Interview: Dmitry Samarov
Q: Firstly, let me say your illustrations are fabulous. I am so fascinated by what makes illustrators choose the parts of books to illustrate in a classic novel. When you were illustrating Moby-Dick, did you have particular images or subjects in mind? Or were you thinking more thematically? To what degree do these illustrations reveal your own interpretation of the work?
A: It was a pretty intuitive process. I read until coming to a passage or description I thought I could find a visual reference for. Then I’d do an image search. Most of the illustrations are based on period photography. I looked at a lot of pictures of New Bedford and Nantucket for the early passages, for instance.
I wasn’t interested in illustrating dramatic scenes necessarily, but more so in giving the reader a feeling of being there, an immediacy, through what some of the objects and views looked like.
The first thing I drew was the sperm whale that’s on the cover. I wanted it and the lettering to resemble scrimshaw.
Q: What does Moby-Dick mean to you? When did you first read it?
A: I first read it in 2004. I was thirty-three and going through a divorce. It was a comfort to read about a voyage doomed to fail, helmed by an obsessive madman unable to let go of forces beyond his control. It was relatable.
In early November, 2024, I was looking for something to disappear into due to the madness engulfing the country. I read an article about tech bros bragging about making millions republishing cheapo versions of classics available via the public domain. There was a link to Project Gutenberg, which has thousands of pdfs and audiobooks available to anyone. I wasn’t interested in a get-rich-quick scheme but thought maybe I could try making an illustrated version of something. Moby-Dick was on multiple lists on the site, so it was an obvious place to start. Once I made a drawing of the whale, I was off and running.
Q: Were you inspired by previous illustrated editions of Moby-Dick or previous art-work of the book itself? If so, what were your inspirations?
A: The only version to reckon with is the classic Rockwell Kent version from 1930. That was made a long time ago and I don’t draw anything like him so I wasn’t too worried about Kent’s book casting a shadow.
Every movie and miniseries I’ve seen is pretty awful. I did use a few stills of John Barrymore as Ahab for reference.
I wanted the drawings to have the same immediacy I bring to drawings of bands playing or coffeeshop and bar patrons. A feeling of being there rather than a distillation or dramatization.
To me, the best parts of the book are digressions and tangents rather than the main story, that’s why it’s unfilmable. Drawings, on the other hand, can hopefully enhance the reading experience and maybe provide occasional respite for someone tackling the book for the first time.
Q: Do you have a favourite Herman Melville novel? If not (or if this is something you would rather answer) what work(s) of his best lend themselves to artistic representations? Which elude us? Which seem impossible like the [white whale] and we will have to chase them forever hoping for the glimpse of a physical representation?
A: I don’t know any of his other work nearly as well as Moby-Dick. I love Bartleby but don’t think there’s that much to draw there. I’m hoping to tackle The Confidence-Man down the line sometime.
Q: I noticed you did not choose to depict the oil-painting in The Spouter-Inn chapters. As a visual artist, what painting do you think Ishmael is staring at in The Spouter-Inn when he first arrives? I think it is so vital to the narrative but have yet to find a depiction of it. What are your thoughts on the elusive nature of the painting (and on Melville’s relation to art) in general?
A: I could imagine one of those crusty, cracked Albert Pinkham Ryders, maybe. It didn’t occur to me to try to render it. That’s one of many examples of elements and scenes better left to a reader’s imagination, I believe.
Q: Melville writes that ‘whale list’. So, are all your illustrations really drawings of whales? Are these gorgeously drawn sea-captains and boat-decks and ocean crests all obviously…whales?
A: I used photos of every whale Melville described that I could find. I used old illustrations as reference for the sea-monsters he describes while making fun of older writers who’d never seen whales but rendered them from imagination.
All the figures and objects were drawn from period documents whenever possible. I want the reader to feel like the things they’re reading are happening now, even if now happens to be the 1840s.
Q: Depictions of Ahab often vary when it comes to showing his leg and disability, which is described very vividly in the text. What did you take from the text and other perceptions of Ahab?
A: I looked up a lot of bone and wood prosthetics from the era. I wasn’t too concerned about specificity in this case because that leg is used to carry so much metaphorical weight in the novel that no singular rendering could ever encapsulate it, no matter how detailed or specific. Ahab and his leg were not nearly as interesting to me visually as the variety of harpoons, ships, and blubber-cutting tools. Those, and many other rabbit-holes the book disappears into, were what held my attention the most and inspired much of the artwork.
Q: What other projects are you currently working on and/or in the future?
A: Making this book has inspired a new way of thinking about book publishing for me. Not having to worry about doing much writing frees me to concentrate on art and design, which have always been my main mode of expression anyway.
After finishing Moby-Dick, I illustrated and designed a new edition of Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis and The Marvel Universe: Origin Stories by Bruce Wagner. The latter novel, originally published in 2020, will be republished with a new cover and a few edits by Arcade Publishing this fall, as will my version of The Suicide’s Grave by James Hogg.
I’m currently at work on a couple William Faulkner novels for Arcade. I’m also getting ready for an art show at the Rainbo Club here in Chicago, which will include some of the originals from some of the books above.
This public domain thing could keep me busy for years to come.
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Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick, in a new edition with illustrations by Dmitry Samarov, is now available at Maudlin House. You can find his other work at his website.