HAPPY HALLOWEEN

From Me and Dr. Maniaco!

New Comic! New Blog! New Maniaco!

Yes, I have finally made an online comic. It is Dr. Maniaco, the super villain who shares a flat with his henchman and you can find it here.

Bernard Quelch of the Night Watch

An idea for a comic I have. Bernard Quelch is a police officer who has just been given the Night Watch Shift, which he discovers is saving Old London Town from Vampires, Demons and other haunts of the night. 

I wanted Bernard to look very average and a bit old. Kind of like the Ghostbusters. 

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

The perfect Halloween story (I read it every year).

"A drowsy, dreamy influence seems to hang over the land and to pervade the very atmosphere."

The Haunting- 1960

 

The tag-line is from an actual poster. It's absolutely right. I don't believe in ghosts, but this is the scariest film I ever seen.

Fab Four

A quick warm up sketch.

The Curse of Frankenstein- 1958

A companion piece to the Horror of Dracula.

Nosferatu- 1922

I decided to go for a blue tint since they often tinted the film in the silent era. The paper background gives it the texture of the scratches on the film.

Super 8 Collection

I have started collecting Super 8/ 8mm films. I have the projector and 10 films. The projector I still need to figure out how to work. the films include:

• The Moon Landing footage
• Revenge of Frankenstein
• Curse of the Demon
• The Mummy (Boris Karloff)
• The Thing From Another World
• Godzilla vs The Thing
• The Wolf Man (Lon Chaney Jr.)
• It Came From Outer Space
• I Was A Teenage Frankenstein
• Rodan: The Flying Monster

The Wolf Man- 1941

Another poster in the same style as the Horror of Dracula one a few posts ago. The Wolf Man- the good one.

Van Helsing

A Van Helsing companion piece to my Old Dracula. I always think of Peter Cushing when I think of Van Helsing, however I wanted to have a design closer to Bram Stoker's actual character. He is rounder, more like Herbert Lom's portrayal, or David Suchet. 

FUN FACT: Did you know that Bram is short for Abraham, as in Abraham Van Helsing. 

Old Dracula

I am always trying to perfect my take on characters. I have been trying to develop my Old Dracula for a while and this is how I imagine him. From the book: 

"a tall old man, clean shaven save for a long white moustache, and clad in black from head to foot, without a single speck of colour about him anywhere"

"The nails were long and fine, and cut to a sharp point"

His ears are how I like to draw all of my vampires, bat-like, but in human form (this is due to them turning into bats for centuries and it having an effect). They are, perhaps, not as small as I would have liked them, but what the hey. I wanted to depict him without arms. I loved the idea of his talons just emerging from the darkness. On Photoshop I just upped the contrast and added the old page background. I would like to do more on the build up to Halloween, but are kidding, I do this all year round.

Horror of Dracula- 1958

I must have been pretty bored tonight, because I made a poster for Horror of Dracula. This was partly inspired after seeing this awesome DVD cover for Amicus films' I, Monster (odd title, great movie).

Vampire Sea Dog

I was thinking about writing a screenplay involving this. A Vampire Sea Dog. It seems sensible that a vampire would go from port to port for its victims, that way it's not hunted by the locals.

Dog Walk

I've always wanted to see this.

Who Goes There?

I received my copy of John W. Campbell's Who Goes There?, the basis for The Thing. The cover sucks!

Why can't it be more like this:

Or this?

Animation Title Test

Not an upcoming movie. I wanted to try a title sequence like in The Thing From Another World and John Carpenter's The Thing, because it is fantastic.

So anywhere here it is. I think it is really great, quite flawless and smooth. I hate sounding like a bragging so-and-so. 

The Shadow Knows

The Shadow is probably my favourite superhero. He is a mysterious avenger of the night, with the voice of Orson Welles!The original radio series had a creepy narrator at the beginning saying, 

"Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow Knows... AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

The Thing From Another World (1951)

The original adaptation of John W. Campbell's Who Goes There? is quite different to John Carpenter's take. Instead of the shape- shifting paranoia, we got a classic 1950's monster movie.  It is one of my favourite films of all time. It is actually quite sophisticated for a 50s monster flick.

Definitely Suicide

A cartoon illustrating something that always annoys me in crime/ mystery films, when police officers always dismiss cases as suicides too early, or without any investigation.

Tree of Life

Based on a real tree. the branch always reminded me of a dragon's head. I revisited that tree when I was older and found it had been cut down. I was upset, but at least I had those memories. I feel more sorry for the kids that won't experience the tree. I like telling stories without dialogue. It's a good exercise.