The Forest of Doubt

The air bleeds with the ichor of dismay.
No shelter as the light fades to a dwindling.

This is the forest of doubt,
the darkening plain,
the house of no.

A call to the sky is met with dreadful stolidity.
Even the winds refuse to blow.

From the Archives: Portfolio Cover 2002

The cover to my printed portfolio for 2002.  During 1999-2004 I printed giveaway portfolios to leave with possible employers.  I was doing a lot of showing at the sci-fi convention extravaganza in Atalanta, DragonCon.

Recommended Listening:
Cocteau Twins
When Mama Was Moth
from Head over Heels

{Digital Images manipulated in Adobe Photoshop}

Suspicion

Darkness and ignorance lend the credence of fact to speculation and fear.

Recommended Listening:

Brighter Death Now

Consumers

from The Slaughterhouse

{Digital Images manipulated in Adobe Photoshop}

Depths

Lost in the structures of calamity, the mind struggles for resolution.

Recommended Listening:
Darkwood

Wintermärchen

from Notwendfeuer

{Digital Images manipulated in Adobe Photoshop}

Featured Creature: Werewolf

This on is a little cartoony, but that was all I had in me at the time.  It does hearken to the kind of werewolf from the first Howling movie and the issues of Moon Knight that had Werewolf by Night in them.  I'll draw another one full figure at some point and loosen up the style.  I've always been fond of / afraid of werewolves.  This was the kind of thing lurking beneath the back porch steps waiting to grab my ankle.

 

Mirror of the Minotaur

Near the palace at Gnosis,
birthed of union and godly misfortune,
I keep myself at bay with a confusion of corridors.
I build a labyrinthine meander to house my savagery,
my monstrous child self.

Featured Creature: Jumper Demon

I seem to be angling this month toward creepy otherworldly creatures, From Beyond and now this monstrosity.  Topping the list of things you never want to see on the end of your flashlight beam, here we have a hungry Jumper Demon.  This creature pays homage to two of my all time favorite horror sci-fi movies, Alien and Aliens.  Those movies gave me nightmares for years. Thanks Ridley Scott and James Cameron!

Cloak of the Traveller

Dreaming, although nightmares tempt ergot.
Forest rowdies yearn my vortex,
all underground with green hair.

Danger almost never tries everything.
Forensics reads your mind, Voyeur.
Armored umbrage withers, gambling harder.

Don't always neglect this entryway.
Fearful reason you might venerate,
although universally we go here.

Featured Creature: From Beyond

Here we have some slithery dreadful thing from beyond.  Special thanks as always to good ol' H.P.L. for showing us the way.  My initial thought after finishing this was that it would make a great dark tattoo design, but I couldn't get this one done on myself.  I can't be creeped out by my own skin.  Nope, not gonna do it!

Arrival

A new force arrives amidst the chaos.

The Price

We silence or martyr those who seek to tell us the truth.

From the Sketchbook Archives: Darkness Unleashed

This piece is from the period of time following my four month use of Prednisone.  It took me years to get over the damage.  This is where the door of darkness opened that eventually became Zombie Bites.

{Sharpie}

On the Styx

This piece brings us more visions of a journey through the Underworld.  Here we have statuary on the riverbanks in Hades.

Featured Creature: Reaching Zombie Guy

Here we have the last of the fill-in zombies to round out the HZO.  This will probably be my last zombie drawing for a little while.  I'm going to stick to non-zombie creatures for a bit until my self-inflicted PTSD wears off.  I am also in the process of rethinking on how I plan to present the Featured Creatures and what my goals are with these pieces.

I'm going to include the link here for the site that caused my dramatic change of heart.  I feel like I need to share this link because of the intensity of its images and its effect upon me.  PLEASE BE WARNED: if you choose to hit the link below that this is harsh material.  If you have the stomach for it, the site that broke me is called Charon Boat.

Thanks for bearing with me and I hope you enjoyed the HZO.  I'll post a toned version of this piece soon.

 
{Sharpie and Uni-ball Vision Elite Pen with tones added in Adobe Photoshop}

UPDATE 112512:

Here is the toned version for this piece.  This has been a long haul to get the fill ins for the HZO all completed.  The end of October and the whole month of November haven't taken any prisoners.  One of my housemates had surgery to have a tumor removed, my other housemate has been sick, my truck is having some kind of catastrophic failure at the moment, and I've been battling the flu for almost 3 weeks.  It turned nasty this weekend, pneumonia like, so I may be headed to the hospital soon.  You'd think by now I'd learn to respect the evil power of November.  It always kicks my butt.  Enough bemoaning my fate, eh.  Hey everybody - ZOMBIES!

Featured Creature: Overalls Zombie

Here we have a good ol' boy who didn't get away quite fast enough.  I'll post a toned version of this soon.

Featured Creature: Long Haired Female Zombie

I didn't notice when I was drawing but someone I showed this to noticed that she looked a good bit like Laura Croft. An unintentional likeness as I've never played much Tomb Raider.  I'll get a tone version of this up soon.

 

Dysphorian Altar

In the blindness of ignorant action we build a home for all the things we deny.

Featured Creature: Dead Wolf

Here we have an undead wolf.  I forget exactly what inspired this piece.  I think I'd read something or other about the legend of an otherworldly black dog.  I'll update this piece with a toned version at some point later.

Featured Creature: Liberty Spikes Zombie

Here we have a punk rocker who wasn't quick enough to escape the hordes.  He was changed some time ago and grown dry with age.

{Sharpie and Uni-ball Vision Elite Pen with tones added in Adobe Photoshop}

Featured Creature HZO: An Apology

I must tender an apology.  I have run up against a truly unexpected barrier with the Halloween Zombie Outbreak.

There is a fine line in film where a horror movie can turn into a snuff film.  I enjoy being frightened as simulated catharsis, but I am not into murder porn.  I feel like I've been dancing around that line with the HZO pieces and maybe even crossed over it at a couple of points.  In my searches for reference material for the Halloween Zombie Outbreak pieces, I've come across some real world images that have made my soul hurt.

Generally, I find myself inured to most horrific imagery, but there is real violence and real suffering in the world that is soul humbling.  I just can't draw anymore undead children with their intestines hanging out.  I'm not done with horror or with even with zombies, I just have to take a break.  I can't draw any more horror right now.

I may not be able to create anything new, but I do have some other zombie pieces that have been waiting in the wings that I will post to round out the Halloween Zombie Outbreak.

Thanks for understanding and viewing.