Micki's Tattoo Designs

Some tattoo designs for my friend Micki.  She's a big fan of Hellraiser and Pinhead.  Once these have been 'made flesh' as it were, I'll post updates.

{Digital images created in Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Indesign}

The Second Phase: His Ire

Revelation of a truth about my nature, and perhaps the face of one of the entities who occasionally walks with my feet.

Sketchbook: Grahtennas

Another portrait of the demonic arch duke, Grahtennas.  This image is by no means a complete portrait, but it does give us a more expansive view of the archfiend.

{Sharpie}

UPDATE 022614:

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

 

Sketchbook: Demon

A bat-winged demon guy lit by flames.  The sketch started as just a satyr, but as I continued, it turned into something much more.  I think when I drew him I was at odds with the capriciousness of the universe in my life at the time.  I was just beginning to feel the effects of the Mars Retrograde cycle from earlier this year.

I am also working on a color version of this.  I will update here once it is complete.

{Sharpie}

UPDATE Sketchbbok Archives: Taurian

Another of the Rescans.  Another interesting realization here about the differences between the ZIG and Sharpie markers.  Please check out the old post and compare.

Observation of the Supplicant before the Throne

On the wings of thought and desire,
I send my petition into the other.

UPDATE Sketchbook Archives: Scream

Another of the Rescans.  When I glanced at this rescan, I didn't think there was much change between this one and the original, but once I saw the two together, there is a definite improvement!  Please check out the old post and compare.

UPDATE Sketchbook Archives: Red

Another update from the Rescans.  This one is completely changed by the Rescan.  With the darkness of this piece and the glare from the sharpies, there really was no way to get a decent shot of this one.  Once again the Scanner saves the day!  Please check out the old post and compare.

In the Valley of the Mask

At the bottom of our lives,

the soulless urge waits.

We've no reason to fear this skin we've shed,

yet a shiver still comes at its similarity

to our reflection in the mirror.
It is only absence,
it is only emptiness,
echoing the beating of our hearts.

Fear wears only the clothes we provide.

UPDATE Sketchbook Archives: Face of Darkness

Another update from the Rescans.  This is one that benefits greatly from the rescan.  No glare at all, in fact, you get some of the subtlety of the Sharpie transparency showing through on the scan.  That almost never shows up in reproduction.  Please check out the old post and compare.

UPDATE Sketchbook Archives: Winged Cat Demon

Here is another of the rescanned images from the sketchbook.  On this one, the scan was so much better than the photo I took, I didn't have to touch up the image at all.  Please check out the old post and compare.

The Room

We live within a lie.

OTHER BITES

Here's a quick glance at my other blogs.  Although there may be a few repetitions between each of them, generally, each blog has artwork that is unique to its genre.  Check them out and let me know what you think.  :-)

Death by Comics

 

Death by Comics is the home of all the combined comic book projects of Josh Dean and myself.  Although quiet the first portion of 2012, look for this one to get more exciting as our projects begin moving forward.

Hell, Another Entrance

There are many roads into the Underworld...as many as there are names for it.  Hell, Hades, Underworld, Mictlan, Annwn, Niflheim, and on.  Sometimes, like it or not, you have to walk into it, because it is the only road before you.  All other avenues of escape have been removed and only darkness waits.  Pulsing darkness and pain that calls like an old addiction.  It wants you to believe that it is all there is.  The light was only a trick of your mind and only madness and blood are the truth.

Light and Dark Kachinas

Here are a couple of the little ginger bread astronaut men that drive my machine.  Made from the same source material and pretty much the same composition, I figured I'd keep them together.

Fear of the Night

Here's something nice and creepy for your Friday the 13th.  A little wild hog in the dark, a little Mothman, a little snowy owl, but ALL something you don't want to see following you in the dark or anywhere in the dark for that matter.  I think this might be a heebie-jeebie.  That is the scariest part, because if you were to get the heebie jeebies, that means there would be more than one.  Eep.

The Process: As Above, So Below

This is a map of the intensity and resources and energy necessary to make even small changes in the world.  The Alchemy of Spirit, the challenge of bringing desire into reality. Viewing this piece finished was when I realized all the changes that I was making in my world were changing me, permanently.

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. 

The Labyrinth of Vain Striving

Recommended Listening:
Apoptose
Nordlicht
from Nordland

{Digital images manipulated in Photoshop}

Before You Receive Their Mercy, First You Must Bleed

Recommended Listening:
Hildur Gudnadottir
Ascent
from Without Sinking

{Digital images manipulated in Photoshop}

What's that behind you?

This is thing that you always feel staring at you when your back is turned.  That creepy tingly feeling are its hairs on the back of your neck.  It always zips away when you turn your head around, though.  I aimed my camera over my shoulder and caught this quick snapshot.

Mandala: The Blockade

This has been the energy in my life since the end of January this year.

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.

Thee Prison of Flesh

A friend of mine is in prison.  Thinking of the life he is forced to lead within those walls has made me think a great deal on freedom and what that word truly means.  I wonder at the pressurizing effects of that kind of incarceration on human consciousness. When natural movement is forbidden by physical restraint and social strictures, the feedback creates extreme intensity and behavior that otherwise might not exist within an individual. I wonder sometimes if there is a better way.

Absence Roller Coaster

I would like to extend apologies for my absence.  This past month has been an escalating roller coaster of stress and grief.  My finances took a deadly nose dive mid-January and have have only just now reemerged thanks to the timely arrival of my tax returns.  Special thanks also to my friends Kevin and Vinnie, without whom I would not have eaten or had a roof over my head during this time.  The saddest portion of my news is that my long time furry friend Miss T. suffered from toxic kidney failure last week and I chose to end her suffering.  It's been a hatefully rough month.  I'll get back on track as soon as I can, but as it stands I'm taking some time to myself to lick my wounds and try to get my head back on straight.  See you soon.

Mandala Cross of the Mothmen

Once again a mandala has found its way over from Trail of Breadcrumbs.  This one isn't so much gruesome as the last one, but it's dark air of mystery was what felt more appropriate to Zombie Bites...that and the Mothmen.

From the Sketchbook Archives: Ghost

This piece was created very shortly after Sharpie premiered their new fine tip writing pens.  Needless to say I was VERY excited by the mark making possibilities.  Straight to paper here with no graphite sketching before the pen.  I was playing with the new fine point and this little guy emerged.

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.

UPDATE Sketchbook Archives: Dancing Hand

Here is another of the rescanned images from the sketchbook.  Although this one has a little haze from trying to flatten my sketchbook on the glass, I prefer it to the other simply for the level of detail in the pencils.  Please check out the old post and compare.

From the Skechbook Archives: Sharpie Zombie

Here is the first sketch from the my recent sketchbook.  At the time, I had just gotten my first taste of my new gigantic Sharpie set and wanted to play.  This isn't really all that great a drawing across the board, but I wanted to include it regardless.  This is me unfocused.

{Sharpie}

UPDATE Sketchbook Archives: In The Darkness

Here is the first of the rescanned images from the sketchbook.  As I rescan each piece, I will be making update posts as placeholder announcements with a pointer to the updated older post.

Guess Who Finally Got a Scanner?!?!

It's going to take me a little while, but now I can finally update with some decent scans of the sketchbook pieces I've posted.  YIPPEEEEEEE!  :-)  I think I'm on the smack / rub payment plan with the universe, because overall this week has been total crap, but here at the end of it, a very nice surprise.

This scanner will allow me a variety of things, not the least of which will be the ability to scan my drawings for my comic book work.  This will allow several stalled projects to truly get moving again since I won't have to pay $12/plus an hour at Fedex Office to rent a scanner.  WAHOO!

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}

SHARE THIS VIDEO: SOPA & PIPA HORROR STORY Exposed in the UK Richard O'Dwyer

STEAL THIS VIDEO! Re-Upload to YouTube and Everywhere!

Evidence Blog http://onecandleinthedark.blogspot.com

Sign THIS PETITION to Save Richard O'Dwyer from Extradition NOW!
http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/stop-extradition-fair-uk-trial-for-richar...

Richard O'Dwyer's Mum's Blog to Fight Extradition
http://juliasblog-the-fight-of-our-lives.blogspot.com/2012/01/epidode-2-full-...

Julia O'Dwyer's Real Twitter https://twitter.com/#!/@jrodwyer 

Please Follow his Mum before it's too late!
even more at http://www.cbsyousuck.com

UK Student Richard O'Dwyer is being extradited to the United States to face USA Courts for just LINKING to copyrighted material on his webpage TVShack.net The USA is using an extradition treaty intended to be used for terrorist to bring England Resident Richard O'Dwyer to America to be imprisoned for copyright infringement for what he did on his TVShack.net site in spite of the Fact that he broke no UK / England Laws and has never been to the USA.
The Famed Billionaire Alki David has publicly announced that he will cover ALL of Richard O'Dwyer's Legal Costs in the USA once he is brought here to stand trial.
MPAA Head former US Senator Chris Dodd supports the Imprisonment of World Citizens in the USA for Copyright Infringement and has called Anti SOPA and PIPA pundits "Dangerous".

This Video continues to expose how the Large Media Companies Actually Created the phenomenon of "Online Piracy" to Craft laws to take over the World Wide internet and Media Portals. And How big Media Promoted Sites like Rapidshare and Megaupload

SHARE THIS VIDEO: Why the MEGAUPLOAD seizure is dangerous for EVERYONE!

Please watch this video and take some time to think about the dangers of this government corporate tyranny.  Please note they took this action without SOPA or PIPA.  The fight for our rights has truly begun.  Arm yourself with Information!

STEAL THIS Megaupload VIDEO.

PLEASE Sign the Richard O'Dwyer Petition HERE; http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/stop-extradition-fair-uk-trial-for-richar...

See More Evidence of how CNET / CBS caused the Phenomenon of Piracy with the Help of So-Branded Partners such as AOL and the MSN Network http://onecandleinthedark.blogspot.com

Jammie Rasset Thomas Story on Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitol_v._Thomas

Richard O'Dwyer Story, Extradition Pact Being MisUsed
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2087135/Richard-ODwyer-US-extradition...

For Profit Prisons
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8289

New York Times, US Prison Popular Dwarfs the rest of the World's
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/23/world/americas/23iht-23prison.12253738.html...

Article: For Profit Prisons a GREAT Business Opportunity
http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2011/12/07/theres-one-good-thing-ab...

86 % of US Prison Population is Victimless Crimes
http://www.libertariannews.org/2011/09/29/victimless-crime-constitutes-86-of-...

Megauploads Story od Raid and Arrests
http://www.3news.co.nz/Megauploads-Kim-Schmitz-arrested-in-Auckland-site-shut...

130,000 Downloaders Sued for Downloading Just One Movie
http://torrentfreak.com/100000-p2p-users-sued-in-us-mass-lawsuits-110130/

Anti-Piracy Lawyers Sue Dead Person
http://torrentfreak.com/anti-piracy-lawyers-sue-dead-person-110826/

Ars Technica Report that 2011 Judge Rules that MASS Lawsuits are Legal and Can Proceed
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/03/p2p-lawyers-score-a-victory-m...

Article that Downloading can Destroy Your Career Including a Report of NEW Mass Copyright Infringement Filing against Users
http://ctwatchdog.com/finance/downloading-pirated-movies-can-damage-your-care...

Thousands More Bittorrent Users to be sued article
http://www.newworldorderreport.com/News/tabid/266/ID/4667/Thousands-More-BitT...

Mass Lawsuits start against Porn Downloaders in 2011
http://verdict.justia.com/2011/07/06/recent-lawsuits-allege-illegal-downloadi...

BLACKING OUT AGAINST SOPA / PIPA

I tried to black things out on my blog, but I couldn't get the code to work so I am just going to make a regular post.

If you haven't become involved in the protest against SOPA and PIPA I ask that you do so now.  These bills will for all intents and purposes MAIM the internet.  I'm sure that many of the review blogs would be shut down almost immediately due to supposed copyright infringement issues.  Please read some of the information on SOPA and PIPA and I'm sure you will see the direction this will head if it is passed.  Go to the Wikipedia protest page to contact your government representatives and let them know what you think of this attempt at online censorship, please.

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}

5x5 Issue Four Cover: The Mask of Fire

This was the image I created for the fourth issue cover of 5x5 fiction.  I had two 5x5 stories accepted to this issue.  Please check out the fourth issue!  I have also had two pieces accepted to issue four!

Recommended Listening:
Vibrasphere
Floating Free (Krama Remix)

{Digital images manipulated in Photoshop}

From the Sketchbook Archives: Taurian

Another Sketchbook Portrait. Once again, sorry on the crappy reproduction.  Some strange half-bullheaded creature.  SMUG, but man I love that orange.  I have to admit that the orange is different kind of marker from the Sharpie.  It is a Zig double ended marker, Clean Color.  It is the most beautiful orange in a marker I have ever found.

Orange in markers usually ends up dull and listless or as a lighter clone of red, but the ZIG orange slides on smooth and covers evenly the FIRST time and is bright and full!  It also solid and thick, almost like paint, but it is not a paint marker.  The orange is great, but I still love Sharpie for all my other colors.  :-)  Vive Le Sharpie, but Hurray for Orange ZIG!

{Sharpie and ZIG}

UPDATE:

I find it interesting that in the first reproduction, the ZIG marker seems unaffected by the flash glare, but the Sharpie is blurred and desaturated.  Regardless, a much better reproduction here.  The lines are crisp and the color is accurate.  Once again - Hooray for scanner!

While examining this piece, I think I just found a name for my scanner: Bifrost, the Norse rainbow bridge.

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!

From the Sketchbook Archives: Face of Darkness

This is from one of my sketchbooks. It was inspired by an image of Randall Flagg from the television miniseries for The Stand. There is a scene where Stu is dreaming of Mother Abigail and Randall Flagg is standing in the corn.  Flagg opens his eyes and they are all red and glowing - VERY Creepy!  I was trying to capture that same feeling that the image from the show gave me - Creepy half light with demon fire within.  Once again I must apologize for the glare.   Heavy sharpie just does not photograph well at all.  :-(

{Sharpie}

UPDATE:

Another update from the Rescans.  This is one that benefits greatly from the rescan.  When photographing the original post, I discovered to my chagrin, that heavy sharpie reflects a flash like polished silver.  No matter what position I placed the image in, I couldn't get a shot without some kind of glare.  Here that issue is completely resolved.  Also, the color on this one is just fantastic.  It looks exactly like the page.  Have I mentioned that I love my scanner?!?

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!