31 Days of HELL-O-Ween 2023:
Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979)
I figured I'd start with one of the scariest movie monsters out there: Klaus Kinski! Oh, wait, I mean Nosferatu. Well, maybe both. I usually like to start out with some of the classic monsters and I've said it before and I'll say it again: Nosferatu is one of the creepiest vampires on film. In this case it's Werner Herzog's 1979 remake of the classic 1922 silent movie.
While I did appreciate most of the remake, there is something about the silent, black-and-white original that adds an extra layer of creepiness. That janky, jittery, olde tyme film stock contributes an unearthly and somewhat surreal feeling that the remake cannot capture.
I know there are lots of jokes about how could people in horror movies go in [insert creepy environment here], but if I'm invited to a gothic castle and a Count Orlock/Nosferatu lookin' dude answers the door, I'd be running out of there so fast I'd leave a me-shaped hole in the wall like a Bugs Bunny cartoon. I certainly wouldn't be carrying on normal conversations with him like people in the movie.
I did it as an Acrylic Painting and used a relatively limited palette of Titanium White, Paynes Gray, Quinacridone Magenta, Yellow Ochre, Raw Sienna, Burnt Sienna, and Primary Cyan.
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STEP ONE: Here is a quick outline done in Paynes Gray to suggest the general outline to figure out where everything was going to go on the page. I painted it on an 8-1/2" x 11" extra thick cardstock which was primed with a 50/50 mix of gesso and matte medium.
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STEP TWO: And here's the first pass with Paynes Gray and Titanium White to model the form as well as the lights and darks for the painting.
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STEP THREE: And after lots and lots of noodling about, here's the final painting. Unfortunately, my scanner isn't the best, artist quality one out there, so it loses a lot of the subtlety and is a lot more harsh than it is in person.
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Done with Acrylic paint on 8-1/2" x 11" gessoed cardstock.
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