Crypticon 2013

The David Hudnut booth at Crypticon 2013

Crypticon Seattle 2013 has come and gone. I had a booth at the show in the vendor's room, and had a great time meeting people who had come out to get their horror on.

There was all manner of craziness throughout the weekend. Tons of great costumes, art, music, movies, a haunted house on site, hearses in the parking lot, the works. I was ensconced at my booth the entire time, so I didn't have a chance to sample the show as much as I'd like.

I did get to hop over and snap a few pics of Cassandra Peterson, a.k.a. Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. The fans were happy to see her and say hello.

Cassandra Peterson, a.k.a. Elvira, Mistress of the Dark

Since I was sitting at my booth all weekend, I had plenty of time to make some art. I did some character design sketches that I felt were appropriate for the horror audience: a Zombie Hooker, an Evil Scarecrow, and an Evil Clown. You can see all three finished illustrations at the bottom of this article. Once again, I used mechanical pencil, Copic Multiliner SP for the black lines, and Tombow Dual Brush pens for color. 

Evil Scarecrow

There were tons of amazing cosplayers with great costumes walking the show. I wish I'd taken more photos, but I did manage to get the amazing dog demon guy who showed up Sunday. 

On the drive home, I was fortunate enough to see the most amazing rainbow I've ever seen in my life, and snap pictures of it. It was large, vibrant, and did a great job of posing for the camera. You can imagine the pot of gold that was waiting for me when I got to the end of it. As you can see in the photo, it was just over the hill. Sure, I had to split the gold with the other people driving through it, but there was so much gold under that rainbow, it was more than enough to go around. Needless to say, I'll be retiring early because of my newfound rainbow gold.

Thanks again to everyone who came out to Crypticon Seattle 2013 and made it a great show!

Dog Demon

Evil Scarecrow

Evil Clown

Zombie Hooker

Rainbow on the road

Zombie Kong reviewed: James Roy Daley does it again

Zombie Kong by James Roy Daley

I have to admit, I was a little worried when I started reading the novella  Zombie Kong by James Roy Daley. I knew it would be well written, because it was James Roy Daley, but I was worried the premise would play itself out too quickly. I'm sure you're thinking what I was: a zombie version of King Kong smashing cars, tanks, buildings, then climbing a skyscraper with a damsel, etc. Big Deal.

Nope.

The story opens with a page-long scientific rumination on how large a giant gorilla's intestines would be. Then the next chapter is a guy being swallowed by Zombie Kong. The thing is, because it's a zombified gorilla, the stomach acid doesn't kill him. The guy SURVIVES. Now he has to get out of Zombie Kong.

GENIUS!!

To make it even better, so it's not just some guy trapped in the belly of the beast, he calls his wife on his cell phone. The wife and their son now get involved. This gives the story some much needed variety to what would have been a one-note escape yarn.

Can I say that I absolutely LOVED how Daley handled the tale? Why yes I can. I'm really impressed with James Roy Daley's consistently inventive horror stories. If you like horror that is well written, start with Zombie Kong. Then move onto Daley's other works: The Dead Parade and Terror Town, both of which I've also enjoyed and reviewed. If you like mayhem and murder, go with  The Dead Parade. If you like monsters, go with Terror Town.

But whatever you do, buy Zombie Kong NOW! You will love it.

ZombApe!! The Zombie Gorilla

ZombApe! Th Zombie Gorilla

I've always thought that The Walking Dead TV show is lacking one thing: Zombie Gorillas. Don't you agree? I mean, the show is absolutely awesome. But wouldn't it be awesomer with zombie gorillas?

I'm sure you agree.

I've drawn a picture of my FAVORITE zombie Gorilla: ZombApe!! The Zombie Gorilla.

Another show I've been watching is American Horror Story. I thought it would be awesome if you combined The Walking Dead with American Horror Story: Asylum. Insane zombies. They're WORSE than regular zombies because they carry scalpels. Shiver!

Now, what you're all probably wondering is: Who would win in a fight?

ZombApe!! The Zombie Gorilla, or the insane Kid Zombie? 

I have my preferences, of course. We all know who the obvious winner would be. ROAR!!

For those of you who are interested in drawing esoterica, I illustrated these pix using using a Pentel 0.5 mechanical pencil, inked with COPIC 0.35 Multiliner SP, BS, and a COPIC Sketch 100 brush tip for fat lines. I colored with my favorite Tombow Dual Brush pens, as usual. 

Let me just say that when you want to render darker values with markers, it's a ton of work. But zombies are worth it.

Zombie Truck Driver

Kid Zombie, out from the Asylum