This blog was developed in order to showcase some of my more chilling concept work in progress as well as document early influences. These are visions of haunted dreams on darkest nights... distant memories to be relived over and again in fitful slumber:
It is a springtide in time forgotten; with eyes ajar, I can still feel my childish fingers brush lazily against long dry grass in a field that is littered with stones. A hazy sun slips behind the dark cool clouds. I wear cut-offs and squat barefoot on the graying loam. The goblins are here. I can see their dread features hidden in the twisted crags of broken rocks...drawn in shiver lines.
The ink art was completed with a brush-tipped Pitt Artist Pen from Faber-Castell on a vellum overlay. The sweeping curve of the horizontal hatching and black pools of shadow give the rendering an open airy feel for such a tight, close shot.
Dermoids Got Guts pencil art with a retro comics spin.
Most of the sketches shown here are experiments playing off a variety of metamorphosis themes. This concept features a lumbering Quasimodo-type Dermoidemerging from an quivering tent of entrails. It's a blend of a quasi-human marsupial with larval development. Crazy ideas can make for cool art, especially in horror fiction.
My sketching process tends to include exploration of technique and visual context to shape a design. The style for this sketch is unusually open and cartoony compared to others in the Dermoids Wicked Progenyseries. All those great influences just keep surfacing. I love the comic art of Darwin Cook, Bruce Timm, Carmine Infantino and Steve Ditko; it really shows in this sketch.
Following an artistic urge away from the establishedapproach can be a good move, if time allows. Most anything that leads to previously unconsidered creative solutions, can lead to better work.
Note the change in posture as well as the bulk of the cloak.
Here is new version of the clergyman, looking very much alarmed to be in the forest at witching hour. His character's been tightened up with more careful rendering. A few things were added or removed to improve the drama. [to be continued.]
This sketch was drawn loosely over an enlarged thumbnail, fastened under a sheet of vellum. I like to keep it loose initially, relying mainly on imagination. Here a reference was used for some of the detail and lighting.
A little creative exaggeration is far more interesting to me than straight ahead realism. Albert Dorneand Norman Rockwell are two excellent artists who put the idea to practice very effectively. A great deal can be gleaned from the many fine magazine illustrators of the 1940's and 50's.
Later in the day, I took a second look to see it with a fresh eye. Seems to be going in the right direction but the figure still needed work.
The nice thing about overlays is that a new beginning is easy as taping a new sheet of vellum over the layout for further exploration. I enjoy using multiple methods for developing sketch ideas; it helps to keep the process as interesting and fun as it should be efficient. [continued next post]
Written a while back, this piece brings to mind a wonderful and captivating poem that scared me silly as a child. I could barely stand to read it without slamming the over-sized children's book shut. If it's been a while since you dared... check out the inimitable Lewis Carrol's Jabberwocky.
River Kobold and Slough Sprites don't usually get along.
Drawing is a dreaming awake. Pencil to paper can feel electric and ghostly like a magic lantern image only you can see until the drawing is complete. It is an intimate and strange sensation to see beings of some forgotten world crawl and writhe across your sketchbook page.
This fellow looks angry at having to sit for this sketch. Too bad.
This quickly inked goblin head [shown near actual size] was completed on vellum overlay for a
student demonstration in my Pen, Brush, and Ink Illustration class this past semester.
Average 9 foot Cave Damon [on the right] and a particularly large and nasty Squalor [left.]
I usually get back to loose sketches to finish them more, even if they go unused for their assigned project. Recycling a sketch for another concept or finishing it could inspiresomething entirely different. [continued next post]
Back in school, creative compulsion didn't allow for paint
drying time or procedural pauses. I found it both necessary and an easier solution to work on several
paintings at once. My personal design process has an interesting correlation.
I may cover several sketch book pages in an hour, only working as long as it takes to form a complete concept in as few lines as possible. Drawings can be put on hold at any time to quickly pursue a new idea they've inspired. Each day reapsfinished work and seeds to sow for the next. [continued next post]
As I was growing up, Bernie Wrightson and Len Wein's Swamp ThingTM DC Comics, was an enormous influence on my work. Many comics fans comment on that when they see some of my horror sketches. I love Wrightson's art and artist's like Franklin Boothe, Jack Davis, and Roy Krenkel who influenced him greatly.
This miniature sketch of Swamp Thing was painted very loosely for an image only 1.5"x 2". Working loose, tight, large, small, with an airbrush, in oils, watercolor or whatever medium ...it's all stimulating and beautiful.
Two enlarged details below show some interesting and painterly suggestions from the subject at left.
A 1/2" Flat, a #5 Pointed Round and only four colors were used to paint the tiny portrait of the Mossy Mammoth .
A couple of unused rough skulls for a video game concept [near actual size.]
I like to begin with nothing but imagination and design shapes that are interesting. It's faster. Taken to the next level, animal or human skull reference would be used to enhance authenticity. I picked up the idea of consulting references afterwards, while briefly working with some exceptional storyboard artists at a small studio in Chicago.
DVD Covers from 3 releases of The Monster Club [1980]
The Monster Club is probably the last of the British anthology horror film of which I've seen only a few. More familiar are Stephen King's Creepshow films, an homage to the best of Horror and Sci-Fi comics from the 1950's EC tradition.
The Prolific and Stylish John Carradine and The Immortal Vincent Price.
These are the two actors that initially prompted my keen interest interest in The Monster Club on an early 80's USA Network cable station fright feature. Carradine and Price deliver, despite the campy dialogue and silliness in the scenes devised to frame the films trilogy format.
A Conversation with Two All-time Favorite Classic Horror Film Stars.
Monster movies played an important part in forming my already overactive imagination. The Monster Club manages to serve up a two tales
with striking visuals and bleak Gothic themes that reinforced my
fascination for arcane imagery. [continued next post.]
The Monster Club TM 2006 Pathfinder Home Entertainment.
A John Bolton Pin up from House Of Hammer Magazine for The Monster Club movie[1980.]
The Monster Club's rock 'n roll nightclub narrative framing device had it's share of memorable moments, such as the New Wave bands performing the campy Monster Club music and a stripper who takes it all off...right down to the skeleton. These segments make the movie fun, but were not the part that really grabbed my imagination.
The Shadmock displays his gentle innocence.
The first story, entitled"The Shadmock" showcased lush period settings, striking costume design, and Gothic atmosphere reminiscent of classic Hammer Films. Based on the short story written by the late British horror writer R. Chetwynd-Hayes, featuring a hybrid-monster with a diabolical whistle. The tale begins with the monstrous mogul hiring a new assistant, Angela, to help catalog his possessions. The tension mounts to an awful ending for the young woman, as she reluctantly agrees to help her crooked boyfriend swindle The Shadmock out of his fortune.
Shadow and foreshadowing in The Shadmock's garden.
The art from the comic book adaption has its own appeal.
John Bolton's art on the comics version of the Lost In Town.
The Monster Club's final tale concerns an American film
director who stumbles into a mysterious 17th century village populated by Ghouls. The antique illustrations used as part
of the plot were my first exposure to the incredible art of John Bolton,
a fact that I didn't realize until several years later. The art was
equally frightening and fascinating; it burrowed its way into my brain as these were easily the best ink
drawings I'd seen.
I remembered this scene vividly from 25 years ago.
My early influences were gleaned
from great novels, classics, The Twilight Zone and a host of
other shows in the same vein. If course it all started with the Universal monster flicks replayed
on PBS. These were all transformed by my outlandish imagination into
something more than vivid. It's hard to experience some of the source
material the same way now, but the memories are as potent as ever.
The Monster Club has been released at least 3 times on DVD; it's still fun to watch my own copy from time to time.
A Tree-Troll who's rather embarrassed to be so short by normal Tree-Troll standards.
A Tree-Troll drawing for a comic book revamp pitch. He is a rotten twisted Ent-like servant for a treacherous, lunatic sorceress. No definite deadline, so this fits neatly between pending projects. I usually see my influences long after a sketch is finished. For me it's a treasure chest of inspiration. There is a hint of Michael Kalutain this sketch.
Thorn Goon scaled next to a tall human half-wit who is 5 times more intelligent than himself.
A Thorn Goon is approximately 8 feet tall and similar to a Golem. They are dumb, powerful, short tempered creatures created to serve evil men. If you see one, keep your wits about you ...and run.
Different levels of acuity and focus spark life into each goblins gaze.
Here are some quick sketches of more goblin-like characters for the same project. The final sketches will be selected with a contrast. At this point, I merely searching my imagination with the pencil. At least two of the characters are reminiscent of Rick Veitch. It seems funny because haven't looked at his work for a long time and don't use reference for rough concepts. I love seeing buried bits and pieces of all the pros who've inspired me....more to follow.
Fae-Men is the working title for these character designs. The thorns are a motif representing the dangerous, dark magic of these foul forest beings. Sharp-eyed viewers will notice the Stephen Bissette influence. I was first influenced by his Swamp Thing Comics after Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson'sseminal run as the original creators of the series.
Pencil Sketch Referenced From Movie, London after Midnight [1927]
Lon Chaney, man of 1000 faces and the star of countless horror films including the lost and much sought after silent movie from which this image is referenced. The last known copy of London after Midnight was destroyed in a fire in an MGM film vault in 1967.
Pencil Sketch Referenced From Movie, Dracula [1931]
Lugosi stars in the timeless, Dracula. Even an 8 year old could see Bela Lugosi was a true original. Graphic simplicity and bold blacks in tribute to the master of horror film finesse. Long live Lugosi.
Pencil Sketch Referenced From Movie, The Lost Boys [1987]
During high school days, The Lost Boys was my favorite vampire flick sans Van Helsing. This film had teenaged heroes and rock n roll style vampires ala Billy Idol and David Bowie New Wave fashion.
The drawing came out well with a good balance of tone and light hatch-work. Reminds me of another art hero, John Bolton.
