Day 09: The Ritual (2017) - 31 Days of HELL-O-Ween 2023

 31 Days of HELL-O-Ween 2023:
The Ritual (2017)

Hey, hey--It's a newer movie this time, the 2017 "The Ritual".  It involves a band of friends who go on a nature hike and are met with one disastrous situation after another and every fork in the road they take (literal and metaphorical) is the wrong one, ending with a meeting with a Jötunn, an offspring of Loki worshipped by a cult.

While I generally liked the movie, when the Jötunn made it's appearance I will admit that I was trying to process the monster and figure out what I was looking at--the anatomy was all wrong and it looked like a hodge-podge of random objects duct taped together.  A jawbone here, a couple arms there... is that a torso for its head?  It is one of the more unique, creepy monster designs I have seen in a while.

This was done with Acrylic Paint and a limited palette of: Paynes Gray, Titanium White, Yellow Ochre, Burnt Sienna, Burnt Umber, and Cadmium Red Deep.

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STEP ONE:  Here is a quick breakdown done in Paynes Gray and Titanium White to suggest the general layout on the page.  It is painted 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 a thin layer of various colors to just try to get paint on the page.

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STEP THREE:  It's the finished painting done with lots and lots and lots of back-and-forth and thinly painted layers.

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Done with Acrylic paint on 8-1/2" x 11" gessoed cardstock.

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Day 08: John Carpenter's The Thing (1982) - 31 Days of HELL-O-Ween 2023

 31 Days of HELL-O-Ween 2023:
John Carpenter's The Thing (1982)

I've gotta do "John Carpenter's The Thing" for 31 Days of HELL-O-Ween.  It's probably my favorite horror movie, with copious amounts of body horror, blood flows freely (in multiple senses of the word), and there are horrifying philosophical implications of being replaced cell-by-cell.  This year it's the Norris Thing, which went from a guy with a giant, vertical mouth running down his torso (no VJ Dentata or Sarlacc jokes, please) that bites a guys arms off, to a long-necked abomination with segmented legs, to a spider-headed horror.  Quite the range on that one.

I've mentioned before in my Blog that my reading of the ending is [SPOILERS for a movie that's over 40 years old] MacReady and Childs are both human, but as one cannot trust the other, they each just freeze to death in the snow and ice of Antarctica.  Y'know, a typical, nihilistic and bleak ending that I can understand and get behind and makes the most sense for the movie.

This was done with Acrylic Paint and a limited palette of: Paynes Gray, Titanium White, Yellow Ochre, Burnt Sienna, Burnt Umber, and Cadmium Red Deep.

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STEP ONE:  Here is a quick outline done in Paynes Gray to suggest the general layout on the page.  It is painted 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 a thin layer of various colors to just try to get paint on the page and to vaguely layout the shadows and forms.

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STEP THREE:  It's the finished painting done with lots and lots and lots of back-and-forth and thinly painted layers.

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Done with Acrylic paint on 8-1/2" x 11" gessoed cardstock.

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Day 07: Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954) - 31 Days of HELL-O-Ween 2023

31 Days of HELL-O-Ween 2023:
Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954)

Hey, hey!  It's Day 7--One week down and only... (counts on fingers) three-and-a-half to go!

Today it's 1954's "Creature from the Black Lagoon", with the Gill Man in question wandering around and harrying the bathing suited female lead.  Don't wonder why a Gill Man would be attractive to a beautiful, scantily clad (well, for the 1950's) women.  Yeah, I didn't think of that until I was much, much older.  

Mostly, when I watched this as a kid, I was enthralled with the slow stalking swamp monster, trundling through the jungle and swimming below the surface.  He put the "Monster" in "Monster Movie".

Done with a limited palette of Titanium White and Payne's Gray.

* * *

STEP ONE:  Here is a quick outline done in Paynes Gray to suggest the general outline.  It is painted on an 8-1/2" x 11" extra thick cardstock which was primed with a 50/50 mix of gesso and matte medium.

* * *

STEP TWO:  And here's the first pass to model the form, as well as the lights and darks for the painting.

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STEP THREE:  Here's the finished painting, done with lots and lots of layering and back-and-forth.

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Done with Acrylic paint on 8-1/2" x 11" gessoed cardstock.

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Day 06: The Curse of the Werewolf (1961) - 31 Days of HELL-O-Ween 2023

 31 Days of HELL-O-Ween 2023:
The Curse of the Werewolf (1961)

It's another Hammer Film, this time "The Curse of the Werewolf" from 1961.  I will admit that, in general, Werewolf movies are not among my favorite monsters (with the exception of 1981's "An American Werewolf in London", which I did like quite a bit, and a few others), but they're a classic monster in the genre, so here we are.  I remember watching this movie a time or two on Saturday afternoon TV matinees, where Hammer Movies were plenty. 

I remember it as pretty slow moving, but it had a monster in it so I was gonna watch it as a kid.  Yeah, I was pretty dumb like that when I was a kid.  As an adult, I'm dumb in mostly the same way, but also have new ways of being dumb, so I've grown in that sense.

This was done with Acrylic Paint and a limited palette of: Paynes Gray, Titanium White, Yellow Ochre, Burnt Umber, and Cadmium Red Deep.

* * *

STEP ONE:  Here is a quick outline done in Paynes Gray/Burnt Umber to suggest the general outline to figure out where everything was going to go on the page.  It is painted on an 8-1/2" x 11" extra thick cardstock which was primed with a 50/50 mix of gesso and matte medium.

* * *

STEP TWO:  And here's the first pass to model the form, as well as the lights and darks for the painting.

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STEP THREE:  It's the finished painting, done with lots and lots of layering and back-and-forth.

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Done with Acrylic paint on 8-1/2" x 11" gessoed cardstock.

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Day 05: The Phantom of the Opera (1925) - 31 Days of HELL-O-Ween 2023

31 Days of HELL-O-Ween 2023:
The Phantom of the Opera (1925)

It's O.G. "The Phantom of the Opera" from 1925 starring Lon Chaney.  I will admit that for the longest time the only scene from the movie I ever saw was the famous unmasking, exposing Lon Chaney's awesome make-up as the ghoulish looking Phantom.

For some reason this painting didn't scan all that well--with the darks running way too deep, but bumping up the lights and mid-tones seem to blow them all out.  Oh, well, it's about as well as I could get, alas.

This was done with a limited palette of Paynes Gray, Titanium White, Yellow Ochre, Raw Sienna, and Burnt Sienna.

* * *

STEP ONE:  Here is a quick outline done with colored pencil 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, Titanium White, and Burnt Sienna.

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STEP THREE:  And here's the finished painting.

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Done with Acrylic paint on 8-1/2" x 11" gessoed cardstock.

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Day 04: The Bride of Frankenstein (1935) - 31 Days of HELL-O-Ween 2023

31 Days of HELL-O-Ween 2023:
The Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

Elsa Lanchester as "The Bride of Frankenstein" is another movie I return to in this self-imposed challenge.  Between the streaked, Marge Simpson hair and the perpetually startled look in her eyes, there is something compelling about her.

The movie which was always treated as a horror movie when I was a kid, upon watching it as an adult it leans so heavy into camp and almost reads as more of a comedy.

I couldn't decide if "The Bride of Frankenstein" works better with Caucasian skin tone or green skin tone, so I decided to cheat and do it in black-and-white.  Well, Paynes Gray and Titanium White.

* * *

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.

* * *

STEP TWO:  And here's the first pass with Paynes Gray and Titanium White.

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STEP THREE:  It's the finished painting, done with lots and lots of back-and-forth pushing the darks and the shadows.

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Done with Acrylic paint on 8-1/2" x 11" gessoed cardstock.

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Day 03: The Curse Of Frankenstein (1957) - 31 Days of HELL-O-Ween 2023

 31 Days of HELL-O-Ween 2023:
The Curse Of Frankenstein (1957)

Hey, hey!  It's day three and so far... well, I'm not nearly as far as I hoped I'd be.  But, here we are nonetheless.  This time it's from "The Curse of Frankenstein", the 1957 Hammer Film with Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee.  Hammer films were a staple of weekend movies on TV and watched them every chance I could.  Well, mostly they were pretty boring, so I'd thumb through comics, or play with various toys until the monster was on the screen.

Most of the story is just gothic storytelling, and the Monster only shows up a few times, but I do remember the ending as standing out from the rest of the story, with (SPOILERS) Frankenstein (the scientist, not the monster) being lead off to the guillotine.

The horror and gore for the movie were considered pretty over-the-top and intense back when it was released.  Looking at it today it barely warrants a shrug.  Funny how things change.

This was done with Acrylic Paint and a limited palette of: Paynes Gray, Titanium White, Yellow Ochre, Burnt Umber, and Cadmium Red Deep.

On to the next one!

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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.

* * *

STEP TWO:  And here's the first pass with Paynes Gray, Burnt Umber, and Titanium White to model the form as well as the lights and darks for the painting.

* * *

STEP THREE:  It's the finished painting, done with lots and lots of layering and back-and-forth.

* * *

Done with Acrylic paint on 8-1/2" x 11" gessoed cardstock.

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Day 02: Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979) - 31 Days of HELL-O-Ween 2023

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.

* * *

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.

* * *

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.

* * *

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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Day 01: The Thing from Another World (1951) - 31 Days of HELL-O-Ween 2023

31 Days of HELL-O-Ween 2023:
The Thing from Another World (1951)

Well, well, well.  It's time for the Fifth Annual "31 Days of HELL-O-Ween".  I can't believe I've been doing this rather harebrained, self-imposed challenge for that long.

Once again, I thought I would have everything together, maybe even get a bit of a head start to give myself a little bit of a buffer, but October still somehow manages to sneak up on me every year.  Although, I guess it wouldn't be a challenge if I set it up with everything mostly done before I even started.  So, it will be a bit of a public high-wire act where I attempt to do up 31 pieces of (mostly) monster art in 31 days, posted daily.

Alas, it's the first day and I'm already a little behind schedule and running as fast as I can to stay in place.  Will this be the year I have to break out the blank page and label it as "The Invisible Man" or a crappy stick figure drawing as "Slenderman"?  Stay tuned, folks!

Enough of the preamble--let's get this show on the road!

I'm not sure why, but I started a vague tradition of bookending the "31 Days of HELL-O-Ween" challenge by having the first and last posts include a self-caricature of sorts, and here we'll keep that tradition rolling.

It's no secret that "John Carpenter's The Thing" is one of my favorite horror movies--I include it (and several others)--every year.  But, I had yet to do the movie that inspired John Carpenter, Howard Hawks "The Thing from Another World".  I have an inordinate fondness for B-Movies and compared to the gooey body horror of "John Carpenter's The Thing", this version of "The Thing from Another World" is rather mild and tame by comparison.  I did see it as a kid and thought the alien was somehow scary, even though you only see it for a few minutes on screen.  

What can I say, I was a dumb kid easily impressed by passable special effects--and even a bunch that weren't so passible in other movies.

Hrm, the digital painting looks like The Thing tried to unsuccessfully impersonate Deiter from the "Saturday Night Live" sketch, "Sprockets" (sorry, kids, you'll have to look that reference up)...

One down, 30 to go!  Feel free to join in everyone!  C'mon in the waters... well, the water is a little cold and there is some shrinkage going on... and I think I stepped in some seaweed, so that feels gross.  But, other than that it's... Oh, wait, I think something bit me.  I hope it isn't some sort of brain-eating amoeba... [Continued complaints drone on and are lost in the distance as you back away.]

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STEP ONE:  Here are the digital pencils, originally done on a 2,000px x 1,560px @ 300dpi canvas done in Rebelle 6.  It was just a quickly scribbled

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STEP TWO:  And here is the finished digital painting.  It was basically a lot of noodling around to try and get the proper darks and lights and model the form.  That is one of the strengths of Rebelle--just mixing and blending until you arrive to vaguely where you want to be.

I exported the finished painting as a .PNG file (one for the under-drawing and one for the finished painting) and imported it into Clip Studio Paint to add the lettering and add the "31 Days of HELL-O-Ween" logo, then exported the finished drawing/painting as a .JPG.

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Done digitally in Rebelle 6 with an assist from Clip Studio Paint for the lettering and panel border.

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31 Days of HELL-O-Ween: The Home Game / Play Along

31 Days of HELL-O-Ween:
The Home Game - Play Along

Hey, everyone!  Starting October 1st, 2023, I'll be doing the 5th Annual "31 Days of HELL-O-Ween".  Rather than Inktober, I decided to go a different direction and go with trying to do a daily drawing/painting (traditional and digital) of a monster/horror movie for each day in October until Halloween.  Yeah, you can go back through the archives and find plenty of posts for "31 Days of HELL-O-Ween".

This year I actually remembered to post a quick note beforehand to let people know it's happening and invite everyone to play along!  (Yeah, I'm a little slow sometimes--but only on days that end in "Y".)

(A couple self-serving panels from 2021 "31 Days of HELL-O-Ween - Day #1)

It doesn't matter if you do one a day, one a week, or even only one for the month--just have fun!  Below are a couple .png files you dave and can stick on various drawings/paintings if you wish to play along.  Lemme know if you participate and I'll try to give you a shout out.  I'm nosey and want to see what other people do!  😀

 

Oh, shoot!  I better get started and gather stuff up to work on...  Good luck to all and, most importantly, have fun!

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Star Wars Sketchbook - C-3PO

 C-3PO

Hey, hey!  It's another Star Wars Sketchbook painting!  Only... 21 paintings left (and the back cover) before it is completely filled.  At first I just did a few, random paintings from "Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope", but I think I'll keep it going and only fill it with "Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope"--and maybe only keep it all focused on Tatooine?  That last part is still up in the air.  So, maybe?  Although, there area couple non-Tatooine scenes I would like to paint.  Again, we shall see...

Anyhoo, this time around is C-3PO wandering the desert of Tatooine in front of a Krayt Dragon skeleton, lost and about to hitch a ride with Jawas to Luke's house.

The palette was rather limited: Titanium White, Yellow Ochre, Raw Sienna, Burnt Sienna, Primary Cyan, and Payne's Gray.

* * *

STEP ONE:  Here are the vague pencils done on a toned, gessoed Stillman & Brin sketchbook.  The pages are folded 8-1/2" x 11" sheets.

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STEP TWO:  Here's the first (and probably parts of a second, as well) pass with acrylic paint.  Mostly just to get something down on the paper, some of the rough values and shapes, and to give the acrylic something to stick to in future layers.

* * *

STEP THREE:  And here's the finished painting, done after many, many passes of Acrylic Paint.  All the circles in C-3PO's stomach are a bit wonky, but they were done freehand so there's that going against 'em.

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Done with Acrylic Paint on 8-1/2" x 11" Stillman & Brin Mixed Media (140#) paper.

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Star Wars Sketchbook - Jawas

Jawas

Well, well, well, it's sure been a while since I did a Star Wars Sketchbook painting.  I happened to be doing some cleaning and found the Star Wars Sketchbook and went "Oh, yeah, I should work on this some more!"  And, here I am, working on it some more.

This time, it's the Jawas--the scavengers of Tatooine.  Yeah, I realized a little late that I really don't have a particular rhyme or reason as to the order of the paintings other than something caught my mind's eye.  The only consistency with the sketchbook paintings will be they will all be scenes from "Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope".  At least that's the plan.

The palette was: Titanium White, Payne's Grey, Naples Yellow, Yellow Ochre, Raw Umber, Burnt Umber, Raw Sienna, Burnt Sienna, Cadmium-Free Yellow Deep, Cerulean Blue Hue, and Quinacridone Magenta.

* * *

STEP ONE:  Here are the vague pencils, and I started automatically painting before I realized I didn't scan the pencils in as a first step.  So, I stopped where I was, gave the paint a little bit to dry (luckily, I work in thin layers), and then threw it on the scanner.

* * *

STEP TWO:  Here's the first (and probably second, as well) pass with acrylic paint.

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STEP THREE:  And after a lot of working and re-working, here's the final painting of the Jawas, mid-blast on R2-D2 on Tatooine.

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Done with Acrylic Paint on 8-1/2" x 11" Stillman & Brin Mixed Media (140#) paper.

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Illyana Rasputin: Magik

 Illyana Rasputin: Magik

For completely random reasons, here's a digital painting of New Mutants' Magik (Illyana Rasputin), the brother of X-Men's, Colossus (Piotr Rasputin).  As a kid reading "X-Men" and "New Mutants" (and just about any other comics I could get my hands on, of course), I always liked Colossus and Magik and found them to be visually interesting.  And Bill Sienkiewicz's art was amazing and magical to me in "New Mutants", so I was hooked.  Yeah, I don't have time to go into the entire backstory and various storylines, but suffice it to say I choose to do the Magik from the 80's version of the "New Mutants".

Anyhoo, I was doing some random figure drawing and going through some Figure Drawing Reference Packs I own from Grafit, when I re-opened some Female Armored Knight ones which had a model with a single armored arm, which immediately reminded me I've been meaning to do a digital drawing/painting of the "New Mutants" character, Magik, for some time now.

Ironically, for this drawing I didn't bother using any of the references which inspired me and just sketched it out from my head, for better or worse...  (probably mostly worse).  Onward!

* * *

STEP ONE:  Here are a few very quickly scribbled poses (probably about 30-60 seconds each).

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STEP TWO:  I chose this pose and scaled it up to give a rough framework on a 2,000px x 3,000px @ 300dpi canvas in Rebelle 6.

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STEP THREE:  And here's the first pass, just loosely laying everything out and not bothering with any blending.  Just scribbling in some color to give a rough idea of what goes where, etc.

* * *

STEP FOUR:  Here's the final painting.  I made some adjustments to the proportions and tightened things up.  It's OK but took an embarrassing amount of time and, to be honest, could be better.  Oh, well, at least it was good practice with Rebelle 6, I guess.

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Done digitally in Rebelle 6.

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