Drawing feathers on dinosaurs feels weird.
Tag Archives: sketches
Atomic Fish Zombies
The Horror of Party Beach is probably not a good movie. I’ve only seen it once and I don’t remember it being a good movie. The monster costumes are pretty ridiculous. Yet I keep returning to the story as an illustration subject. For me, the idea of human corpse reanimated and transformed into fishmen by atomic waste is just too much fun not to play with.
I Never Drink … Wine
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.
Drawing Bricks is Relaxing
The Castle on the Hill
I love the idea of big rambling (and decaying) castles (mansions, fortresses, edifices). I need more practice drawing them.
Friend Good
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.
Of Course
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.
The Monster Men
This will be your only warning. I’m going to post images of naked people every now and then. I don’t expect to post any deliberate pornography or erotica but there will be folks without clothes. If you were a regular reader of the Skook sketch blog then you probably won’t be surprised.
It’s: Frankenstein in the Jungle!
Or maybe: Thirteen Frankenstein Monsters!
Or perhaps: Frankenstein vs Pirates!
Or: Mad scientist attempts to build the perfect mate for his daughter!
Tarzan meets Frankenstein with Pirates! Maybe?
Any way I describe it, The Monster Men by Edgar Rice Burroughs sounds like fun. And maybe, if you hadn’t read Frankenstein or Tarzan, you’d think it was a rip snorting adventure. It’s certainly got a lot of action. Unfortunately, for me, there was far too much running-around-being-chased-by-pirates action and not enough mad-science-monster action.
The idea behind the novel is more interesting than the novel that it inspired. One of these days I’d love to give the book a rewrite. There’s actually a lot that I think works. I just think it needs to be crazier than it is. The monster men don’t get nearly enough page time. And the ending is a cop out.
Perhaps I could start by doing an illustrated edition. In my copious spare time.
The above sketch is a version of Jack, the 13th Monster Man. Behind him is Virginia Maxon, the daughter of the scientist who creates the Monster Men. And behind them both is another one of the Monsters. Burroughs leaves most of the creatures undescribed. That leaves a lot of opportunity for an illustrator to have fun.
