Monthly Archives: February 2017

The Trash Comes Calling – B&W

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THE MILPITAS MONSTER premiered on May 21st, 1976. The film tells the story of a giant monster, born from the local landfill (garbage dump), who terrorizes a small city in Northern California. It’s the best giant monster movie made by a high school class that I’ve ever seen. No, I haven’t seen any others. It still has its charms. And I do enjoy the concept regardless of how well some of it was executed.

I’ve done a couple of different versions of this critter before – here and here. I will probably do a few more in the years to come.

A Lingering Scent of Gasoline and Buttered Popcorn – Color

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Time passes. Memories fade. When human civilization goes, some of our books will outlast us. If they have been stored somewhere dry and comfortable. Our films? Our films will go when we do. Without the technology to play the film and the power to run the technology, a film is (most accessibly) just a spool with a sequence of images or (less accessibly) an obsolete digital file.

A Lingering Scent of Gasoline and Buttered Popcorn – B&W

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And we’re back to our regular schedule – a black and white illustration posting on Sunday with a color version posting the following Wednesday.

This one is a more refined version of an image I did for the Drawloween/Inktober challenge last year. The prompt for that image was “Drive-In Creature Feature”.

I don’t have any real nostalgia for drive-ins. They weren’t a significant part of either my childhood or my adolescence. If I had a choice I’d have rather seen a film in a theatre building rather than a drive-in. I know people often used the drive-in for activities other than watching movies but I’ve got a one track mind. I go to the movies to watch the movie. I only remember going once, to see a double bill of Godzilla vs. Megalon and Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger. I’m sure that I have more than that but none of the films have stuck in my memory.

I do have sympathy for ghosts and creatures who have outlasted their original era. Most of us become the latter and, eventually, all of us become the former.

To Walk the Night

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Back in 2014, Edward Morris contacted me to ask me about using the illustration for “If Company Should Come” in a collection of his short stories. I said yes and offered to illustrate another story of his choice. Below is the illustration for that story – “To Walk the Night”.

Both stories (and illustrations) were included in the ebook edition of CARCOSA TENEMENT BLUES. The book, unfortunately, seems to be out of print – a weird thing since it’s an ebook. It was never “printed” as such. It did get a glowing review on Amazon.

Hopefully it will see actual print someday. Mr. Morris’s writing deserves to be widely read and appreciated. walkfinal

If Company Should Come

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Back in 2011 I illustrated two stories for THE AKLONOMICON, an anthology of Lovecraftian stories and poems. The print run of the book was very limited and it has long since sold out. Sadly (for me) I only have a PDF of the book, not a print version. PDFs and ebooks may be the way most things get published (now and) in the future but I can’t put them on my shelves so they just don’t seem real.

Below is my illustration for “If Company Should Come” by Edward Morris. I don’t think the story has seen print yet anywhere else. That’s unfortunate. Ed is fine fellow and his way with words makes me very very jealous. 417944_10151426470637695_1856986539_n