Pet Sematary – Entertainment Weekly 2020

Robert Sammelin made this *Pet Sematary* image for *Entertainment Weekly* using digital tools. The limited palette of blues and purples throws a melancholic light over the whole scene, and the hatching technique reminds me of newspaper printing or even old school comics. Looking at the way Sammelin renders the shovel, you can see it's quite flat, with the light catching the edges. This gives the image a graphic quality, like a poster. But then look at those roots on the right-hand side. They’re writhing, almost like veins popping out, made from a dense network of lines. They look so tangible, so real. It’s interesting how Sammelin combines these different approaches, mixing flat areas with intense detail. For me, it speaks to the way memories can be both vivid and distant, real and imagined, all at the same time. Like Joyce Pensato’s Batman, this image uses popular culture to ask big questions about death, memory, and what it means to be human.