From The Archives: In the Alleyway

I always come back to werewolves.  They have been a terror and a sensual draw since I was very young.  With this piece I tried to explore what made a werewolf different than merely an aggressive canine.  After some introspection and some mood swings thanks to the summer heat, I decided that there is something in werewolves that is, for lack of a better term, "crazy".

The aggression of a werewolf is at toxic levels.  They are rabid.  There is only one solution for them, only one avenue of egress, and that is bloody terrible violence.  In this scenario, I am thinking of lycanthropy as a curse and the werewolf as a doomed soul.  After their transformation and summary consumption of human flesh, the only succor they are able to find is in death. This is after all about the horror.

For 2015, I wanted to take the headers in a different direction than the work I had been producing.  I chose to adopt a looser style.  Although the 2014 pieces all had some underlying element of dark humor or social commentary, the 2015 headers have all moved back towards the essence of the work I want to create: horror.

{13.33x4.68,  created in Adobe Photoshop}

Psyche Delectus: Dark Crown

Its gravity is its purpose.

Recommended Listening:

Yen Pox

Twilight Eternal

from Blood Music

{8x5.33, Digital Images manipulated in Adobe Photoshop}

Kickstarter: The Unkindness of Ravens

Only 4 days left to help Laurie Brewster's new project, The Unkindness of Ravens, to become a reality!

Psyche Delectus: King in Darkness

His burden is knowledge.

Recommended Listening:

OhGr

Pissage

from Undeveloped

{8x5.33, Digital Images manipulated in Adobe Photoshop}

From the Archives: The Burning Dead

This isn't the first time that the burning dead have been a focus for me.  They've shown up just before the summer solstice for the past couple of years.  I'm not sure what they're all about, but I'll keep coming back to them until I figure it out or rather, they will keep finding me until...

For 2015, I wanted to take the headers in a different direction than the work I had been producing.  I chose to adopt a looser style.  Although the 2014 pieces all had some underlying element of dark humor or social commentary, the 2015 headers have all moved back towards the essence of the work I want to create: horror.

{13.33 x 4.68,  created in Adobe Photoshop}

Happy Belated Birthday Halloween!

I had intended to post this piece last week on Sunday, the anniversary of the release date of the original Halloween, but I ran out of time.  It makes more sense to post it today instead.  I spent many childhood and teenage years terrified of Michael Myers.  He would appear spontaneously out of the darkness in my nightmares.  It wasn't until my mid twenties that he ceased to be a recurring presence in my dreamscape.

I watched the original Halloween again this week and still find so many moments unsettling and creepy.  John Carpenter's Halloween was released on October 25, 1978.  Despite the movie's age, there is a sorrowful timelessness about it, a mythic  landscape of fear.  Of course, that relentless theme music haunts forever.  Thank You John Carpenter!

Happy All Hallow's Eve!

Halloween From the Archives: Take One

In the spring of 2015 I created a set of Halloween themed pieces as submissions to a fiction print anthology focusing on Halloween.  The anthology was set for a juvenile reading level.  I toned down my usual gore and darkness and tried to shift my imagery a little towards the lighter side.  You will see as the pieces progress that the darkness began creeping through regardless.  Although my submissions were rejected, I ended up with six lovely pieces that I will be sharing between now and All Hallow's Eve.  I hope you enjoy them.

This final piece is where my usual darkness finally breaks through.  This image almost ended up gritty and blood splattered, but I pulled back.  This could easily be a piece from one of my Halloween Outbreaks.  It may yet be.

I kept thinking about this piece until I finally decided to do a blood splattered version.  Here is your dark treat a day early!  Happy Halloween!

I only just realized that so many of the pieces in this set feature doorways.  hmph.  What is so fear filling about doorways?  What comes through them?  What might come through them?  What dread gatekeepers guard them?  What have they been enclosing, holding back and is it now loose?  Oh Doorways, you open and you close.

By the way, The big day is tomorrow.  It's almost time.  Don't forget to wear your masks.

{8x5.33,  created in Adobe Photoshop}

Psyche Delectus: Distillation

Despite blockades,
Despite interruption,
the painstaking is continuous.

Recommended Listening:

Chelsea Wolfe

Grey Days

from Abyss

{8x5.33, Digital Images manipulated in Adobe Photoshop}

Halloween From the Archives: Dead End

In the spring of 2015 I created a set of Halloween themed pieces as submissions to a fiction print anthology focusing on Halloween.  The anthology was set for a juvenile reading level.  I toned down my usual gore and darkness and tried to shift my imagery a little towards the lighter side.  You will see as the pieces progress that the darkness began creeping through regardless.  Although my submissions were rejected, I ended up with six lovely pieces that I will be sharing between now and All Hallow's Eve.  I hope you enjoy them.

This one is mostly a mood piece.  However, there is something inherently creepy about a single child standing alone, not seeking out the care of an adult.  The skeleton costume helps with the creepy, of course.

{8x5.33,  created in Adobe Photoshop}

Halloween From the Archives: Subway

In the spring of 2015 I created a set of Halloween themed pieces as submissions to a fiction print anthology focusing on Halloween.  The anthology was set for a juvenile reading level.  I toned down my usual gore and darkness and tried to shift my imagery a little towards the lighter side.  You will see as the pieces progress that the darkness began creeping through regardless.  Although my submissions were rejected, I ended up with six lovely pieces that I will be sharing between now and All Hallow's Eve.  I hope you enjoy them.

I haven't done a lot of work focused on fear in a city setting.  For this piece I chose a subway late at night.  I also wanted to highlight that moment of horror where the protagonist narrowly escapes whomever or whatever is chasing them with only a thin barrier of protection keeping their pursuer at bay.

{8x5.33,  created in Adobe Photoshop}

Psyche Delectus: The Lessons of Shadow

Some lessons can only be learned
in darkness.

Recommended Listening:

Sephiroth

Dark Father

from Cathedron

{8x5.33,  Digital Images manipulated in Adobe Photoshop}

Halloween From the Archives: Ghost in the Doorway

In the spring of 2015 I created a set of Halloween themed pieces as submissions to a fiction print anthology focusing on Halloween.  The anthology was set for a juvenile reading level.  I toned down my usual gore and darkness and tried to shift my imagery a little towards the lighter side.  You will see as the pieces progress that the darkness began creeping through regardless.  Although my submissions were rejected, I ended up with six lovely pieces that I will be sharing between now and All Hallow's Eve.  I hope you enjoy them.

For this piece I wanted to create an uncomplicated image.  I wanted the image to be mostly darkness to focus on the ghostly glow.  I did not want any details to be lost in the darkness so I adopted a clean and simple style.

{8x5.33,  created in Adobe Photoshop}

From the Archives: Beyond the Mountains

With this header, I wanted to evoke a creepy foreboding without any direct confrontational horror.  The monstrous thing is  far away, but it's big and could be close in heartbeat, especially if it should NOTICE you.  eep.  ...and worse, there is more than one.
 
For 2015, I wanted to take the headers in a different direction than the work I had been producing.  I chose to adopt a looser style.  Although the 2014 pieces all had some underlying element of dark humor or social commentary, the 2015 headers have all moved back towards the essence of the work I want to create: horror.

{13.33x4.68,  created in Adobe Photoshop}

Halloween From the Archives: Three Sisters

In the spring of 2015 I created a set of Halloween themed pieces as submissions to a fiction print anthology focusing on Halloween.  The anthology was set for a juvenile reading level.  I toned down my usual gore and darkness and tried to shift my imagery a little towards the lighter side.  You will see as the pieces progress that the darkness began creeping through regardless.  Although my submissions were rejected, I ended up with six lovely pieces that I will be sharing between now and All Hallow's Eve.  I hope you enjoy them.

Here we have three antebellum ghost sisters.  Are they merely ghosts or something more substantial and horrific?

{11.11x7.4,  created in Adobe Photoshop}

Exhumed: Pumpkin Headed Scarecrow Jack

This piece was originally created to be used as the background of an invitation for an annual halloween party.  This is one of the first images I ever drew of the flaming jack o lantern headed the spirit of Halloween, Jack.

{7.98 x 5.03, Sharpie with color added in Adobe Photoshop}

Psyche Delectus: King of Wands

His thunderous arrival
is a grounding energetic.

Recommended Listening:

VnV Nation

Fearless

from Futureperfect

{8x5.33,  created in Adobe Photoshop}

Halloween From the Archives: It's Right Behind You

In the spring of 2015 I created a set of Halloween themed pieces as submissions to a fiction print anthology focusing on Halloween.  The anthology was set for a juvenile reading level.  I toned down my usual gore and darkness and tried to shift my imagery a little towards the lighter side.  You will see as the pieces progress that the darkness began creeping through regardless.  Although my submissions were rejected, I ended up with six lovely pieces that I will be sharing between now and All Hallow's Eve.  I hope you enjoy them.

With each piece in this set I tried to tell some kind of story even it was only a simple one.  This piece shows one of the greatest fears I had as a kid: the nearby but unseen monster.

{8x5.33,  created in Adobe Photoshop}

Halloween From the Archives: Jack-O-Lantern

In the spring of 2015 I created a set of Halloween themed pieces as submissions to a fiction print anthology focusing on Halloween.  The anthology was set for a juvenile reading level.  I toned down my usual gore and darkness and tried to shift my imagery a little towards the lighter side.  You will see as the pieces progress that the darkness began creeping through regardless.  Although my submissions were rejected, I ended up with six lovely pieces that I will be sharing between now and All Hallow's Eve.  I hope you enjoy them.

Here we have a Jack-O-Lantern painted in a watercolor style.  This was initially only a warm up piece, but I ended up including it in my submission.

{8x5.33,  created in Adobe Photoshop}

Psyche Delectus: Absence of Light

In deep darkness,
new eyes guide the way.

Recommended Listening:

Chelsea Wolfe

Feral Love

from Pain is Beauty

{8x5.33,  created in Adobe Photoshop}

From the Archives: See

It seems each year that February always brings about a rebirth of direction for me artistically, at least with the Zombie Bites headers.  Above is the first header from early 2015.   After the unsettling events in America during the latter half of 2014, I wanted to find a way to express those feelings of deep seated group intensity, sharpened awareness, and fear filled paranoia.

For 2015, I wanted to take the headers in a different direction than the work I had been producing.  I chose to adopt a looser style.  It is not as apparent in this piece as I was overcoming the tension of the 2014 year end.  Although the 2014 pieces all had some underlying element of dark humor or social commentary, the 2015 headers have all moved back towards the essence of the work I want to create: horror.

{13.33x4.68, created in Adobe Photoshop}

Psyche Delectus: Clash

Within the tunnels of the Undermind,
Truth and Denial come face to face.

Recommended Listening:

Chelsea Wolfe

Carrion Flowers

from Abyss

{8x5.33,  created in Adobe Photoshop}

Happy Birthday H. P. Lovecraft

Today marks the birthday of that master of celestial horror and father of the Cthulhu mythos, Howard Phillips Lovecraft.  Rest well HPL!  Thanks for the exquisite parade of sense shattering nightmares and the lingering miasma of dread and horror!

{6.48x8, created in Adobe Photoshop}

Psyche Delectus: The Tree Within

After many permutations,
the distillation leaves no trace
of what was.

Recommended Listening:

Arcana

The Tree Within

from Cantar De Procella

{8x5.33,  created in Adobe Photoshop}

From the Archives: Trick or Treat

Here we have the Zombie Bites header from October 2014, Trick or Treat.   Trick or Treaters can be a surly bunch if they don't get the candy they want.  Who knows what calamity might happen on Halloween night if a Zombie outbreak should occur.

~

During 2014, I began creating a new header each month depicting a scene associated with the dominate holiday for that month but with a zombie twist.  I'll be posting the headers here in From the Archives to give them a nice dark corner to fester in.  I'll also be posting the images with and without the logo so you can see the parts of the background image that were covered by the logo.  Thanks for viewing and reading!

If you like what you see here, be sure to check out Valentine's Day, Saint Patrick's Day, Easter, Mother's Day, Father's Day, The Horde of July, and Back to School.

{8x2.81,  created in Adobe Photoshop}