I’m not a Dracula fan, either of the original novel or most of the movie versions. It’s not that I dislike the character or vampires. I’m just not a fan. I really enjoyed Tomb of Dracula, the comic book series by Marv Wolfman/Gene Colan/Tom Palmer, but that bore little resemble to the original novel.
Anyway. The literary Dracula had a mustache. The most famous version of Dracula was played by Bela Lugosi. Without a mustache. I fixed that.
I love the idea of big rambling (and decaying) castles (mansions, fortresses, edifices). I need more practice drawing them.
One thing I love about the Frankenstein Monster – there’s a lot of him. The version described by Shelley in the novel has yet to be represented on film.That’s understandable. There aren’t a lot of eight foot tall actors around.
When sketching I have to draw a version of the Frankenstein Monster. It’s the law. I’ve yet to do a version of the Karloff monster that I think looks right. So I’ll keep practicing.
While I’ve haven’t been posting here for the last couple of years I haven’t been completely inactive or uncreative. Just very reduced. Over the next few weeks I’ll be posting some of my recent old work. Mostly with minimal comment.
It’s not that I should never look back. I would never learn anything if I didn’t stop to assess things once in a while. And I have some great and fun memories. But I can’t change the past. I can only review it. I live now.
I can talk about being out of practice, both in writing and in illustration. Or I can get to work.
There have dozens, perhaps hundreds, of adaptations of the novel Frankenstein since it was first published in 1818. In the novel the creature is an articulate, complicated being. Sometimes, in literature and comic books, that creature is represented. Until Penny Dreadful I had not seen that creature in film or television.
Penny Dreadful is tv series that mashes up characters from various early horror stories. Mina Harker, Dorian Gray, Doctor Van Helsing, and others make appearances. Among the principal characters are Victor Frankenstein and his creation. The creation, who calls himself John Clare after the poet, is not a good physical depiction of the novel’s creature. He’s short (compared to the original’s eight foot height). He’s got some scars and a pale complexion but he’s hardly hideous.
But his personality is spot on. He’s melancholy. He’s murderous. He wants to be loved. He’s afraid to be loved. He haunts his creator and inflicts mayhem upon him, yet he is shy and nervous with the rest of the world. If Penny Dreadful did nothing else well I would love it for this creature.
