original recordings with Morrison, said that “I want people to understand that this album was made by those people who were closest to Jim, both personally and artistically. Everyone had the best intentions.” He believed Morrison would be pleased and would have “understood our motivation and appreciated our dedication and heartfelt handling of his work.”^[3]

7 Made in Heaven (1995)–Queen

At least with Made in Heaven, we know that Freddy Mercury actively wanted a posthumous album to be made. Knowing that his demise was imminent, Freddy Mercury recorded as much as possible. Brian May said at the time that after discussing what was going to happen, they knew the band was on borrowed time. They recorded as often as Mercury felt well enough, adding, “We basically lived in the studio for a while, and when he would call and say, ‘I can come in for a few hours,’ our plan was to just make as much use of him as we could.” Mercury told the band he would sing whatever they gave him, finishing with “I will leave you as much as I possibly can.”

Producer David Richards noted that Mercury usually waited for songs to be completed before adding final vocals, but he knew he would not get that chance here. Unfortunately, the band still found that they had less than an album’s worth of material to work with, so they turned to old demos and vocals from Mercury’s solo albums. Made in Heaven came out something of a bittersweet patchwork of an album.^[4]

6 Michael (2010) and Xscape (2014)–Michael Jackson

Given Michael Jackson’s reclusiveness and retreat from the music scene before his death, a follow-up to his last album, 2001’s Invincible, seemed a distant possibility. However, almost immediately after his death, Jackson’s estate signed a $250 million deal with Epic Records to release ten “lost” Michael Jackson albums. Hence: 2010’s Michael. Michael was marred, however, by allegations from Jackson’s family, fans, and producer Will.i.am. that three of the songs did not involve Michael Jackson at all. Instead, claiming they featured the voice of impersonator Jason Malachi. Malachi even admitted as such on Facebook; but retracted that statement on Myspace, claiming that his Facebook page had been hacked.

The matter came to a head with a class-action lawsuit against Sony Music. The record label argued that the first amendment gave them the right to attribute songs to an artist, even when that attribution was not accurate.

After that, it’s no wonder that only one other “lost” Michael Jackson album has surfaced. In 2014, Xscape played it safe, featuring only eight tracks, each of which had well-documented provenance, each having been recorded for a previous album but not making the cut.^[5]

5 Toy (2021)–David Bowie

The one possible silver lining to Bowie’s death in 2016 was seeing the global collective outpouring of grief. I am a massive Bowie fan, but I would’ve thought that his passing would’ve gone down as just another celebrity death in the media—simply forgotten in a day. But instead, the collective mourning was a mass expression of global unity.

The album he’d released two days before his death, Blackstar, had reached number one in 27 countries, so whoever was in charge of these things would’ve been tempted to go back to that well as soon as possible. EPs, box sets, and live albums came thick and fast, but a full-length unreleased album took five years. Toy was recorded in 2001 and had leaked onto the Internet in 2011, so fans were already intimately familiar with it. But still, it was nice to hear it sumptuously remastered and lovingly packaged by producer Tony Visconti and the other musicians who worked on it.

Though it remains a mystery why it wasn’t released back in 2001. Bowie blamed a record label stoush, but why it wasn’t released after that was resolved remains unanswered.^[6]

4 Tupac’s Numerous Posthumous Releases

Specifically, these include The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory (1996), R U Still Down? (Remember Me) (1997), Still I Rise (1999), Until the End of Time (2001), Better Dayz (2002), Loyal to the Game (2004), and Pac’s Life (2006).

With a discography that features seven posthumous albums vs. five regular ones, Tupac Shakur must have some sort of record. The Don Killuminati was recorded a month before his death and released two months after, while Pac’s Life was timed to coincide with the tenth anniversary of his death. The decade in between saw so many new releases that they fueled conspiracy theories that Tupac was still alive.

The explanation was a little more mundane… Tupac was a workaholic. Anecdotes about his work ethic are famous. The Don Killuminati was Tupac’s second album of 1996, and he also acted in three films that year. Labelmate Snoop Dogg said that Pac was laying down tracks at a rate of one every twenty minutes or so, adding ominously, “To me, it was like, why is he working so fast and so hard and trying to finish these records up? He had to know [he would die soon].”^[7]

3 Milk and Honey (1984)–John Lennon and Yoko Ono

Completing Milk and Honey was a passion project by Yoko Ono. And unlike the other albums on this list, it did not intend to create the illusion that Lennon was still around making music. Designed as a follow-up to the pair’s previous album, 1980’s Double Fantasy, the project was shelved after Lennon’s death, and it wasn’t until 1983 that Yoko was able to resume working on it.

The album alternates between songs by Lennon and songs by Ono. Hers are polished, commercial, and contemporary, while Lennon’s are casual and a bit rough, preserved just as he left them. A testament to his absence.^[8]

2 Brainwashed (2002)–George Harrison

Brainwashed was in some stage of development for almost fifteen years. But when Harrison was stabbed by a mentally ill home intruder in 1999, parallels to bandmate John Lennon’s murder must have deeply shaken the former Beatle. Contemporary reports suggested that his attacker had an irrational obsession with the Beatles, much like John Lennon’s killer Mark David Chapman.

Having already survived an aggressive throat cancer, Harrison focused on completing the album and shared every detail with his son Dhani Harrison and producer Jeff Lynn. That information proved incredibly useful to the younger Harrison and Lynn when Harrison’s cancer returned in 2001. So much so that they were able to follow the exact timetable laid out by Harrison, completing Brainwashed using the same studio sessions that Harrison had already booked.^[9]

1 American V: A Hundred Highways (2006) and American VI: Ain’t No Grave (2010)–Johnny Cash

The partnership between Johnny Cash and hip hop producer and Def Jam founder Rick Rubin was such a lucrative one that there may have been more demand for a new collaboration than for a new Johnny Cash album. The American Recordings series, produced by Rubin, gave the world such beloved tracks as Cash’s covers of Nine Inch Nails’ “Hurt,” Soundgarden’s “Rusty Cage,” and Depeche Mode’s “Personal Jesus.” They revitalized Cash’s career, exposing him to a new audience.

Rubin is known for his perfectionism. On earlier albums in the series, that trait provided a dynamic counterbalance to Cash’s rough and raw sound. But on American V and VI, Cash’s voice was too frequently a pained rasp that even Rubin’s production chops could not make up for. On American V, this made for an evocative portrait of weariness, but on American VI, it just made for a difficult listen. The Los Angeles Times called it Cash’s hospice record in a review that seemed to miss how sad that was.

Both Rick Rubin and Cash’s son John Carter Cash have said that more recordings were made during those sessions, promising more entries in the American Recordings series to come.^[10]