From the Archives: Face of Wrath

I was originally developing this piece to be included in the Night of the Cauldron event from last Halloween, but it never coalesced into anything more than this sketch.

{8x5.33,  created in Adobe Photoshop}

Featured Creature: Doctor Theodore Mars

"At the time of his incarceration, Doctor Mars was in the process of surgically reconstructing live human subjects into complex and unnatural forms.  Investigation of his laboratory revealed that he had been performing these operations for an as yet undetermined number of years.  It is suspected that he was conducting his procedures at multiple clandestine locations and that the full catalog of his victims has yet to be uncovered and identified."

{8x5.33,  created in Adobe Photoshop}

Psyche Delectus: The Plains of Despair

And in that place, dawn never comes.

Saturday Sketch: Belasco

I first heard about Marvel's, Belasco in New Mutants 14 volume one and later saw the demon lord later in the Magik limited series.  He's always kind of freaked me out for his ability to corrupt.  I've never read the Ka-Zar issues where he first appeared but I do enjoy him as a demonic villain.

Exhumed: FEAR

Here we have explorations of an older sketch for a fear logo.  Whereas most of the other Exhumed pieces have been about simply adding color to develop the image further, here I've taken the idea from the original sketch and constructed an entirely new design. 

{8x5.33,  Created in Adobe Photoshop}

UPDATE: From the Archives

 

From the Archives is growing up!  From the Archives has left Other Features and blossomed into it's own gallery.  Although currently only a partial sampling of all the From the Archives posts, I'll be updating regularly with fresh links!  Check it out and let me know what you think!

From the Archives: FEAR

Here is a quick graphite sketch for a logo design or larger art piece.  Perhaps in time it will become both.  Check this week's Exhumed post for my current thoughts on this idea.

{8.5 x11,  Graphite}

UPDATE 022614:

This piece was Exhumed and reinvestigated with color in February 2014.  Check out the Exhumed image here.

Featured Creature: After the Storm

"The morning after the storm, they found them hanging from porches and trees, car bumpers and the sides of bridges, fences and clotheslines.  No one knew what they were, but by nightfall, everyone knew."

{8x5.33,  created in Adobe Photoshop}

Psyche Delectus: Encounter in the Hallways of Loss

It is impossible to resist the current.

Featured Creature: Reunion at the Merrimon Library Part IV, From Beyond the Gate

Reunion at the 

Merrimon Library:
Part IV, From Beyond the Gate

~ Continued from Part III ~

Alan put his hands under Tim's arms and dragged him away from the circle as quickly as possible.  With the only light coming from the windows now, the corner had become an abyss of pitch.  Through the windows, Alan could see that the buildings across the street were dark as well.  Only passing car headlights and the darkening grey sky offered any illumination.

"Get up Tim!  C'mon Timothy, You've got to get on your feet!  We've got to get out of here!"  Tim managed to get his feet beneath him and he and Alan rushed towards the table.  Nonetheless, Alan kept hold of one arm to support him.

Alan had begun sweating profusely.  He knew that this was only the beginning and if he could not get he and Tim back to his house and within the arcane protections surrounding it, they were both in mortal danger.  First, though, they had to get out of the building.  

As they reached the table, Alan made sure Tim could stand on his own and grabbed his backpack.  He directed Tim to his own jacket and kept his eye on the dark passage to the restrooms for any sign of movement.  From the pack, he procured the book Tim had been reading earlier, Die Tür Des Bösen.  He hoped he could find some indication of what Tim had been exposed to that could lead him to devising some form of defense.

Saturday Sketch: Golden Age Doctor Fate

A classic version of one of my favorite sorcerers DC Comics, Doctor Fate.  

{2.5x3.5,  created in Adobe Photoshop}

I claim no copyright for the properties represented in the Saturday Sketches.  All copyrights and trademarks are retained by their respective owners.  I make no money from what I am presenting here.  It is presented for portfolio purposes only.  

Exhumed: The Collapse

This piece was originally done to simulate a woodcut but in the color version I kind of left all that behind.  I wanted to accentuate the dying of the light with this piece.  However, as I finished this I realized there is a quality of discovery here as  well.  The uncovered ancient corpse.  eep.

{8x6.59,  created in Adobe Photoshop}

Featured Creature: Reunion at the Merrimon Library Part III, The Ritual

Reunion at the 

Merrimon Library:
Part III, The Ritual

~ Continued from Part II ~

 
Alan sat and returned to copying his notes.  He quickly went through several pages, glancing up sporadically to watch Tim's reactions as he was reading.  Timothy sat with his legs crossed and the thick volume cradled in his lap.  He had taken off his coat and draped it across the back of the chair.  Alan took a secret pleasure in watching his friend as the sequence of realization and understanding played across his features.

At first Tim's eyes darted plainly back and forth as he read with a veiled disdain.  As he continued to read, a squinting confusion settled upon him.  His eyebrows furrowed together.  Slowly that confusion blossomed into a genuine interest and his page turning increased.  His eyes grew narrow with focus and intent.  Alan focused on his own work for awhile and copied several more pages of notes before looking up again.

Skin Crawling Comics January 2014 Update

The Skin Crawling Comics website began recently and will be posting pages to the individual stories of the anthology every Tuesday and Thursday.  I'll be doing an update at least once a month with links to the newest pages.  Check it out!

Basement Title Page

Basement Page 1

Basement Page 2

Basement Page 3

Basement Page 4

Basement Page 5

If you haven't already, please check out Skin Crawling Comics on Twitter and Facebook!

From the Archives: Unused Ghost

Here's a rough graphite sketch that was being developed for the Night of the Cauldron stories from the 2013 Halloween Outbreak.  Everything about this one was a little too whimsical and not quite creepy enough for me so I went back to the drawing board and multiplied the ghosts.

{Graphite}

New Featured Creature Section: Before The Feature

I've just added a new section to the Featured Creature gallery called Before the Feature.  This new section collects the related work I've posted on Zombie Bites before I began the Feature Creature.  Check it out and let me know what you think.  I hope you enjoy!

Featured Creature: Reunion at the Merrimon Library Part II, Timothy Wallace

Reunion at the 

Merrimon Library:
Part II, Timothy Wallace

~ Continued from Part I ~

"Alan?!  Oh wow, I didn't recognize you with the beard."  Timothy moved over to Alan's table.  Alan rose and gave him a generous hug.  "It's been -"

"Years.  Yeah.  Not since Austrum.  Good to see you!  What are you doing now?"

"Working for my Dad, property management and sales."  He pulled his name tag out of his jacket pocket and flashed it, Wallace properties.  "I was just over at the Register of Deeds doing a title search for a client.  Glad they connected all this."  Seven years ago, the Colby county offices and Register of Deeds had been relocated beside the Historical Merrimon Library and Museum.  Both buildings were conjoined by several interconnected walkways and pedestrian bridges.  At the time, Alan had disliked the increase in traffic, but had since enjoyed the convenience on occasion.

"Yeah.  It's become a bit of a crossroads."

Psyche Delectus: Abrasax Rising

From the opened cocoon,
there is only the one pathway.

Featured Creature: Reunion at the Merrimon Library Part I, Alan's Research

In light of my delay getting this one posted, I'm going to do a little something different this week.  In addition to the actual Featured Creature piece, I've created four other mood and setting pieces to go along with this story.  This way I can hold onto the creature reveal until the last possible post and in the meantime you get story and images at regular intervals.  I hope you enjoy the additional pieces.  On with the show!

Reunion at the 

Merrimon Library:
Part I, Alan's Research

Alan stood and stretched his arms high over his head then left and right in turn.  He had been sitting in the library for most of the day and his back had begun to hurt.  He moved away from the table and his stacks of books, papers, and notebooks.  Looking out the large windows facing Merrimon Avenue, he continued to stretch.  The sky had grown overcast in the last hour.  In the grey light, a couple of cars moved languidly down the street like giant dull colored beetles.

Saturday Sketch: Classic Joker

A quickie of DC Comics clown prince of crime, The Joker.  I've always been fond of the creepy combination of clownish vulgarity and psychopathic unpredictability present in the Joker.  When he shows up, it is always trouble.  I'm glad I don't live in Gotham City.

Exhumed: The Old Blue Man

Here we have an old blue man.  The color here is a little closer to my original vision for this piece.  Although I enjoy the roughness of his face in the original drawing, I feel that the softer edges of the color piece make him more "celestial".  Also the color gives the piece a greater visual depth.  Maybe it is merely comparison, but with them side by side the black and white looks very flat.

{8x5.437,  Sharpie with color added in Adobe Photoshop}

Skin Crawling Comics UPDATE

The next stage of Skin Crawling Comics has begun!

I just found out that the new Skin Crawling Comics website is up and running! Pages from the anthology stories will be posted every Tuesday and Thursday.  The Basement is the first story to go up and is up to page two.  Please drop by and check it out!  Also, if you haven't already, please check out Skin Crawling Comics on Twitter and Facebook! 

From the Archives: Primordial

Here's a sketch of some monstrous primordial tentacled thing.  You'll probably see something along these lines again as I'm not completely satisfied with how this image turned out.  It is supposed to be gigantic, but this has no scale to it.  As it is here, it seems kind of cute.

{8.5x11,  Ball Point Pen}

Featured Creature Delay

This week's Featured Creature is going to be delayed a day, maybe two.  Research for the story has taken longer than I anticipated.  Here is a bit of teaser art to tide you over until I get the story finished.  Soon.

Psyche Delectus: An Understanding of Darkness

The flesh is only mask to the spirit.

Saturday Sketch: Classic Morpheus

Here we have DC Comics' Dream King, Morpheus.  I started out drawing this in a very standard comic book style, but half way through, Morpheus took over and everything became much more muted and lyrical.

{2.5x3.5,  created in Adobe Photoshop}

I claim no copyright for the properties represented in the Saturday Sketches.  All copyrights and trademarks are retained by their respective owners.  I make no money from what I am presenting here.  It is presented for portfolio purposes only.  

Exhumed: The Visitors

Here we have another image that was originally posted at Trail of Breadcrumbs, but I feel like this one is just creepy enough to fit in here at Zombie Bites.  I don't know if it's because I've watched The Thing too many times, but there is something about a snowy landscape that fills me with an innate sense of dread and fear.  I guess it's that life is minimized in that climate.  Most everything is either asleep or dead.  So who are these figures come across the snowy wastes?  Are they the sleeping or the dead?  Who goes there?

UPDATE: Writing Gallery

I've added a new section and a host of links to the Writing Gallery.  The Serials section has links to the continuing sagas of the Disc of Abrasax and The Chronicles of Vz as well as links to the all of posts from this past Halloween's Night of the Cauldron.  Check them out and let me know what you think!

From the Archives: Lapine Suspicions

Here's a recent quick emotional graphite sketch.  I wanted to do something more with this piece, but it never expanded beyond this simple image.

{8.5x11,  Graphite}

Bristol