A Christmas Favorite!

Seriously, 'Merry Christmas Mr. Bean' makes me so happy!

Holiday Book Recommendation: Christmas Curiosities

I am a Halloween person. There is no use in trying to fight or argue with that. I think about Halloween & spooky related content almost year round. But what about Christmas? I loved Christmas when I was a kid. It was great. Fun times!! But in the past 10 years or so, Christmas became an aggravation to me, as I hated going into a store the last week of October, and seeing Christmas merchandise. Past few years it's been mid-October. Can't even let the Halloween corpse die, before ushering in the new holiday.

But surely there are some Christmas things out there that a girl like me can relate to right? Well, yes, in fact there are. So I thought I would post a few things over the next couple of weeks that make this jolly holiday interesting to me.

Last year I picked up this book, 'Christmas Curiosities: Odd, Dark, and Forgotten Christmas' by John Grossman. I LOVE this book. This is a fine collection of strange vintage illustrations. I don't have a scanner, so I photographed a few pages just to give you an idea of the book's content.

The actual book in hand! Small in size, big on seasonal strange.

What the heck is wrong with that kid?

Witches at Christmas? Yes, witches!!

Christmas dinner would be way more entertaining if this happened.

I love the bat jockeys. And I really love this art. Apart from the bat jockeys themselves, I love the bare tree and the mountains with that orange setting sun. It has almost a Halloween feeling about it.

Kids might act better today if there was a threat of being tied to a tree & lashed by 'Ol St. Nick.

Speaking of beatings, It's Krampus! I've been a big Krampus fan for many years now, and he seems to be getting more popular every year. More about him later, but if you want to read up on him you can do so here.

Another favorite. Something about the strangeness of it I adore.

A snowman & Christmas tree make out.

A moth goes on a killing spree.

And nothing says 'Merry Christmas' like dead bird.

These are just a few of the many wonderfully strange images this book has to offer. This book is available at Amazon, but it looks like it's only available through Amazon Marketplace sellers. Maybe it's no longer in print? If that's the case, I highly encourage you to order this now before it is out of print & the price skyrockets.

Snow, Man!

I recently completed this cover for a Christmas mash-up compilation put together by one of my favorite mash-up DJs, DJ BC. This is the 5th in the 'Santastic' series, 'Santastic V: Snow, Man!' The website also has the previous 'Santasics' available for download, as well as a few other holiday related mash-ups. And it's FREE! I've just been able to download it today, so I'm listening to it now. Download 'Santastic V: Snow, Man!' Here.

Little Shoppe of Horrors #25 Out Now!

A bit late announcing this but Little Shoppe of Horrors #25, featuring the making of 'Blood on Satan's Claw' is now available! This was an exciting issue for me, because in addition to two interior pieces, my art also appears on the inside cover!! I'm totally in love with the front cover (below) by the way. Ade Salmon did a beautiful job. This piece belongs in a fine art gallery! Or on the wall at my house! My inside cover appears above (top of the page), and for my interiors, this time I thought I would try doing just straight forward black & white pieces. The first is of Stephanie Beacham from 'And Now the Screaming Starts' (1973) and the second is Vincent Price & Peter Cushing from 'Madhouse' (1974).

Well, time certainly does wizz by doesn't it? Halloween came and went like a flash. I didn't do nearly the full Halloween Countdown, like I wanted to. Now Thanksgiving is over and it's on to Christmas. I don't know for sure, but I am going to try to do something Christmas related here on the blog. I'm not a big fan of Christmas, but I'm thinking about putting together some posts about what I DO like about Christmas. Because there are somethings I actually look forward to. We'll see if I'm able to do it, I think it will interesting if I do.

Quick Note

I wish I had more time to play around with all the fun templates that Blogger has, but I do have to get ready for a long work week. Ugh!!

Happy Halloween!!

I just wanted say I hope that you all have a wonderful and Happy Halloween. In a few days time I'll have some post-Halloween thoughts to share, and various odds & ends.

Stop by the super cool blog 'Ranch Dressing with Eartha Kitsch' to see her Halloween post on Kooky Spooks. There you will also find my photo of me as a young lass, along with several others, who had this strange inflatable head costume.

Teacher's Pet: The Tale of the Tell-Tale Taffy

Halloween is right around the corner, so how about a cartoon. 'Teacher's Pet' was a great animated show created by Gary Baseman that ran from 2000-2002. I loved this show, I used to watch it on ABC Saturday mornings. I wanted to share one of my favorite episodes, a Halloween episode (of course), 'The Tale of the Tell-Tale Taffy'. Leonard & his dog Spot (who is living a double life pretending to be a boy named Scott) go out trick or treating across the street, against his mother's orders. While Leonard & Scott are out trick or treating, the family cat (Mr. Jolly) & family bird (Pretty Boy) are dealing with new visitor. A cat named 'Spooky', who Mr. Jolly is convinced is a vampire.
Spooky is voiced by the great Tim Curry, and I did a quick drawing of the character in lieu of a still shot:



Enjoy!

Feelin' Devilish!

I had intended to post this little guy last Sunday, but I was having some pains of the wrist. I also had some important household things to attend to before a very long work week. I cannot believe that Halloween is but a short week away. The time has just wizzed by.

Straight Outta Cairo!

And usually right back to England. Tonight Turner Classic Movies will be airing the Hammer Mummy Films, starting in about 20 minutes.

8 pm – The Mummy (1959)
9:45 pm – The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb (1964)
11:15 pm – The Mummy's Shroud (1967)
1 am – Blood from the Mummy's Tomb (1971)

The two characters you see here are Christopher Lee as 'Kharis' (before he was a mummy) from 'The Mummy'. And Valerie Leon as 'Queen Tera' from 'Blood from the Mummy's Tomb'.

I thought I would go ahead & share the art I was working on, even though it's unfinished pieces that I put together and tried to give it somewhat of a finished look to mark mummy day. I had BIG plans for this piece, unfortunately I had some trouble getting this piece to where I wanted it to be. Next week I will most likely NOT have a new Hammer piece, but the following week I hope to have my Hammer Frankenstein piece finished and looking awesome.
I hope some time I will be able to finish out this piece and see my vision realized. Only time will tell....

Horror Icons of the '80's

I recently completed these two commission pieces and thought that I would share them here on the blog. Elvira, Mistress of the Dark & Freddy Kruger! I'm pretty pleased with the way these two pieces turned. Elvira was super fun to draw. Fred was a bit more difficult, but the extra time I took on him was worth it. It's also the first 80's horror characters I've tackled (apart from Creepshow's 'Fluffy')

Old Witchy!

I few months back I had this idea of what I wanted to do for the Halloween countdown this year. The plan was to do a series of 31 simple Halloween pieces, inspired by vintage Halloween decorations. Well, that didn't happen. I did do some new ones, and I will be posting them throughout the month. The first was my 'Jolly Good Halloween Cat', and now here is 'Old Witchy'. And I have decided to include my 2 different versions of this piece. This piece was originally done in color, as seen below. But because she reminds me so much of a 1930's cartoon style, I decided to convert the image to BW/Sepia tone. The color version is not without it's charm, but I am much fonder of the BW style here.

Zombies, Reptiles and Horny Beasts! Oh My!

It's Friday! October the 8th! So here's your friendly reminder that tonight on Turner Classic Movies it's Hammer Time, yet again. Be sure to tune in if you get TCM. I'm looking forward to rewatching 'The Devil's Bride' (or 'The Devil Rides Out', original title), since I don't have this one on DVD. It's a terrific film. And Christopher Lee never looked better. Yowza!

Hot Stuff.

Jolly Good Halloween Cat!

Well, well. Here it is October 3rd! Three days into the month of October. Last night I finally decided on, and finished up my Halloween Banner for 2010. I just wanted to let everyone know that I will NOT be posting every day this year, but I will be posting several times a week. So if you stop by and see that I haven't posted in three days or so, fear not! I have not abandoned the Countdown! I really don't know what direction my countdown will take, since I mentioned before, I've done no prep work this year. But I do have several new original art pieces that will be going up this month.

DON'T FORGET: If you live in the US, Turner Classic Movies is airing Hammer films every Friday night in October, starting at 8pm. I will have some related art for each Friday's post, but I wanted to let everyone know in advance. Here is the schedule:

Oct. 1

8 pm – Horror of Dracula (1958)

9:30 pm – Brides of Dracula (1960)

11 pm – Dracula Prince of Darkness (1966)

12:45 pm – Dracula Has Risen From the Grave (1969)

Oct. 8

8 pm – The Plague of the Zombies (1966)

9:45 pm – The Devil's Bride (1968)

11:30 pm – The Reptile (1966)

1:15 am – The Gorgon (1964)

Oct. 15

8 pm – The Mummy (1959)

9:45 pm – The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb (1964)

11:15 pm – The Mummy's Shroud (1967)

1 am – Blood from the Mummy's Tomb (1971)

Oct. 22

8 pm – X The Unknown (1956)

9:30 pm – Five Million Years to Earth (1968)

11:45 pm – These Are the Damned (1963)

1am – The Stranglers of Bombay (1960)

Oct. 29

8 pm – The Curse of Frankenstein (1957)

9:30 pm – The Revenge of Frankenstein (1959)

11:15 pm – Frankenstein Created Woman (1966)

1 am – Frankenstein Must Be Destoyed! (1969)

And of course, you can learn more at the TCM website.

Ruuunnnn to your TV, because...

Sorry this post is so late, but I did want to let you know that tonight on Turner Classic Movies they are showing four of the Hammer Dracula films. Even as I write this, Horror of Dracula is 10 minutes in. So check out what all the hubbub is about! There will be more Hammer posts to come this month, as TCM is airing Hammer films every Friday night through the month of October.

Holy Flurking Schnit!

It's almost October 1st, and I'm completely ill prepared for the Halloween Countdown. I expect there will be a lot of 'winging it' this season. So be prepared for a lot of Halloween randomness.

The Frankenstein Monster is Strange...

Well, it's been awhile since I've posted. Mainly due to the fact that it's been a very hot, uncomfortable summer and in those conditions I find it difficult to work. But now fall is in the air and I have so much to do. I have several commission pieces that are WAY long overdue & of course the never ending list of things I want to do. Oh yeah, and the Halloween Countdown is not too far away, and I'm preparing for that as well.

But first, I finished up a piece of Glenn Strange as the Frankenstein Monster that I started on months ago. This finished piece was posted over at TCM's official blog 'Movie Morlocks' with a tribute to Strange written by my friend rhsmith. Check it out:

Frankenstein's Ladies

Time to get back to work! I just finished this piece of Veronica Carlson & Kate O'Mara from 'Horror of Frankenstein' (1970). This piece was a bit of a frankenstein monster itself. I drew it twice, and then I had a separate drawing that I did of O'Mara's face that I used instead of the one that I drew from my reference photo. It is meant to be a companion to my 'Vampire Lovers' piece. I'm 80% happy with the way it turned out. I don't know if it's because I've not been drawing as much lately or what, but these two women were a challenge for me. I'm pretty happy with O'Mara, but the Carlson....mmm, I don't know. Maybe I've been looking at it too long. I've got a Veronica Carlson commission coming up so I've been doing lots of sketches of her. Hopefully next time I'll nail it.

I love 'Horror of Frankenstein'. I just saw it for the first time recently and I thought it was awesome! Of course it doesn't hurt that Ralph Bates, who plays Victor Frankenstein, is smoking hot. But this film went in directions that I didn't expect. Feast your eyes on the trailer:

Wonderfest 2010 and other reports...

Hi Everyone!

Well, no new art post today. Hopefully I will have something soon. I was doing yard work and for 2 weeks my arms were covered with itchy blisters from poison ivy. On top of that, I've been working extra hours at my job, which takes away from my precious drawing time.

Well, it's a bit late but I wanted to mention that last month I sold prints of my work for the first time at Wonderfest in Louisville, KY. It was a great experience, even though I was very nervous. I met a lot of wonderful people and hope that next year, we'll be able to stay an extra day or two. Seems like there was just so much packed into about 2 1/2 days. Above you'll see me, cheezin' it up for the camera before we went to dinner on Friday. Nothing important here, I just liked the picture :P.

I also got to meet some fantastic artist/people while I was there. Below is a photo of me with Mark Maddox.

And here I am with Frank Dietz, who was my table neighbor all weekend. I had to keep borrowing his black pen because I lost mine.

I had Maddox & Dietz both sign my copy of Little Shoppe of Horrors #22. Since that was the first issue that I contributed to, my goal is to meet and have every artist who participated in this issue sign it. It may take me a while.

I also got to meet Jeff Preston and William Stout who, unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to get photos of. But they were both super nice and I was pleased to meet them.

And closing out for today, I wanted to mention that I was featured on Turner Classic Movies official blog, Movie Morlocks today. This was very exciting for me & I was so thrilled to be asked. Check it out:

Little Shoppe of Horrors #24 Out Now!

This time, it's all about the mummies! These are three of the pieces that I did for this latest issue of Little Shoppe. I've been away in Louisville, KY for Wonderfest this past weekend and have not yet had a chance to read this issue, but I'm really looking forward to it! ALSO, reprints of all issues are now available!! Get them here.

Bela

I'm trying to get back into the drawing habit, so I decided to take on a subject that has proved very challenging to me in the past. Bela Lugosi is some one who has distinct features, but I've always had trouble capturing him. The drawing is always off by a line, and in Lugosi's case, that makes a huge difference. I tried very had to not only capture his unique look, but I wanted to keep him looking handsome. So after multiple attempts, this is probably my most successful Lugosi to date.

Plague of the Zombies

A bit of late news: Little Shoppe of Horrors #23 featuring 'Plague of the Zombies' & 'The Reptile' was released in September 2009. This was the second time I've had my art appear in LSoH's and a great thrill for me, since I love the magazine & adore Hammer so much. So why am I only getting around to posting about it now? Well, basically there were two major reasons. One: I had just started a new job after being unemployed for about 2 1/2 months and Two: I was busy trying to prepare for the Halloween Blog Countdown. Then after that came the Holidays... By then I had forgotten about the fact that I hadn't posted it.
I recently completed a few new pieces for the up coming Little Shoppe of Horrors #24, which will focus on the Mummy films that Hammer made. I'll be posting that art later on when the magazine is actually released.

Also... If you haven't vote for the Rondo yet, now would be the time. Voting will be over in about a weeks time.

More exciting than the Oscars...

It's the Rondos! That's right monster kids & horror fans, voting for the eighth annual Rondo Awards has begun! Go now and vote for your favorite movie, book, magazine, podcast, etc. Voting will continue through April 3, 2010, so spread the good word.

**UPDATE** This year the Rondo ballot features a Fan Artist of the Year category in addition to the (Professional) Artist of the Year. Since this is a write in category, I decided to start a thread at the CHFB where fan artist can post some of their art from 2009 in consideration for the Rondo. You can view this thread here.

Marlow

Just a quick post. Right now I'm busy working on a few pieces for the upcoming Little Shoppe of Horrors Mummy issue.

I finished this up last week for the CHFB monthly challenge which was 'Something New'. Well, I always do something new for the challenge, so I decided to take on a 'newer' subject as well. It's been snowing a lot in these here parts. I've seen more snow in the last month & a half than I have in years. Last Sunday, I slipped and fell on my foot, so I've been hobbling around all week. I was just glad nothing was broken. But with all this snow, it makes me want to watch all of my horror DVD's that have a winter backdrop. One of these is 2007's '30 Days of Night'. I really like this film, I know that some don't. But I thought it was an interesting idea and I really felt like the vampires were actually frightening. No romantic vampires here, just killers. I especially liked the head vampire, Marlow, played by Danny Huston. So I decided that I would draw him for the challenge. Well, I best get back to my mummy business.....

Herbert West, Tales of the Re-Animator

I recently did a tutorial for my friends & fellow board members at the CHFB, demonstrating how I put my pieces together. I started out showing how I do the basic drawing in Illustrator. I then followed it up by showing an alternate version with additional elements. I included links to other online tutorials that show how to do the battered pulp cover, battered comic cover, and a site that has some terrific fonts, free for personal use.

If you are interested in the tutorial I posted, go here.

Fluffy

Here's a drawing I did last month of 'Fluffy' from the movie 'Creepshow'. This thing scared the crap outta me when I was a kid.

Trip to the Moon

I've been fascinated with the films of Georges Méliès. I recently watched 'Trip to the Moon' (Le Voyage das la lune) for the first time, and it got me all fired up about finding more of Méliès' films. I was able to watch some of them on You Tube. Such amazing stuff and I am just fascinated by the imagery. I'm saving up my nickels to buy a fancy $80 DVD set that has all of the films Méliès' made, it also includes a book.

Watching 'Trip to the Moon' was triggered by a budding interest I'm having in early 20th Century films and ideas of space travel. Or early Sci-Fi, before there was such a term. This interest was brought on by the following cartoon, Willie Whopper in 'Stratos Fear'