Day 14: The Thing - 31 Days of HELL-o-Ween 2019

31 Days of HELL-o-Ween 2019

Day 14: The Thing

Hey, it's two weeks in and I'm still going one with this mad thing!  Although, I am still flying by the seat of my pants... YIKES!

John Carpenter's "The Thing" is probably my favorite horror movies.  It has just about everything I find terrifying: Body horror and horrific transmutation; body replacement and doppelgangers; loss of self and identity through absorption into an alien monstrosity.

Based on John W. Campbell Jr.’s short story, “Who Goes There?”, "The Thing" features an alien creature which absorbs and disguises itself as its victims.  It's filled with a slow-burning tension (ironic, 'cuz it's set in the Antarctic) that continues to build.

This is the scene in which Bennings was exposed as a Thing--the transformation was 95% done, except for the hands.  It drops to its knees, lets out an alien scream, and it set on fire.  

Spoilers on a nearly 40 year-old movie: MacReady and Childs survive at the end, but for how long as they don't trust each other and it is getting colder.  The ending is a little elliptical: is one of them a Thing, waiting to go back into hibernation?  If so, which one?  I prefer to think of both of them as human and just too untrusting, where they freeze to death.  Something about the nature of humanity would make that seem to most logical ending, IMHO.

As for the picture: It was done with colored pencil on 8-1/2" x 11" toned cardstock.  The paper was coated with casein fixative, to keep it from warping too much, as I originally intended to do some gouache over top the colored pencils.  But, instead I used some Gamsol (oil painting solvent) to brush around and smooth out the colored pencil, and just finish it with colored pencils, instead.  Done and done!

Here's the work in progress...

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This was done with colored pencil on 8-1/2" x 11" toned cardstock.

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Day 13: The Man From Planet X - 31 Days of HELL-o-Ween 2019

31 Days of HELL-o-Ween 2019

Day 13: The Man From Planet X

Hey, HEY, Hey--it's the lucky Day 13!  In your face all you triskaidekaphobics!  And so far, so good!  Well, "good" may be overstating it, given this picture was just finished shortly before I posted it, but I am still keeping up with the schedule.

Today, it's the alien from "The Man From Planet X".  The movie itself if really boring and nothing much seems to happen: an alien lands and fiddles with the Scuba controls on his space suit and his ship gets blowed up by the military before he can bring about an invasion (SPOILERS!).  But, as it had an alien and spaceship in it, I immediately had to watch the movie as a kid.  For some reason, I find the design of "The Man From Planet X" to be strangely retro cool.

Here are the pics showing the progression.

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This was done with ArtStudio Pro on an iPad Pro.

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Day 12: Plan 9 From Outer Space - 31 Days of HELL-o-Ween 2019

31 Days of HELL-o-Ween 2019

Day 12: Plan 9 From Outer Space

"Plan 9 From Outer Space", along with "Invasion of the Saucer Men", is probably one of the movies that terrified me most as a dumb, naive kid; it terrifies me as an adult to think the six-year old me was afraid of this movie.  And thus began my inordinate fondness of horrible, B-Movies growing up.  Alas, I've seen probably 75% to 80% of the movies on "Mystery Science Theater 3000" with Joel/Mike and the robots in the corner.  A childhood wasted.  Sigh...

This was done with charcoal and white chalk on 8-1/2" x 11" gray-toned cardstock.  Below are the pics showing the progress of the picture.

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Done with charcoal and white chalk on 8-1/2" x 11" gray cardstock.

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Day 11: Bram Stoker's Dracula - 31 Days of HELL-o-Ween 2019

31 Days of HELL-o-Ween 2019

Day 11: Bram Stoker's Dracula

Hey, another vampire!  This time it's from Francis Ford Coppola's "Bram Stoker's Dracula"--a visually interesting take on Dracula.

Below is just the underpainting, followed by the finished painting.  I tried to make him look a little more decayed and broken down by keeping some of the brush strokes semi-obvious and less blended.  Also, the placement of the "31 Days of Hell-o-Ween" sort of looks like a badge on his jacket.

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Done with watercolor/gouache on 9" x 12" toned cardstock.

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Day 10: Invasion of the Saucer Men - 31 Days of HELL-o-Ween 2019

31 Days of HELL-o-Ween 2019

Day 10: Invasion of the Saucer Men

Hey, it's about one-third of the way through the self-imposed challenge and so far, so OK...  Although, I'm a little behind schedule, so let's see how that pans out.  Argh!

Anyways, as a kid, anything with monsters, aliens, or space ships and I was all in.  "Invasion of the Saucer Men" is one of the quintessential B-Movies that best sums up my dumb childhood (as is "Plan 9 From Outer Space")--and it TERRIFIED me as a kid.  Now, I'm terrified that I ever saw it as scary.  At the end of the movie, the aliens are killed when the blood alcohol of the town drunk is so high, they practically explode in a puff of smoke when car headlights are shined on them...  It's a long, dumb story--Just like my childhood! 

Also, if you do an image search for Invasion of the Saucer Men, I do have to wonder if their ears are intentionally something straight out of YouPorn...  YIKES!  NC-17 for sure.

This was done with ballpoint pen on 9" x 12" marker paper--I didn't bother with pencils, etc.  I sprayed some casein fixative, which turned it into a bit of a blurry mess, but I wanted to use that to then use gouache over top.  Alas, this paper didn't smear the ink nearly as well as the Canson Mixed-Media did for "The Creature of the Black Lagoon" drawing, but I was able to still over-paint with gouache.  

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Done with ballpoint pen and gouache on 9" x 12" Borden & Riley marker paper.

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Day 09: The Creature from the Black Lagoon - 31 Days of HELL-o-Ween 2019

31 Days of HELL-o-Ween 2019

Day 09: The Creature from the Black Lagoon

Since I started a run with Universal Monsters, I figured I'd continue it 'til I got a The Creature from the Black Lagoon.  And here we are.

I started with just a ballpoint pen drawing, but began to think maybe I should throw some watercolor over top of it.  So, I used some casein fixative to keep the paper from warping too much and to give the watercolor a medium to "stick" to.  It turned out the ink wasn't all that waterproof, so that was an interesting effect (one I plan on using for a future picture).  I almost left it as the blurry mess of lines, as it looked kind of interesting, but threw some color over top.  After an initial flat color layer, I decided to use some gouache (opaque watercolor) over it--leaving the ballpoint pen as a sort of texture beneath the painting.

And here is the progression of the work in progress...

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This was done with ballpoint pen and watercolor on 7" x 10" Canson Mix-Media paper.

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Day 08: The Mummy - 31 Days of HELL-o-Ween 2019

31 Days of HELL-o-Ween 2019

Day 08: The Mummy

Today's monster is The Mummy.  To my young mind, the terror of The Mummy was the slow, inexorable doom that stalks us all.  Yeah, I was pretty morbid as a kid... I guess I still am to a certain degree--a smiling morbidity, though.  :-D

This was done with watercolor on 8-1/2" x 11" toned cardstock.  After the pencils were finished, I sprayed a casein fixative over top the drawing to prevent too much warping from the watercolor, and not resist the watercolor, either.  I intended the painting to be a little more washed out on the edges, with the center of focus remaining on Karloff's face.

And here are works in progress for those interested.  Well, they are here for those not interested, as well...

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Done with watercolor on 8-1/2" x 11" toned cardstock.

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Day 07: The Wolfman - 31 Days of HELL-o-Ween 2019

31 Days of HELL-o-Ween 2019

Day 07: The Wolfman

Hey, it's one week in and so far I'm doing... OK with this dumb, self-imposed challenge.  I'm still flying by the seat of my pants, though.  Today, it's The Wolfman.

This drawing was done with brush and ink, along with white colored pencil and Dr. Ph. Martin's Bleed Proof White for highlights on 8-1/2" x 11" toned cardstock.

Here are the pics as it was drawn...

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Done with brush and ink, colored pencil, and white gouache on 8-1/2" x 11" toned cardstock.

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Day 06: The Invisible Man - 31 Days of HELL-o-Ween 2019

31 Days of HELL-o-Ween 2019

Day 06: The Invisible Man

Hey, it's Day 06 of my increasingly bad idea of doing a monster drawing a day for the month of October.  Ugh!  What the H-E-Double Hockey Sticks was I thinking?

Anyway, I joked I would be posting drawing of blank panels by the end of the week and calling them "The Invisible Man".  While I may, yet, here's a legit drawing/painting of The Invisible Man.  BTW, the whole time I was drawing this, I was thinking about Rebis/The Negative Man (Woman) from Grant Morrison's run of "Doom Patrol" (one of my favorite comic book runs), of which he/she/hir was an obvious nod to The Invisible Man.

This drawing was done with Indigo Blue colored pencil and gouache (an opaque watercolor) on 8-1/2" x 11" toned cardstock.

Here are two progressive pics.

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Done with colored pencil and gouache/watercolor on 8-1/2" x 11" toned cardstock.

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Day 05: Bride of Frankenstein - 31 Days of HELL-o-Ween 2019

31 Days of HELL-o-Ween 2019

Day 05: Bride of Frankenstein

Hey, hey, hey!  The 31 Days of HELL-o-Ween keeps on going.  This time, it's the Bride of Frankenstein.  Or, technically, I guess it is the Bride of the Monster, with Frankenstein being the name of the scientist, and the Monster being the one who points that out (yeah, a classic joke which I cannot stop telling whenever I mention Frankenstein--which is surprisingly often.  Several time on this Blog, alone).

This was painting with acrylic on 6" x 8" gessoed hardboard.  For this painting, I used a rather limited palette of M. Graham acrylic paints:  Titanium White, Lamp Black, Payne's Gray, Anthraquinone Blue, and Yellow Ochre.

Alas, most of the subtlety of the painting was lost in the scan, itself.  Some of the blended areas and lines scan a little more harshly than they are in actuality.  Oh, well.  

Also, I was hoping to get 3 drawings and paintings done this evening to catch me up 'til next week, but kept working on The Bride of Frankenstein until I got it (mostly) right, so only the one painting.  Sigh, that doesn't bode well for my hoped for schedule.  Double sigh...

Here's the progression for those interested...

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Done with acrylic paint on 6" x 8" gessoed hardboard.

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Day 04: Dracula (Bela Lugosi) - 31 Days of HELL-o-Ween 2019

31 Days of HELL-o-Ween 2019

Day 04: Dracula (Bela Lugosi)

This time, it's Bela Lugosi's Dracula, done with colored pencil and white chalk on 8-1/2" x 11" toned cardstock.  I used some Gamsol (oil paint solvent/thinner) and a paint brush to smear the colored pencil around and smooth out of most of the paper-grain effect of the colored pencil.

Below is the progression of the drawing.  The first drawing is really, REALLY off model for Bela Lugosi--the nose is too short, the mouth is too high on the face, the lower part of the head is too short and also too narrow on the left side... it's just a mess.  It changed rather drastically as it progressed.  But, I left it in as an example of how much of a difference just a half-inch can make... and to show how much a picture can change from the beginning to the end.  And, ugh, it was a LOT of work to fix!  Well, fix as much as I was able, anyways.  It's not a complete likeness, but it's closer than it was, I guess.

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Done with colored pencil and white charcoal pencil on 8-1/2" x 11" toned cardstock.

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Day 03: Frankenstein - 31 Days of HELL-o-Ween 2019

31 Days of HELL-o-Ween 2019

Day 03: Frankenstein

This time, it's Frankenstein.  And, yes, Frankenstein is the scientist; the monster is the pedant who points that out.  (An old joke I couldn't resist. ;-)

And here's the progression of the drawing, from the beginning to the finished image.  There weren't any pencils--I just started drawing with a ballpoint pen/gel pen, then used white gouache (Dr. Ph. Martin's Bleed Proof White) for the highlights.  I'm no Jung Gi Kim, but I get by.  

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Done with ballpoint pen/gel pen and white gouache on 8-1/2" x 11" toned cardstock.

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Day 02: Nosferatu - 31 Days of HELL-o-Ween 2019

31 Days of HELL-o-Ween 2019

Day 02: Nosferatu

Hey, two days in to "31 Days of HELL-o-Ween" 2019--so far, so good!  In this case, it's one of the creepiest vampires on celluloid: Nosferatu.

And, here's the pencils I did with a white charcoal pencil.  I painted over top the pencils with black and white gouache.

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Done with gouache on 8-1/2" x 11" black cardstock.

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Day 01: It Begins! - 31 Days of HELL-o-Ween 2019

31 Days of HELL-o-Ween 2019
Day 01: It Begins

(This picture is intended as a nod to Marty Feldman in "Young Frankenstein".)

Greetings!  OK, this is probably a bad idea.  In fact, I'm reasonably certain this is a bad idea.

Rather than my usual half-hearted participation in Inktober, I thought I'd invent something else:

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31 DAYS OF HELL-O-WEEN!  

(Queue lightning/thunder sound effects and scary screams)

 Here are some logos/stamps to use for those of you who want to play along at home!

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Rather than stick to using pen-and-ink (a good idea, IMHO--which is why Inktober got so popular), I'm opening this up to any medium.  And by "medium", I mean the spooky people who talk to ghosts!  Oh, wait, no, I mean any ARTISTIC medium: pen-and-ink, marker, watercolor, casein, acrylic, oil paint, charcoal, digital...  All of the above?  Whatever you want to use to do a Monster-a-Day for the next 31 days!

That's right--For the next 31 Days, I plan on posting drawings/paintings of monsters every day (mostly B-Movie monsters, as well as other famous movie monsters) until we reach Halloween.  So far I have plans for "Nosferatu", Bela Legosi Dracula, Christopher Lee Dracula, Frankenstein variations, "John Carpenter's The Thing", "Invasion of the Saucer-Men", "It Conquered the World", "They Live", "Plan 9 From Outer Space", etc., etc.  Y'know, the usual favorites.  Maybe even a few monsters of my own, if the muse strikes me.

I had hoped to get ahead of the rush and build myself up a bit of a cushion of a few extra drawings for any days in which life interrupts and I'm not able to get stuff done.  Alas, I just finished the digital painting above a couple hours ago.  I'm off to a glorious start and am behind schedule before I even began!  Sigh...

So, place your bets as to how long before I'm posting stick figures and smudges on paper as posts of Lovecraftian madness the mind cannot comprehend?  Or blank panels explaining it is "The Invisible Man"!  What excuses will I make when I inevitably fail to make a post on one (or more) of the days?  Will it be a spectacular and public failure?  Join me each day and find out!  (SPOILERS: It probably will!)

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The painting was done digitally on the iPad with ArtStudio Pro.

The Logo was created in Clip Studio Paint.

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