From The Sketchbook Archives: Ghastly Mcnasty

Last year I was working on a comic book piece for that year's issue of Hallowscream, but due to a change of residence I was unable to finish the piece, but in the warming up, I did this quick sketch of the magazine's creepy host, Ghastly Mcnasty.  Please go check out this year's issue of Hallowscream.  It should be available on Halloween.

{Sharpie and pen and ink}

Versus

During the month of December 2011, it felt as though there was no escape from everything that was wrong with my life...no shelter, no respite, no answers.  I had just moved all my belongings into a space half the size of my previous abode, after a year of job hunting I was still unemployed, and my new housemate's mother passed the second week of December.  By New Years Eve, I felt as though I was losing my mind. 

Night of the Living Dead: Barbara Zombie

In the original Night of the Living Dead, the last we see of the main character, Barbara, her delicate fingers are disappearing into a mob of the undead as she screams.  What happened to Barbara after her undead brother pulled her through the door and out into the horde?  Here is my vision of this undiscovered zombie.

Baphomet

I was worried upon my first viewing of this piece that it was too muddy and obscure, but the more I view this piece, the more it reveals.  Learn more about Baphomet here.

Astaroth

I had some confusion initially as to who this was a depiction of.  My first thought was of Baal, but upon checking other source materials, I feel that the crowned prince of hell, Astaroth, maybe be more accurate.  Also, this is not to be confused with the butt kicking axe wielder from the game Soul Calibur.

The Guardian

Blocked and bound at the wall of forbidden passage. This is another one of those pieces that doesn't want to give up its information.  There seems to be a diffusion around it.  My attempts at revealing its inner nature seem to be pushed away each time I try to analyze it.

Interesting that there is a Venus symbol in the structure of the piece and what appears to be the head of a large bull hidden in there as well.  If we follow the structure of the Crux Ansata and apply it to the Kabbalah, the guardian head emerging from the circle would be in the placement of the Daath level which is associated with Choronzon.   Choronzon is often considered to be the dweller at the threshold, the demon of dispersion, the guardian at the gate.  So now my difficulty in analyzing this piece becomes clearer.

Alan Moore and J. H. Williams III give a very interesting depiction of this level of consciousness in the 20th issue of Promethea.

Recommended Listening:
Moderat
Seamonkey
from Moderat


{Digital images manipulated in Photoshop}

Bullet in the Brain Pan

This one is a sister piece to Io Pan.  It was created from the same source material, but with a very, very different outcome. Io Pan seems to be moving towards some greater cohesion whereas this piece is about violent dissolution.

On an unrelated, but related note, I recently watched I saw the Devil for the first time.  The movie is dramatically gory, but as I was discussing with my friend Josh, it is gory with a purpose.  You need to feel knee deep in blood by the end of that movie.  I feel as though that kind of aesthetic applies to my pieces like this.  This piece is difficult for me to look at because it should be.  I feel I need to make a counterpoint here.  The movie Hostel and those of a similar make like the SAW series, are simply torture porn to me.  I Saw the Devil is a story about Revenge and all that it entails.  In Hostel, we are watching torture with no other overtures or elements.  In I saw the Devil the director takes you through the horror of the situation to bring you to an ultimate point of tragedy.

I guess I'm justifying a bit here because I was nervous about this piece from the moment I created it.  I'm not afraid of gore and the visceral reaction it evokes from me, but there is a line.  I do not want my pieces to be gory for the sake of aesthetic violence.  I guess my question becomes then...Where is the line?

{Digital images manipulated in Photoshop}

I Raise Up My Light

It burns in my heart like an ingot of molten metal. Sometimes it moves to the forefront from the far reaches of my mind and boils over my view until I cannot see past this driving force.  There is no reason, just the scream, only the scream.

It will be free.  If I do not find a way to release it, it will seek its own purchase in the world.  It will strike like lightning, burning and breaking until it is spent.  The surge of blood.  The great red sea.  The Odin force.  The Kundalini.  The opening of the great eye. The life death scream of the hawk.  When it wakes, the world trembles.

There is an older piece I created in graphite that is a sister piece to this one.  I will get a photo of that one soon.  It is larger than my normal work.  Also, It was packed away during the move and will need to be extracted.

Recommended Listening:

VnV Nation

Lightwave

Matter+Form

{Digital images manipulated in Photoshop}

Gestation Mandala

I usually save my mandalas for Trail of Bread Crumbs, but this one was so gory and dark I figured it would be more at home here on here on Zombie Bites.  I don't have much for you on this one, other than it makes me think of raw steak bits or a wounded heart.

Recommended Listening:
The White Birch
Breathe
from Star is just a Sun

{Digital images manipulated in Photoshop}

Io Pan!

I spent a good bit of time trying to truncate this image once it reached this state, but I finally chose to accept it as it is.  There are so many elements that are important to the meaning of this piece and every time I tried to crop it or manipulate it further, something important disappeared.

Here is Crowley's Hymn to Pan.  An interesting symbol to start the new year off with. Also, there are some elements hiding in this piece that remind me of some of the strange artwork associated with Alchemy.

Recommended Listening:
Access to Arasaka
Nostromo
from Oppidan

{Digital images manipulated in Photoshop}


UPDATE 011515:

This piece is now available as a tshirt or other paraphernalia at my Neatoshop.  Drop by and check it out!

No Peeking

Katie woke with a start.  She grinned.  Was it time yet?  Was it time?  The room was still dark but for the safe warmth of her night light.  She listened for Bobby to see if he'd beat her downstairs.  The house was silent.  The street light outside cast a lightning thin slit between the curtains and across to the door opposite.  Mom and Dad said not to get out of bed until morning.  NO PEEKING! Katie frowned and fidgeted under the covers.  What if she needed a drink of water?  What if she had to potty?  She wouldn't peek.  She'd promised.

Katie closed her eyes and tried to go back to sleep, but suddenly her insides were all tingly and excited and she knew she had to go potty.  She pushed the covers back and huffed at the ceiling. She wouldn't peek. She wouldn't even look down the stairs.  She would just potty and come right back to bed. Santa knew she was a good girl. She wouldn't peek.

She slipped out from under the comforter and tiptoed to her bedroom door.  It creaked loudly as she opened it and her eyes went wide.  She kept still and waited.  Did mom hear? She held her breath, one foot carefully balanced on tip toe for her next step.  She exhaled and placed her foot flat on the floor.  Maggie, the family Chihuahua, leapt through the open door and onto her foot.  She squealed and fell backward.

Maggie was on Katie's face in a flash, licking her repeatedly and making her giggle.  Katie held the dog back with both hands and whispered fervently, "Maggie no!  We have to be quiet!"  She managed to push the eager dog back enough to get on her feet.  "Ssssh!"  Katie dusted herself off and glared at Maggie.  Maggie looked up intently and wagged her tail.

Katie pushed the door all the way open and stepped out into the hallway.  The tingling was growing worse.  The hall was almost completely black, but she could see the nightlight in the bathroom at the far end.  She faced the wall as she moved.  Halfway to the bathroom the hall became a landing that looked over the living room and if she wasn't careful she'd be looking right at the Christmas tree.  She was pretty sure that would count as peeking.  She took quick steps and was on the toilet in no time.  Maggie whined as Katie closed the door.  The dog whimpered and scratched at the base of the door, trying to get in.  "Maggie, No!"  Katie whispered as loud as she could.  The dog whimpered and then Katie heard the familiar kathump kathump of Maggie descending the stairs.    

As she wiped herself clean she heard a thump on the roof.  Oh No Santa!  She zipped her jammies up fast and rushed to the door.  She opened it a crack and looked down the stairs.  No lights on.  She quickly tiptoed out.  Halfway back to her room, She heard another thump, downstairs this  time, followed by a yelp from Maggie.  Katie stopped without thinking and looked directly through the railing at the Christmas tree.

There was a sound like wrapping paper tearing, then  someone was chewing loudly with their mouth open. Katie could see someone moving at the base of the tree.  She stepped up to the railing.  "Bobby!  Bobby!  Mom said we were supposed to wait until morning!  I'm gonna tell!  I'm gonn-"  The thing that wasn't Bobby turned its head to look directly at her.  In the dim colored light it looked like a Christmas elf, but some thing was wrong with it.  Its clothes were spotted with something dark and its eyes were empty like a closed down store. Beyond the creature, Katie saw a dark spot in the carpet and something that looked like a chicken leg.  The Elf thing stood and turned toward her, its face a tight rictus.  Its mouth was covered in something shiny and dark.

Katie wanted to scream, but all the air was gone. She turned to run back to her room and tripped over a present lying in the hallway.  It collapsed under her weight and spilled its contents onto the hardwood floor, a thick dark liquid that was warm and sticky.  Katie scrambled to stand, her breath coming in short quick gasps.  Her arms and legs fumbled beneath her like a cartoon character slipping in oil.  Tears poured down her face.  The thing from downstairs was at the end of the hallway. It twitched and giggled and slowly stepped towards her, its fingers jerking like it was playing piano.  I didn't mean to peek, she thought.  It was too late, the Chrsitmas elf has seen her.

{Images created in Adobe Illustrator}

The Child

"My flashlight battery finally died as I stepped into the darkened alcove, but there was a dense red light emanating from the machinery nearby that allowed me to see. Ozone burned my nostrils. I covered my mouth with a portion of my shirt and stepped over several large cords to get closer to the cylindrical pod within the alcove.

In the halflight, the strange pod glistened as though it were coated with strawberry jam. I brushed my fingers across it. It was warm and thick like the refuse of chicken boiled too long. When I removed my hand, a thin string of it pulled away like snot. I jerked my hand quickly and it splattered somewhere in the darkness.

My touch seemed to activate something with the pod.  It jerked like a water balloon.  When I moved in, I heard a cry like a cat. It was muffled though, as if it were on the other side of a very thick wall.  I leaned in closer.  Through the jelly, something moved.  I gasped when I saw the thing.  It was staring back at me from within the cocoon..."

Recommended Listening:
Empusae
Tenebris For The Unborn
Ritual Decay

{Digital images manipulated in Photoshop}

SHARE THIS VIDEO! STOP SOPA: Revelations

Please check out this video for more information about SOPA and its supporters.  There is a lot of information here in this one video.  However, watch and listen please because it is full of reasons to fight SOPA.  This is all just another facet of Pluto in Capricorn and Uranus in Aries: revelation of secrets, societal structures, societal rebellion, new technology, transformation, sudden insights.

Check out One Candle in the Dark or CBS you suck for more information.

STOP SOPA!
Can't Stop the Signal!

Sketch: Father Christmas

This is the original sketch for the Seasons Greetings piece I just posted. I may still do another piece that is closer to this one. I like the lantern and the fact that he is dragging the bag.  If I do this one, I may eliminate the violent bits and just make him ominous.  Truly anyone who can tell if you've been bad or good and see when you're asleep or awake has got to be a little creepy in person.  I'm just sayin'.

Recommended Listening:
Northaunt
Pain is Better
The Ominous Silence

{Created in Adobe Photoshop}

Seasons Greetings

There is a reason that Santa Claus wears red, or maybe this isn't so much Santa as what the Big Bad Wolf did after Granny and Little Red were gone. LOL. Maybe a little of both, but I did draw initially as Santa.

A little bit of tribute here to Mike Mignola to say the least.  His strong chiaroscuro style and his penchant for antique and ancient artistic elements have always been a strong influence on me.  If you haven't read any Hellboy, you are really missing out!

My initial idea behind this piece involved a much more elaborate set up, but as I began working on the piece, simple seemed the way to go. This is a functional christmas card. It is already the correct size for printing on 8.5x11 paper - justify to the right. I couldn't decide on Color or Black and White, so I provided both. Enjoy!

Recommended Listening:
Northaunt
Night Alone
Horizons


{Images created in Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop}

Up on the Rooftop

"Later that night, he heard the jingling again.  Faintly, just as before, it circled the house like a passing car.  As before, the soft padding crunch of snow and again, the faint jingling.  He stood in the kitchen, a cigarette quivered between his enraged fingers. He smoked two more as the jingling continued for another fifteen minutes. He'd had it with those damned kids.  Ed grabbed the broom and his flashlight and headed out into the snow.

"Alright you little bastards!" Growling, he threw the door open and waived the broom in a wide arc.  The light flashed across the snow.  It was smooth.  No footprints.  He stepped out, broom at the ready.  No footprints anywhere in the yard.  His face full of confusion, his broom lowered.  He heard the jingling again, just beyond the corner of the house.  He raised the broom once more and moved to intercept. They weren't gonna get away.  The snow on his ankles tickled and burned with each step.

At the corner of the house he found no footprints, but could still hear the jingling. Something hit his arm and bounced into the snow.  He leaned over and picked up something wet.  It took him a moment to adjust his hold on the broom and get the flashlight up to his other hand.  It looked like a shredded piece of cloth from a coat, but it was covered in red paint.  No.  No, it wasn't paint.   Ed dropped the cloth and backed away from the house.  His line of vision moved slowly up towards the roof.  His mouth hung agape at the sight of the thing.  It was chewing absently above the bloody patch it made, a ring of bells circling its neck.  Each time it chewed, the bells would softly jingle.

Ed turned and ran.  The flashlight fell free into the soft snow, a small glowing thumbprint disappearing behind him. He hadn't gone that far, the door was just a few more feet away.  He heard a loud snort and his bladder emptied into his pajama pants.  Then there was a hard pinch at his neck, like when his mother used to grab him as a child.  His arms flailed as he was yanked back.   Ed screamed, but then a rough blow at the back of his head made him quiet.  He felt dizzy now.  He lurched and vomited blood as the pinch at his neck grew harder.

"I'll be good Ma.  I won't do it again."  The pinch grew harder still and he knew he was gonna get a spanking.  Then he was flying, flying up and into the christmas sky.  A trail of paint splattered on the snow beneath him. No. No, it wasn't paint."

Recommended Listening:
Svartsinn
Torchbearer, Kill the Light
Elegies for the End

{Image created in Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop}

SEES YOU WHEN YOU'RE SLEEPING. KNOWS WHEN YOU'RE AWAKE.

Need I say more?

{Drawn in Sharpie, Color added in Photoshop}

Gates of the 14 Aethyr

Empty,
I walk through fog and shade and rain.

A door opens within me, before me,
A space within a space.
I step out of nothing into nothing.
I step through and into myself.
I am the gate through which I pass.

All doors swing open,
a vast passage up down to the bottom top
of every no thing.
The sacred hole in the great hedge,
the womb throat of the Universe,
with a great wind singing through it.

Across this vastness,
across this great wallless infinite,
I convey the burden of space.

Recommended Listening:

ELDAR

From the Deep Sea (Featuring Wyrm)

Sapere Aude

{created in Photoshop}

SAY NO TO INTERNET CENSORSHIP: STOP SOPA!

Sorry to go political again, but I believe our rights as bloggers might be in danger here.  Dealing with adult content as I do in my blog, I fear what SOPA and PROTECT IP will mean to my freedom of expression.  If you work with any kind of previously copyrighted material, they may be able to block your site. Please watch the video below and check the link in my sidebar.  Please get involved before they take away our rights.

Also check Public Knowledge or Fight for the Future for more information.

Review: H.O.P.E. Tales of the Nuclear Family

This isn't necessarily darkness or horror related, but for those of you interested in comics, I've done a review of H.O.P.E. Tales of the Nuclear Family on my comics art blog, Wind of the Gods. Please check it out here and support these aspiring creators.