A Wicked Ink Experiment

Dermoids Got Guts inked with a  hint of 1950's Horror Comic style.

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 Wicked Progeny © and TM Tom Hicke.

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A Dermoids Deviation

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 Dermoid emerging 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 Progeny series. 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 established approach can be a good move, if time allows. Most anything that leads to previously unconsidered creative solutions, can lead to better work. 

 Dermoids Wicked Progeny © and TM Tom Hicke.

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Half-Done. [Dermoids Wicked Progeny]

Another Dermoid in the process of becoming...

Oops ...my John Totleben influence is showing.

Dermoids Wicked Progeny and All Associated Images © and TM Tom Hicke.

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Lung Baby [Dermoids Wicked Progeny]

Dermoids Wicked Progeny and All Associated Images © and TM Tom Hicke. 

This design explores a pseudo-science development of one of the Dermoids from Wicked Progeny. I like the idea of subversive creatures birthed from unlikely places. It probably stems from an unconscious horror that animals and humans explode from the womb. It's beautiful and ghastly at the same time. 

Scene from Ridley Scott's 1979 classic Alien.

 

Alien, Aliens, Alien 3 are Trademarks of 20th Century Fox.

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Incubation [Dermoids Wicked Progeny]

Dermoids Wicked Progeny and All Associated Images © and TM Tom Hicke.

There are several possibilities for the birthing of Dermoids. The more outrageous ideas appeal to the mad scientist in me. Remember David Cronenberg's The Fly [1986] was steeped in Lovecraft's horror-fantasy more than science acting as more of a plot device. Remember Jeff Goldblum's matter transporter experiment gone haywire [see below.] How fast did you forget his hokey explanation of physics? I was slickly and quickly drawn into the classic dangerous knowledge horror theme via Goldblum and Geena Davis's stylishly matched performances.

TM 20th Century Fox and all respective holders.

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Chest-Cavity Child [Dermoids Wicked Progeny]

Dermoids Wicked Progeny and All Associated Images © and TM Tom Hicke.

The name says it all.

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Dermoids Rock [Dermoids Wicked Progeny]

Dermoids Wicked Progeny and All Associated Images © and TM Tom Hicke.

A rough sketch from the Dermoids Wicked Progeny concept sketch book. Dermoids Rock feels like a  nightmare rock concert remembered. Imagine a young Axl Rose spontaneously spawning an undead twin from his spine. Cool.

Welcome To The Jungle © Guns and Roses.

Video TM and © respective holder[s].

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Dermoids Scream [Dermoids Wicked Progeny]

These are concept sketches from a graphic novel project. Details are not ready disclosure but the work below definitely speaks for itself.

Dermoids Wicked Progeny and All Associated Images © and TM Tom Hicke.

Countless artists have greatly inspired my work through their words and pictures. Their influences often combine in surprising ways, with bits and pieces merging with half remembered daydreams, lending the work a fresh yet familiar quality. 

A lot of amazing Spanish artists worked for Warren Publishing in the 1970's. I have a copy of Eerie #65 [see page on the right] and quite few other Warren Mags.

A sample of Jose Ortiz's excellent work, from Eerie #65

Richard Corben's individuality, strong draftsmanship, and amazing imagination combine to produce some highly original and entertaining work; he's definitely a favorite that set a high mark for scary and fantastic art.

Edgar Allen Poe Illustration by Richard Corben, © respective owner.

The Thing [1982] TM Universal Pictures.

 

Inspiration from Carpenter's macabre classic...awesome.

How creative people express what inspires them is not always predictable. Eddie VanHalen cites Eric Clapton as a major guitar influence. It must be true, but who'd ever guess?

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