Bacon

I love bacon. My favorite is Pancetta, from a shop called Boccalonne in San Francisco. I wanted to draw bacon today. But it didn't come out very well, so I drew Boris Karloff instead.

Master Of The World

I was very happy with the 15 sketches I did for Bill Warren's recent "Keep Watching The Skies" update. In fact, I believe them to be some of the best "sketchy things"-style pieces I've ever done. But the book is so massive (over 1,000 pages!), my poor drawings get lost in the leviathan. So I'm going to post them here, starting today with Vincent Price as Robur from MASTER OF THE WORLD.

It's Delicious And Deadly!

Just for fun...Murder's favorite cocktail...

The JAWS Boys

Thinking about one of my all-time favorite films, and three reasons I enjoy it...

Unmasking Dr. Phibes Part 2

Okay, so now it's time to let the lights shine. I squint at the reference photos to determine where the light areas really stand out. Squinting makes it easier to recognize the tones as either light, middle or dark. Using an electric eraser, I begin by blocking out the areas that are going to be lighter. You'll notice that these are mostly small areas. In the following step, these will be softened to create a real sense of depth.

Now a kneaded eraser is used to gently soften the edges of the highlights, and lighten up larger areas. This often requires a good amount of push-and-pull, but the end result creates the illusion of depth that is vital to a pencil or charcoal sketch such as this...

Finally, some last minutes rendering of the darkest darks...and a fair amount of erasing to clean up the areas surrounding the character(s), and the sketch is complete. Oh, except for the signature, of course...

...and the notorious Dr. Phibes rises again, to be matted and framed in the den of a very happy client! Thanks again to Sketchy Things fan John Lee for his wonderful taste in subject matter!

Unmasking Dr. Phibes Part 1

A terrific fan from Kentucky just recently gave me the opportunity to create a truly unique sketch of Vincent Price from one of my favorite films, THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES. John Lee of Bardstown commissioned a drawing based on his own concept...the hideously scarred Anton Phibes holding up the mask of his own visage. I immediately loved the idea, and began the process of bringing John's concept to visual life. It began, as always, with a rough sketch, to determine the composition of the piece...

Once I was certain that the proportions were correct, I began filling in a middle tone over the entire drawing. This was accomplished with a Mars Lumograph 100 B pencil, the only pencil I would use throughout the entire sketch. The tone is gently feathered in, and then rubbed down with my fingers to acheive a nice soft and even middle tone.

Once that is done, I begin to render in the darker tones, and commit to the holding lines that will define the contours of the character. It is important to keep the entire drawing at the same level of completion. Not to finish one area and then return to the rest. This is a sure fire way to insure that each and every part of your sketch relates to the entire image.

Up next...the application of the lighter tones...

"Little Monster, Big Dreams" Sells At Halloweentown

This past weekend I was part of a terrific group gallery show at Halloweentown in Burbank. The theme was "Every Day Is Halloween," and I was joined by such impressive genre artists as Gris Grimly, Robert Lizzarado, Eric Pigors and many others.

My entry was called "Little Monster, Big Dreams," and was rendered in pencils. It sold early during the opening night party, to a vintage Halloween enthusiast. I was happy to see it go to a good home!

Channeling Mr. Poe Part 2

Once I was sure the Vincent Price caricature was working to my satisfaction, I began to address the background tones and the "ghost" of the dark poet. With Poe placed in the right spot, what remained was "pushing" and "pulling" the middle tones (the ones that create the most depth in a drawing) to acheive the maximum illusion of dimension.

Oh, and the moustache. Almost forgot the moustache.

Finally, the last details are added, including the very lightest and very darkest tones. This provides the extra "punch" needed to really bring Prince Prospero to life. By the way, the image of Price here is from THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH, one of the best of Roger Corman's Poe films. Below is the final piece, ready to be matted and framed for display at the gallery show.

Channeling Mr. Poe Part 1

After a long absence from blogging (mostly due to a heavy workload and several convention appearances), I am back!

I recently participated in a group gallery show at Halloweentown in Burbank. The theme of this show was Edgar Allan Poe, and since I had already done a Poe portrait, I decided to do something a little different.

Here a step-by-step look at the creation of my pencil piece, a nod to both Mr. Poe and Mr. Price, who starred in many Poe-inspired movies for producer Roger Corman.

Starting with a simple sketch, the task is about building up tones, little by little:

The Great Olin Howlin

This wonderful character actor appeared in hundreds of films, but the two he is most known for in the classic horror community are two of the most iconic sci-fi films of the 1950's. In Them!, he was a the nutbar psychiatric patient who actually saw the giant ants, but only wanted the heroes to "Make me a Sargeant and charge the booze!" In The Blob, his final film, Olin discovers the meteorite that brings the deadly protoplasm to our world, and makes the fatal mistake of poking it with a stick. This was the image that I wanted to capture, because it represents the movie in both human and alien terms. It remains one of my very favorite Sketchy Things pieces. The original pencil drawing now belongs to director John Fasano.