Day 01: They Live (1988) - 31 Days of HELL-O-Ween 2024

31 Days of HELL-O-Ween 2024:
They Live (1988)

Well, well, well, it's time again once again for 31 Days of HELL-O-Ween in which I try to do 31 artworks from various horror movies--posting daily--in celebration of HELL-O-Ween!  This year I will admit that I may have bitten off more than I can chew and am sweating a bit at all the obstacles to finishing this self-imposed challenge.  We shall see if I prevail or I get to use the much-threatened blank page of "The Invisible Man" or "Slenderman" as a stick figure.  As always, I sure complain a lot for someone who has no one to blame but himself for all this...

Anyhoo, I usually bookend 31 Days of HELL-O-Ween with myself introducing and signing off and this time is no different, with a painting of myself as one of the goggle-eyed aliens from John Carpenter's 1988 sci-fi/horror movie, "They Live".

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31 DAYS OF HELL-O-WEEN:
The Take-Home Game!

Once again, here are some logos for those of you who (for some dumb reason) want to play along at home!  It doesn't have to be daily--heck, just do one or two for the entire month--that's just as valid.  I'm just a dum-dum that does stuff the hard way.  There's no glory, no fame, and no fortune (trust me, this is the sixth year and none of those are anywhere to be found).  It's just for fun.  If you do wind up using them or posting anything, send me an e-mail of the link and I'll check it out!

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STEP ONE:  Here are the quick pencils of myself as an alien from "They Live", done with colored pencil on 8-1/2" x 11" extra-heavy toned cardstock.

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STEP TWO:  Here's the first pass with Acrylic paint.

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STEP THREE:  And here's the finished image.  Onward to tomorrow's image!

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Done with Acrylic on 8-1/2" x 11" extra-heavy toned cardstock.

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March M.O.D.O.K. Madness 2022 #2

March M.O.D.O.K. Madness 2022
(Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing)

Here's the second post for March M.O.D.O.K. Madness 2022.  In this case, it is a bit of a cheat, in that it is a commission I did earlier in the year [name redacted to protect the guilty] who wanted a mash-up of M.O.D.O.K. and the aliens from "They Live" (1988).  Two great things which go great together--like chocolate and peanut butter!  Or, in this case, two great things which are exactly in my wheelhouse!  

I figured it was be best to sit on this one for a while and post it during March M.O.D.O.K. Madness.  Speaking of, here's the link to the March M.O.D.O.K. Madness Blog.  Go over and pay them a visit--or even make a M.O.D.O.K. based submission!

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STEP ONE:  Here's the original sketches for the commission, just to start getting a feel for the mash-up and try to get it balanced.  He decided to go with a more traditional M.O.D.O.K. appearance, with more of a throw back to the original Jack Kirby design, as well as having the alien from "They Live" have hair like the alien politician; I was quite happy to go with both suggestions.

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STEP TWO:  And here's the final digital pencils for the commission.  I then printed it out in blue-line (25% opacity) on a 9" x 12" piece of Canson XL (#140) watercolor paper.

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STEP THREE:  This was the first pass with acrylic paint.  I also decided M.O.D.O.K. needed more signs on his Mechno-Chair with the signature subliminal messages from "The Live".

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STEP FOUR:  And, after a lot of back-and-forth with layers upon layers of paint, here's the finished painting.  Also, it's been a while since I complained about lettering: I don't like it.  If I were smart, I would have just printed it all out and then pasted it down using Matte Medium.  Of course, I'm not very smart, so I traced out the letters and hand-painted them.

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Done with Acrylic Paint on 9" x 12" Canson XL (#140) watercolor paper.

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Day 01: They Live (1988) - 31 Days of HELL-O-Ween 2021

 31 Days of HELL-O-Ween 2021:
They Live (1988)

Hey, it's time again once again for "31 Days of HELL-O-Ween"!  And done with a few hours to spare!  I guess I really must be a masochist of some sort, doing this for the third year in a row.  And, once again, we will see if I am able to keep up and do a daily Halloween-based post throughout October.  If you see a blank picture with "The Invisible Man" or "Spooky Stick Figure", or something similar, you know I done messed up.

Once again, starting on an (I hope) humorous introduction to "31 Days of HELL-O-Ween", this time as one of aliens from John Carpenter's other great Halloween movie, "The Live".  I always liked the sense of paranoia, the secret plot with subliminal messages, and with end-stage Capitalism and all the movie has more relavence now than ever.

To be honest, there's about 10lbs of excrement pushed into a 1lb bag with this one, but what ya gonna do?  Also, I have the Arial Black font with "Notice Me!" stretched out beyond all measure; it pains me!

Also, it should go without saying, but I never wear a suit.

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31 DAYS OF HELL-O-WEEN:
The Take-Home Game!

And here are some logos for those of you who (for some dumb reason) want to play along at home!  It doesn't have to be daily--heck, just do one or two for the entire month--that's just as valid.  I'm just a dum-dum that does stuff the hard way.  There's no glory, no fame or fortune (trust me, I've done this for two years for neither fame or fortune).  It's just for fun.  If you do wind up using them or posting anything, send me an e-mail of the link and I'll check it out!

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STEP ONE:  Here are the digital pencils done on a 1,500px x 2,250px canvas.  I prefer blue-lines for the pencils--a throwback to the days when I drew in blue pencil and then inked overtop.  I scribbled the basic script as well, which is how I normally work.  Thumbnail and possible dialog right next to it.

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STEP TWO:  And the inks and lettering.  There was some minor re-writing to make sure everything fit on the page, changes in phrasing, etc.  I thought it would be mildly interesting for some to see the writing process I use.  Very mildly interesting.

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STEP THREE:  Color!  And, in some spots, a lack thereof! 

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Done digitally in Clip Studio Paint.

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Day 13: They Live (1988) - 31 Days of HELL-O-Ween 2020

31 Days of HELL-O-Ween 2020
They Live (1988)

It's the scariest thing this Halloween: The dreaded KAREN!  She is displeased with something, and she wants to talk to your manager about it!  Well, actually, it's another John Carpenter movie, "They Live" (1988).  Another one of my favorite Satiric Sci-Fi/Horror movies from the 80's (right up there with John Carpenter's "The Thing").

Second only to the line "I've come to kick ass and chew bubble gum and I'm all out of bubble gum", IMHO, is "I've got one that can see!"  One of the things that always bothers me about the scene is I want to tell Rowdy Roddy "You probably don't wanna explain to the aliens how you can see them, as well as how you can see them when you wear these sunglasses."  You're kinda giving up the game, methinks.  That aside, I still think the movie is a great send up of Consumerism.

(Hmmm, for some reason this picture uploads as a bit on the dark side...  It displays normally in Photoshop, etc., so that's strange.  Hmmm, if you click to enlarge it, it seems normal, so that's even stranger...)

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STEP ONE:  These are the quick pencils done on 8-1/2" x 11" toned cardstock.

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STEP TWO:  Here is the first pass with gouache (opaque watercolor).  It just wasn't working out the way I wanted (I dunno, the paint just wasn't sticking to the paper quite right, or wasn't quite opaque enough for this session), so out of frustration, I took the scan and decided to do some digital overlay.

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STEP THREE:  As I thought the digital painting for "The Blob" turned out OK, I figured I'd use ArtStudio Pro in the iPad again... Y'know, just to tempt fate, again.  I dropped all the color info and started painting digitally over the gouache painting and what you see is what you get.  Well, aside from the part where it uploaded a little dark.  Maybe it's something which will correct itself, or some sort of bug in the compression.  The world may never know.

On to the next one!

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Done traditionally with gouache/watercolor, then digitally in ArtStudio Pro on an iPad Pro. 

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Shameless Self-Promotion: They Live Tattoo

"They Live" Tattoo

And here is the original image...

As a joking shout-out to a friend, Joel, I did up a caricature of of him as an alien from "They Live".  Then Joel no doubt had some sort of break with reality and decided it would be a good idea to have that image tattooed on his leg.  It was the end of 2019 when he did it, so who can blame him, I guess?  And, believe it or don't, it isn't the first time I've had someone put my art on their body as a tattoo.

I am always conflicted when it comes to something like this...  On the one hand (or leg, in this case), it **IS** really cool to have one's art represented as part of a "Permanent Collection", if you will.  On the other hand (er, leg), it is a mostly permanent part of someone's body, so having my art be a part of that seems like a terrible idea--bordering on irresponsible!  Then again, Joel has said he is a fan of my work, so his decision-making ability is already sketchy at best, so what did we all expect?  Tsk, tsk!

Seriously, it is an honor to have someone consider my art as a tattoo.  I will also admit it is somewhat strange and baffling (as well as a boost to the ol' ego) that someone would like my art enough to get it permanently placed on their own body.  So, that's kinda weird and surreal to think about, too.

In closing, if anyone else has a tattoo, or has used my art someplace, lemme know.  I'm enough of an egomaniac to want to see it--and maybe even show it off on my meager Blog!  :-)

THANKS for the pic, Joel!

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Day 26: They Live - 31 Days of HELL-o-Ween 2019

31 Days of HELL-o-Ween 2019

Day 26: They Live

This one is for another pal of mine, Joel.  He wanted to be one of the aliens in "They Live"... and, vaguely, that's what he gets to be in this drawing!  Very, very vaguely.  I put him in a business suit, so he may not be completely recognizable (Kidding!).  :-P

"They Live" is right up there with "The Thing" as one of my favorite John Carpenter horror/sci-fi movies.  Fun sci-fi action, sending up Consumerism and Capitalism gone amok with subliminal advertising and aliens buying and selling us.

Done using Clip Studio Paint on the iPad Pro.

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This was done with Clip Studio Paint on the iPad Pro.

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Inktober Halloween Round-Up - 2016

Inktober 2016

Well, here are all the pen-and-ink scans for 2016's Inktober/Halloween drawings in one post.  One could say that it sort of defeats the purpose of Inktober by colorizing the pen-and-ink, but that's never stopped me before (and won't in the future, either, of course).

So, without further ado, and with further adon't, here they are in their black and white gory!  Er, glory!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

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All were done with pen-and-ink with a No. 10 brush on 8-1/2" x 11" cardstock (with a minor assist with a Pilot Precise v7 pen for the "They Live" drawing).

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Inktober 2016 - They Live (1988)

They Live

Sure, "They Live" has been a meme for this year's election, so why not join in the fun?

I always liked John Carpenter's "They Live", being a fun, action/paranoid movie involving aliens disguising themselves among human society.  They are controlling humans with subliminal messages embedded within all media to "CONSUME", "BUY", "SLEEP", "OBEY", etc.  If you have special glasses, you can see the aliens and the messages they are propagating.

And, of course, it has one of the best lines in cinema, from Rowdy Roddy Piper: "I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick @$$...and I'm all out of bubblegum."  Oh, 80's movies, don't ever change!

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STEP ONE:  Here are the pencils, done with a .5mm mechanical pencil on 8-1/2" x 11" cardstock.

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STEP TWO:  The inks were done with a #10 brush and ink, and the stripes on the suit were done with a V7 Precise pen.

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STEP THREE:  After it was scanned in, I imported it into Photoshop and colorized it.

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This was done with pen-and-ink and digitally colored in Photoshop.

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