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Tuesday 22 April 2014

THE THING is....

horror film , monster alien make up effect
In THE THING it's not just the mind that wanders....the whole damn head does too !!




















THREE THINGS I like about the THING 

1.THE THING --- best space monster movie ever.

2. ROB BOTTIN --- aged 22 and he unleashed the most inventive creatures designs on cinema goers ever.

3. THE SNOW --- makes it feel so Christmassy.





While we're on the subject , here's another poster from my collection a lovely dark image of some shapeless threat hovering over the outpost, really sums up the dark horror of the film,  makes me think of a larger version of the creature that shrieks up from the petri dish during the blood test scene.


John Carpenters The Thing movie poster and one of the strangest sounding tag line
"man is the warmest place to hide." 
 



Monday 21 April 2014

HELLRAISER SKETCH BOOK PAGE

Nobody actually gets to peek inside my sketch pads.
 So I think I ought to share a few of the more presentable pages.
It not only gives you a chance to look at the occupants and also for them to look at you.

horror drawing The Gurch Hellraiser torture
Worse than a paper cut I'm guessing. 

Monday 14 April 2014

AFTER EARTH

monster art, drawing, after earth, si-fi movie M.Night Shyamalan  monster alien beast
URSA is latin for bear
I didn't expect much from this movie but when i finally got around to watching  AFTER EARTH, I loved it! The entertainment value and thrills I got from this motivated me to do this drawing of the stand-off with the dreaded URSA - in case you were wondering about the above drawing that  Jayden Smiths pose isn't reactive to his situation it's all in the storyline that if you master your fear you're invisible to the creature , he cant sense you.   ( Its called ghosting. )
Fabulously  entertaining and inventive stuff and at the end  as the credits rolled I discovered that the director was none other than  M. Night Shyamalan.

The general consensus seems to be of hatred for this movie and that the Tom Cruise si-fi outing OBLIVION is superior,  yet I honestly found that flick tedious and boring.
 A quick trawl of the internet reveals that critics universally slated AFTER EARTH and seem to  gleefully wish  box office death upon it,  from what I can gauge its mainly because of Mr Shyamalan association  with this project.  I loved this film and so I find this puzzling backlash unwarranted and unfair.

 I never realised it was M. Night Shyamalan at the helm, but it was one of the better movie nights in our house and really thats what it boils down to entertainment value, thinking back I have to give credit where credit be due and truthful we've been thrilled amazed, enthralled and gripped  in generous amounts by his previous films   SIGNS, THE SIXTH SENSE, THE HAPPENING  and even THE VILLAGE. ( I wont mention Last Airbender....nor Lady in the Lake! )
....
So in support of this movie a big hooray goes out  from this corner of the blogverse , and  I'm also gonna stick my neck out and say that if I wasn't me then I would have liked to be M.Night Shyamalan - such is my admiration for his work in fact I was convinced that he was going to make foil hats the next big fashion hit.

Its a big thumbs up from me for this movie and tin foil hats.
 

Thursday 10 April 2014

DISPOSABLE ART



Don't step on that paper bag, it might be Lon Chaney!














Sometimes I pimp up scrappy tatty remnants of paper before they're consigned to landfill sites or recycling plant, its kinder I figure to send a page with a doodle and drawing to the next stage in its life than without it having properly served a use.
 So envelopes , bits of paper and cardboard often get decorated by me for no real purpose -  heres one I did today.


Oddly enough shortly after binning this I came across a news story which read as follows...


Snowy Moutains , by the acclaimed Chinese artist Cui Ruzhou sold at the Grand Hyatt hotel in Wan Chai area of Hong Kong for $3.7 million.
            The artwork was reported missing a day later by the auction house fearing it had been stolen.
However, CCTV recordings studied by the police showed a security guard kicking the wrapped-up painting towards a pile of rubbish, apparently thinking it was litter.
            The rubbish was taken to a landfill site in the city of Tuen Mun. Police searched the site but found no trace of the painting. The identity of the buyer as not been revealed.
            The Grand Hyatt group said it would not take responsibility for the loss. 

Its left me thinking that those boys that clear our refuse away must have some interestingly decorated walls!

KING KONG FORE-ARM SMASH!



WELCOME LADIES AND GENTLEMEN TO THE 8TH WONDER OF .. ...this blog. 









Perhaps due to too much exposure to the white apes of BARSOON this week or perhaps it was because Peter Jackson KING KONG movie contains the most jaw dropping and stunningly choreographed fight between Kong and three grisly looking T -Rexes , that my pencils and me finally got around to paying homage to the great ape himself and while at it thought wouldn't it be handier for Kong to be blessed with extra appendages.

This here is the resultant drawing showing a new and much mightier version of Kong - he can outshine the regular Kong in many aspects of island life -  he can fight twice as many dinosaurs and/or carry more brides.. and as for that solid double barrelled chest that'll take some beating!

(I reckon SKULL island might even have to change its name to SKILL island once his reputation at juggling gets around!)

Sunday 6 April 2014

EVILSPEAK ISSUE1 seen and heard!




EVILSPEAK DEBUT ISSUE plus free scary cut out mask 






















A shout out for a brilliant new horror fanzine I received a couple of days ago - 
issue 1 of EVILSPEAK horror magazine.

 It felt great getting my mittens on a proper tactile fanzine again
instead of those digital web based variety I've tried to get along with,
 I was happily reminded back to the times I used to received numerous fanzine
 and the resultant joys I'd get from poring over the pages.

 In so many ways this new publication delivers brilliantly - straight out of the 
protective bag the first thing that struck me was how great the standard of its
paper stock was , teamed with the glossy cover it seems to add weight to its 
worth and in doing so also bring an added air of authority to its contents. 
 
The top notch production values continues throughout - pleasingly planned and 
laid out pages ( Justin Stubbs handiwork ) with lots of sensational artwork coupled
 with clear movie stills all serve to  pitch the tone of the mag perfectly. 
It's a mighty 79 pages of lovingly crafted , well informed and nicely written horror 
movie adoration - this how fanzines should be done , all quality work and decently 
presented. 

Have to my express my appreciation to Mike Howlett for his thoroughly 
informative and well written piece on Fantaco,  
 (along with my biggest thanks to him for the kind mention of my work.)

 A lot of hard graft goes into these endeavours so you need to beg , borrow or 
even better still just go buy yourself a copy, support these guys for the all the 
sterling effort they've poured into getting it assembled so beautifully. 

I'm sure you'll agree, judging it by its debut issue It certainly deserves to be a 
huge success 

- long may EVILSPEAK continue to chatter! -
 (I know i want more!) 

------------------------------
Its Easter weekend, usually long and boring but I finally got around to watching 
the EVIL DEAD reboot and invested some of my time re-reading  EVILSPEAK  and
 then mashed the two with this drawing.

But notice that I skipped back to the masterful RAIMI trilogy to draw my inspiration
 from!
So what can I say about the eagerly await return to the famed cabin in the woods?
Its very brutal , rudely so,  not one that flinches from throwing the nastiest gore and
 maiming across the screen.  There's plenty of vivid bloodletting and done with none
 of the over the top campy florish that entertained us in the originals. In fact theres
 so much blood flow that they really ought to have considered called this outing
 EVIL RED!  

To be honestly fair on my second viewing I did enjoy it a considerable bit more. 
Maybe because i was now seeing it as a stand alone movie and not under the 
umbrella of the Sam Raimi tales. Gone is the slap stick its replaced simply with
 a stab with a sharp stick! I suppose its darker and humourless nature is more a 
telling of a new audiences tastes, it's a product of modern times.

This new movie was good gruesome horror fare but not a patch on those groovy
  original three treasures and some scenes are rather hard to stomach as it a 
movie which at first seems to rely on gore rather than scares and doesn't deviate
from the original set up too much    


EVILSPEAK draws you in.....






 

Tuesday 1 April 2014

TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE






Leatherface in killing mode 





















TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE


LEATHERFACE  -  if Texas Chainsaw Massacre was originally conceived as a Saturday morning cartoon that is!

This is how I see the main antagonist LEATHERFACE -  once he’s got that saw fired up nothing but nothing seems to slow him --he’s a big bulk charging like an unstoppable!

Both the original Tobe Hooper tale of this cannibal family and the 2003 remake (staring Jessica Biel) both rank in my top ten favourite horror film list , I just LOVE, LOVE LOVE them!  
These films are gritty, gruesome and thrilling and  quite possibly because of the fact I’m vegetarian and that these films centred on eating human flesh barbecues it added extra helpings of  horror to the proceedings for me. 
There's something so right in the set up that makes it all work. Its could be that in the opening you instantly sympathise with the protagonists, easing into their pleasant company as they journey on their road trip into the Texas setting.  Whilst on the flip side a wilder more mentally troubled group that make up the antagonist family you would be hard pressed to find ,  oddly entertaining in their comical yet disturbing ways. 
One group is lively and the other so deadly, and where ever two opposites  play off each other the clash always makes for an engaging spectacle.  
              

STAGE FRIGHT


Frankenstein Monster comic joke stage fright black and white ink
Ba dum tsssshh





















































Hey with just my second posting I’ve managed to work the entire menu -- you've already had a face full of madness and doom from that Crazy Ralph in my debut posting and now here a serving of the best monster of all! 


This creation is actually a sketch pad drawing brought to life with the addition of  Photoshopped speech. 

 I didn’t  think the idea through, hence a little error in the nuts and bolt of this pun 
 (I’m pretty sure someone sooner or later would have pointed it out so I've mentioned it first. )




A Word from our Sponsor....



Crazy Ralph friday the thirteen horror film art drawing doomed
Crazy Ralph from Friday 13th being crazy

















































To mark the occasion I kindly asked Crazy Ralph to pop by and say a few lines cordially welcoming you to this blog.

Grrrrrr  You wrecked it Ralph!   

 I wanted this opening post to be perfect and eloquent introduction  -- I wanted warm welcoming words not words loaded with warning and worry! 


Still  there no need for panic folks -- please be assured by the fact that it is actually April the 1st today and not Friday the 13th.  and I suppose you could always  help drown out this lunatics rantings and ravings by leave a comment or two of your own.