Hoiday season is upon us!

Well, it's that festive time of year again. I hope you all have been good this year, or you'll be getting a beating from Krampus! I've been super stressed & super busy, but I did want to do a quick post. First of all, Christmas came a little early for me this year. I decided in October, that I wanted to get an Ipad, so I went to Wal-Mart and put one on layaway. This upcoming week was suppose to be the week that I paid it off and brought it home, but I couldn't wait! I got it last week, and let me tell you, it's a remarkable piece of technology. I even found this great vector app called 'Inkpad', and I've been playing around with it a bit. I made this cute mouse:

Many of the tools are kind of like Illustrator, so I was able to pick up using it straight away. I'm still trying to get comfortable using it, but it's exciting!

Now I wanted to tell you all about 'The 13 Days of Creepmas', if you don't know about it already. I really meant to post about this BEFORE it started, but I didn't get the chance.

'Creepmas' is a new holiday blogging event, much like the 'Countdown to Halloween' that many of you are already familiar with. Here is the Creepmas manifesto:

THE 13 DAYS OF CREEPMAS

A reaction to the continuing incursion of Christmas into Autumn and Halloween,CREEPMAS is a good-natured chance for Halloween lovers to exact revenge by bringing some spooky good cheer into the holidays or, more appropriately, the Hallowdays.

I thought this was a neat idea and I've been looking at some of the blogs that have been participating. When I go on Christmas break, I'll have more time to look through all the blogs. I thought briefly about taking part, but I really have not had the time. And I'm actually not a big fan of holiday intermingling. Christmas has it's own charm for me, just as much as Halloween. Even though I like Halloween much better. If they do this again next year, I would like to take part if I have time. Christmas has it's own creepy, without having to borrow from Halloween.

The Creepmas celebration also comes with it's own badges by Tom Krohne. This Krampus one is my favorite (of course).

And finally, I saw something at Target this past weekend that might appeal to those with a taste for the dark side of the yule. This is a 6ft. dark pewter tinsel tree. It's like shiny black. Imagine the possibilities. I'm a big fan of the tinsel tree, in fact my tree is a 4ft. silver one. But, if this one happens to be around when it's time for Christmas clearance, I may have to get one!

And now we come to the end...

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I've had a very busy cooking/cleaning day. I ate way too much, and now I'm about to go into a food coma. But before then, I have two more things to share, for the Lost Skeleton Tribute finale. Pictured above are some shots of Animala & Paul, doing the Rock Dance! These customized Ken & Barbie dolls were made by Jennifer Blaire (Animala herself) as a Christmas surprise for husband Larry Blamire. I love these! I'm so thrilled that they shared these images with us.

Next, I got this wonderful little cartoon from actor, filmmaker and artist, Mark Redfield. Redfield appeared in another great film of Blamire's 'Dark and Stormy Night'. Many thanks to Mark for sending this our way.

You can find more from Mark on his website Redfield Arts. He also has an Etsy store, where he sells his art. I also want to point out that he is one of the publishers/editors of the excellent new publication 'Monsterpalooza Magazine'. The premiere issue just came out last month, so get yours now! I can't wait to see the future issues!

Once again, I want to thank everyone for taking part in this Lost Skeleton tribute. I'm so thrilled to have had so many talented people come onboard to pay tribute to these wonderful & wildly entertaining films. Thank you! Thank you! And thank you!

The Almost Final Post of the Lost Skeleton Tribute!

Well, here we are (almost) at the end of the Lost Skeleton Tribute. This post was suppose to be the last, but I'll have one final post tomorrow. Thank you all again for taking part in this. And thank you to those of you who came by and had a look & to those who made comments. Maybe we can do it again next year. I didn't think I would be able to get something done for this tribute myself, but I managed to get a little something done. This is Dr. Ellamy Royne from 'The Lost Skeleton Returns Again'. I really wanted to do a Ranger Brad too, but of course, didn't have time. But Tadeusz Sadowski brings us a wonderful Ranger Brad!

Tadeusz says:

I saw first saw the original Lost Skeleton 6 years ago with my dad at the age of 9 and I've loved it ever since. I drew this picture, because there just wasn't enough Ranger Brad in the first film. Larry Blamire is a great director and writer. I hope of seeing more of his works in the the coming years.

Well said!!

And Shawn Tabor & his son Alex contributed the following pieces.

Shawn says:

Alex and I watched both movies, LS and RLS. He was interested in RLS because Frank Dietz was in it. He had me write Mr. Dietz and tell him to shoot the creature in the eye next time! As for LS he watched it to do a mood thing. I was able to get him to don his "Zoom" costume to do another shoot around the house in the frontyard to play the part of the Alien invaders who come in all shapes and sizes. The models are all amatuer and our friends. I went to a local cemetery for the shoots as I wanted to capture the essence of spookiness and the skulls connection to dark secrets. Numerous photos were taken, each model holding the skull and posing in various costumes. It was a tough choice and I wanted to give each model her spot in the limelight. Other poses and costumes were chosen and good use was made of various props for the surrounding story. The ladies endured blistering heat and swarms of mosquitos. Some photos were from shoots last year, also shot during a heat wave. The photo of Viaden Castle was taken when I was serving in Europe in 1985. I manipulated the photos to achieve the look I wanted and then used the collage technique to "tell the tale." Alex helped me to select his photos. The space ship is a model superimposed over a background inspired by a similar photo. The Skull is a digital forensic skull used in solving crimes. However, it is the models who bring the skull to life and I would like to thank Alex, Michelle, Lori, LeaAnn,Sam and Dana for enduring the blistering heat and making the posters what they are!

Thanks to Shawn, Alex & Co. for all your hard work!

Make Your Own 'Lost Skeleton Returns Again' Horrific Skeletal Mind-Power Hypno-Mini Skull!

Check that this super cool paper craft out that comes to us today from none other than Cortney Skinner! You can see some of Cortney's handy work in 'The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra', itself, as he built the transmutitron & and the Mutant costume for the film! I'm thinking I might make a couple of these for my Christmas tree.

If you've never been to the official website of 'The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra', you should definitely check it out. Especially Skinner's 'Virtual Skelectables'. There are some super fun Lost Skeleton items to check out like this fan club certificate:

There's much more, so go check it out!! Also, check out more of Cortney's illustrations and designs on his website, Cortney Skinner, Illustration.

Pictured below, Man! & Mutant!

Lost Skeleton Cut-Paper Collages from John Rozum

Today we have three wonderful cut-paper art pieces from John Rozum. From top to bottom we have: 'Animala: Queen of the Jungle', followed by 'Animala' & 'The Lost Skeleton'.

John Rozum is best known for writing supernatural themed comics aimed at adults such as XOMBI, MIDNIGHT, MASS., THE X-FILES, and THE HANGMAN featured in THE WEB, or for writing supernatural themed comics for children such as SCOOBY-DOO or THE SECRET SATURDAYS in CARTOON NETWORK ACTION PACK. He's written many other comics as well as magazine articles, television episodes and even trading cards. He's also had several of his cut-paper works in some of the group shows at Gallery 1988 including 'Crazy for Cult 5' & the Pee-Wee Herman tribute show.

You can see John's online portfolio at Flickr. To see more work from John and see what he's up to, you can also visit his blog John Rozum.com.

And we're back! With Lost Skeleton art from Scott Brothers

And we are back. Today's post is from the fantastic Scott Brothers. Gotta love this Lost Skeleton poster!

Scott has worked in the games industry for 12 plus years. His specialties include storyboarding and character design. As an animator at Humongous Entertainment, Scott helped bring to life such children’s favorites as Freddi Fish, Pajama Sam and Spy Fox. More recently Scott has been an art lead for mobile games on various IOS platforms.

To see more from Scott, please visit his website Catalogue of Curiosities.

LOST SKELETON TRIBUTE CONTINUES SUNDAY, NOV 20

Hey everyone!!

Thank you to all who have stopped by, contributed & made comments during this tribute to the Lost Skeleton films!

Now, a word about what's going down with the tribute time line. Originally, the tribute was suppose to end on the 19th. And I do have some more wonderful art to share. However, I've barely had any time off in the past two weeks due to the day job, and I'm about beat. So here's what I decided to do. I'm taking a few days off, and I'm going to pick up the LS tribute on Sunday, Nov. 20. Taking some time off and picking it back up at the beginning of the week also increases the chances that you'll see something of mine for this tribute. (Seriously, I've been that busy). So now the tribute will actually more likely run through the 23rd.

I do want to take this opportunity to mention that the soundtrack for 'Lost Skeleton Returns Again', is now available. Pick up one from the Creature Features website!

See ya real soon!!

Animala & Blamire from 'Sketchy' Frank Dietz

Here we have two pieces from the very talented Frank Dietz. Frank is an amazing artist, and in addition to that, he too is part of the 'Skeleton Crew'! Here we see Dietz as 'Reet Pappin' from 'Lost Skeleton Returns Again'.

Dietz is a writer, actor, animator and a two-time Rondo Award winner for 'Artist of the Year'. You can see more of his art on his website, Frank Dietz's Sketchy Things and on his blog, The Sketchy Things Artblog.

He is currently making a documentary film with Trish Geiger (also from LSRA), about Bob & Kathy Burns entitled 'Beast Wishes'. You can find more about the film, including updates on the Facebook page.

Matt 'Mirthquake' Orsman's Lost Skeleton Tribute

This fantastic piece comes to you from Matt Orsman. Orsman is a graphic designer/illustrator, who specializes in cartoons, caricature, corporate identity packages and key art for motion picture marketing. You can find much more from Matt on his website, The House of Mirthquake and on Facebook.

Bradd Parton's Alpha-Sketch Mutant

Today's piece is from artist Bradd Parton. Parton's drawings are very unique in that they are constructed using all the letters in the alphabet. Amazing stuff!! The following image is the breakdown of all the letters:

Isn't that something! Check out more of Bradd's work on his website, Alpha-Sketch and on his Facebook page.

Animala figure by Robert Deveau

For today's post, we have this fantastic Animala figure (with action fuzzy slippers) sent in by none other than Robert Deveau. Deveau has appeared in BOTH 'Skeleton Films'!

In 'Lost Skeleton of Cadavra' he was The Doomed Farmer:

And in 'Lost Skeleton Returns Again', he played Handscomb Draile:

This Animala figure was made using an exsisting figure, modified by Deveau. Says Deveau:

"Not long after we shot the original film, I found a three-inch tall figure of a girl in a bikini. She had a removable red plastic wig, which I removed. I sanded down her bikini lines and painted her to look like Animala, adding tiny slippers of black fluff, and glued her to a wooden stand. I made two, sending one to Larry and Jen. This is the one I kept for myself."

Deveau writes regularly at the Bantam Street Blog, and you can visit his website where he provides graphic design services.

Dr. Roger Fleming by Leigh Young

I have been an admirer of Leigh Young's work for awhile now, so when she said she was going to contribute, I was very excited. I think it's just wonderful! Leigh is an Illustrator/Graphic Designer and if you would like to see more of her work, please visit her website, Leigh Young Illustration & her blog.

Animala art by Will Meugniot

Here are two more fantastic Animala pieces from artist Will Meugniot. Meugniot is best known in comics for his co-creation of The DNAgents and newest creation, The N.E.D.O.R. Agents, while in animation he is credited as producer and director of many hit series including X-Men, Jem and ExoSquad. At top, Will shares an exchange between Marvel Comic’s Tigra and Lost Skeleton’s Animala. Next is birthday art for Anima...Pam... Jennifer!

For more of Will's work, please visit his website here. And his blog, here.

Artist Lee Copeland's Lost Skeleton Tribute

Boy, oh Boy! The fantastic art just keeps coming! Today's piece is by another super talented artist, Lee Copeland. Look at all that 'Lost Skeleton' action! I can feel the atmospherium. If you would like to see more of Lee's work, please visit his website. He's also got a brand new Facebook page that you can 'like'. Lee is also a 'Little Shoppe of Horrors' contributor, with his work appearing in the most recent issue featuring Roman Polanski's film 'Dance of the Vampires' or 'The Fearless Vampire Killers'.

I'd like to take a minute again, to thank all of you who have taken part in this tribute so far. Due to last minute planning on the part of my employers, it turns out that I will have to work this weekend (which was NOT, part of my schedule). But, luckily, I'll be able to prepare blogs to post at a certain time daily, as I did for this past Mon-Wed. Still lots of great stuff to come, and I'm still expecting a few things to roll in. So keep checking back!

Animala by Aidan Casserly

I'm part of a caricature group on Facebook, and the week before Halloween there was a Vincent Price drawing challenge on. I was looking through the submissions when I noticed Aidan's work. So I went to his website, to have a look at some of his other illustrations. When what did I find? I found 'The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra'! I wrote Aidan and asked him if he would mind letting me post this, and he agreed. If you would like to see more of Aidan's work, please visit his website.

Animala & Betty! by Roger Koch

I would now like to share with you three pieces from the talented & prolific, Roger Koch. And again, Roger was kind enough not only to let me post his early pieces of Betty & Animala, but did a brand new Animala piece (pictured above) specifically for this tribute! You can see more of Roger's work on his Facebook page, 'Roger Koch aka Zombie Dad'. Or purchase prints and other merchandise at his store.

Lost Skeleton Art from Andrew Barr

Now for your viewing pleasure, I bring you three pieces by the very talented illustrator, Andrew Barr. Above is a new Dr. Paul Armstrong piece, submitted especially for this tribute! In addition, I wanted to share these other two pieces that Barr did. All three are from the Lost Skeleton sequel, 'The Lost Skeleton Returns Again'.

You can see more of Andrew's work on his website, Something A GoGo.com and also at The Notchordamnatchoz blog.

The Many Pin-ups of Animala from Rock Baker

Animala is a very popular character from the Lost Skeleton films. Even I have drawn her twice before. Here are some wonderful Animala pieces from Rock Baker done in a Dan DeCarlo-like style. Rock Baker has done work for AC Comics, Main Enterprises, and Moonstone, among others. Some of his regular strips include DINOSAUR GIRL (AC Comics, creator/writer/pencils), ROWENA (AC, regular pencils), and BETSY THE BOOKWRITER (Main, co-creator, writer, pencils). His specialty is cheesecake cartooning (what they call 'good girl art' these days). You can see more of Baker's work on his blog 'Baker's Log'.

Welcome to the Lost Skeleton Tribute!

Greetings one and all! For the next two weeks, I will be hosting a tribute to Larry Blamire's films, 'The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra' and 'The Lost Skeleton Returns Again'. I would first like to thank all of my contributors who have made this possible. If you have something you would like to submit, please send it to me at: scbilbrey@hotmail.com.

First a few words from me about 'The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra'.
I was browsing through a local DVD store back in 2005, when I saw some movie on the shelf called 'Lost Skeleton of Cadavra'. It looked like something I might like, so I rented it and took it home to watch. I was instantly hooked on this movie. I loved it so much, I actually kept out the DVD from the store until I was able to order my own copy, which I watched repeatedly. It's cleaver, it's fun, and I always recommend this film to anyone who will listen to me. In 2009, I actually met Larry Blamire and it was awesome to shake his hand and let him know how much joy he'd brought to my world.

And now, let the skeleton posting begin. Our post today, is from the man who brought us the Lost Skeleton, writer/director/actor, Larry Blamire:

As a person who once dreamed of a world where a living, breathing (well), walking, sarcastic, bombastic and egotistical skeleton could exist for real, on a movie screen, I am proud and extremely unapathetic towards our growing and enthusiastic fanbase (like a submarine base, only with fans moving in and out of port, instead of subs). I am particularly grateful to those wonderful fans whose expressions of pure Skelly love extend to art and costumes and models (and the occasional parade float). We truly have the best. Not least among them, the awesome hostess of this tribute, Rondo Award-winning Belle Dee whose unique style has honored us with several wicked cool pieces over the years.

I HUMBLE NOW! --Larry Blamire The Man Who Dared to Dream About Rocks