It's all up in the air.

Well, dear ol' friends, I realize things have been decidedly quiet around this old homely humble house of Hallowe'en hoopla, but keeping busy does have its merits. And visiting family is always worth whatever one may miss in the meantime.

Still, I am not feeling very happy about not posting anything at all since last month -- last year, actually.

But I felt right now would be a good time to post a little 'hello', since I am currently flying over the southwestern United States at 30,000 feet.

So here it is, an S&P first, loyal patrons -- a post from WAY up high.

They really know my tastes, this airline...

"This is your captain speaking. You are now free to move about the pub..."

But in all seriousness, let me tell you -- I wish you could all see how beautiful our world is from up here.

Oops, the seatbelt sign is on again. 

Aw, you know what? Screw it, we have to move our legs -- how about a little...?

Honestly, it is a very cool thing to have blogged from 30,000 feet. I hope the minor novelty of of such a post can go some way toward making up for my lack of posts thus far.

I'll be back soon.

DDSPleaseforgivetheabsence!

Drawn to it, part two.

Welcome S&Pers!

It sure seems like I have less time than ever to visit this old place, and I sure miss it.

There is much ado, and much to do, and I am going to be absent for a while more, but I did want to stop in for a brief 'boo!' and add more sketches to the gallery here at the S&P.

Now, if you don't recall this post from February 2010, go and peruse it.

Go on, we'll wait.




whistle-hum-hum-hum-whistle-toot-whistle-plunk-boom!




Done? Okay, good.

I very recently discovered a few more works I'd actually considered lost, but which to my great joy turned up all by themselves while moving around the clutter of my little home.

Again, these are not the works of a trained artistic genius, but the decades-old doodles of a teenaged weirdo.

These have not been added to or altered except to remove smudges, scratches, and formless doodles that would distract you from the main work (things around and outside of the subject). Remember, these are drawn in sketch books where I have made numerous other works and scribblings on the same page.

Okay...

Ripley, done from memory about an hour after I first saw Aliens

on July 18, 1986 -- the day it opened nationwide.

My hero.

 Nameless skull guy. Cool eyepatch. 1984.

 A very odd little spaceman, also 1984. I think he looks like 

Sir Ian MacKellan.

 Nameless (and incomplete!) '80s chick, 1982.

 My scribble of the little girl in a really creepy episode of 

Tales From The Darkside called Inside The Closet. 

I drew it while watching said episode as it aired for the first time in 1984.

 I cannot at all recall why I drew this one, but I remember doing it.

Bic pen on newsprint, 1980.

This and the next are from 1983, and I was playing with the 

unique style of illustration found in the amazing works of

artists like Joseph Schindelman, whose scratchings graced

Dahl's Chocolate Factory books when I was a child.

 A reject from The Name of the Rose?

 Trying to cop an even more famous style, this time the great Edward Gorey. 

1986.

 You mean you never imagined what Ted Kennedy would've

looked like if he'd been in a Rankin-Bass cartoon? Ballpoint pen, 1984.

 This and the next are both on the same page, both quill and ink, both from 1983.

I was trying for Sting if Berni Wrightson had drawn him in his 

amazing Frankenstein book from that time.

 What my bedroom looked like if you were my ceiling fan, Summer 1987.

 If Pinhead was suddenly your helpful Time-Life operator.

1986.

A happy page from October of 1983 -- jack o'lantern ideas (including

one very Charlie Brown-ish model).

 Yet another style cop, this time from the incomparable work of Brian Froud

and his concept art for The Dark Crystal. 

Pen/watercolor, 1984.

As for the little doodle just below the bird, fans of the book and musical Wicked take note:

apparently I invented Dr. Dillamond a decade before MacGuire.

So many scribbles.

So rewarding to revisit and remember.

I hope you enjoy their exhibition in our gallery.

And I hope you enjoy the rest of your July.

I will be back soon...



DDSPatience!

The First Day.

And what a day it has been...

Sure, I've taken to my sick bed with a nasty cold, but I have Blu-Ray Ellen Ripley and I can shoot ghosts with my old 3DO game system and I can read and write and draw and post new posts to this ol' S&P.

And even as I cough and rattle and ache and sniff and when I speak the walls shake with the sound of Regan MacNeil's croaking demon voice, 2012 is already surprising me with good news...

I won a raffle!

One of my Monsterkid pals, Adam Dougherty, is an excellent sculptor and model maker, currently creating kits for Moebius Models. He's a professional and a true artist and a great fella -- here he is with another Monsterkid crony of mine, the great make-up artist and sculptor Casey Wong, from Monsterpalooza 2010:

These guys make me smile big. True Monsterkids, these two!

So... Adam just informed me that I won a raffle on his Facebook page, and it makes me awfully happy to report to all of you S&P-brains that Adam is sending me one of the amazing kits he created, signed by him -- and it's a real beauty:

YES! Moebius Models' Elvira: Mistress of the Dark kit is on its way to the S&P courtesy of the man who created it! By the way, Adam goes by the nickname KreatureKid, because of his lifelong fanatical fascination with all things Creature From The Black Lagoon! And who can blame him?

And this kit is so authentic, Elvira herself takes stunned delight in its beauty...

(courtesy Moebius Models and CultTVman.com)

At Moebius' website, and on the kit box, the details of this fine KreatureKid Kreation beKome Klear (Klick to enlarge):

I just cannot wait to get this -- signed by the KreatureKid himself! -- into my collection. This guy is truly one of the great new breed of Monsterkids, creating fine horror and Hallowe'en art for us to enjoy for years to come, and helping to keep classic Monster Madness alive and well.

And I honestly wasn't even aware that liking his page entered me into a raffle -- I liked it because I like his art, and him.

As your humble pubkeep I strongly suggest you each go to his page right flippin' now and 'like' it. Then, follow all the links to pictures of his Hallowe'en kits, his Bela Lugosi as Dracula kit, and amazing things in the works for the coming year.

Thanks Adam, and Moebius Models, and thank you 2012 for being so amazing on your very first day!

January music is on its way.

A happy, happy New Year to you all.

DDSPolystyrene!

Again with the basics.

Hello, loyal S&Patrons (like how I did that?).

Looking at the big old grandfather clock in the foyer, I see it's a bit of a late night for your humble pubkeep, which isn't unusual -- if Autumn People aren't generally night people, I'm  a vermicious knid -- but it is a little annoying.

I suppose I shouldn't be all that bothered by being awake. I don't often get to bed much earlier than this.

But the reason I am currently awake and not sleepy is mostly because of a week's worth of an annoying warm-weather cold (oh my! the irritation at that one, ruined all kinds of plans) and because of the recurrence of a nightmare with which I've had a love-hate relationship since I was a very little pubkeep.

OH, I'm not awake from fear. Not really.

I am up with my mind running through other old nightmares, just for the nostalgic fun of reliving them.

Haven't you ever done that?

I have no hang ups about such things. I enjoy talking about what scared me as a kid (isn't that most of what we're all doing with our Hallowe'en Lovin' Ways anyway?), and I'd like to admit a few to all of you.

I'll exact payment for your ridicule when I'm finished...

First up, the very dream I had for the first time in years, but one I've had off and on since early childhood.

There's no real story to this. It's just a sort of mental loop, a perpetual animation of a creepy old thing walking through a long, dimly green decrepit hallway like this...

... and he just keeps opening these doors every twenty paces or so, fumbling through a giant key ring with his bony fingers, opening and closing (with ungodly echoes and creaks) each door, while he cackles and grumbles about something troubling him.

He looks, to the best of my late-night graphics tabletability, a little like this:

I've tried to create this nameless creep many times since childhood, and he never comes out looking like he really looks in the dream. Here, he's nearly cute, an odd little mix of a Mystic from The Dark Crystal and one of the little buggers from Critters. He has gnashing, spiky teeth, wrinkless all over, and wiry hair all shocked out and sweaty. His voice alternates between a high-pitched, creaky whine and a low, gutteral sort of belch.

For some reason, this vision haunted me in a dream when I was little and I not only never forgot it but keep seeing it every once in a great while. Just following this freak as if I were a camera to his lower right, as he walks, gnashes, opens, walks, gnashes, opens... It's dim, dark, echo-ey and very disturbing. Who in Hell is he? What's he doing? Where is it? Will it ever end? Total terror for little me.

But I think there are a few other concepts that can make me shudder just as I did as a kid, and this is only the most personal (and internal -- I have no idea where it came from but the actual dream doesn't look like anything I've ever seen before).

Another of these notions is the zombie.

No, I loves me my zombies, as you all know very well.

But I always think, in real, real life, if I suddenly stumbled onto this horror one quiet, breezy night...

... I'd really just be frozen with real terror. No music, no sound but the wind. They're just walking, not even making noise. And they're dead. And they want to eat me.

Terror.

Another concept I've previously mentioned as being terrifying to me is Possessed Girl. I addressed it better and more completely in the post I just linked, so you may visit it more fully at your leisure. But the concept still manages to unnerve me.

I have also found, even though it's kind of a rare image, the notion of a headless woman.

I don't know why, but the idea of a woman being headless but still in a dress or walking, or otherwise full of life, just freaks me out just as it did when I was a kid. I remember having a hot, sweaty Summer nightmare about a headless woman in my closet rocking side to side, waiting for me to open the door. Shiver!

Then that October, I saw an episode of Happy Days called 'Haunted' where just such a nightmarish vision comes downstairs to frighten Hallowe'en revelers...

TERR - IF - IED me! Even when it turned out to be some kid having fun pranking his pals on Hallowe'en night, I was just shuddering at how creepy this was, and how it was so like my nightmare some months before.

Now, I'm not saying I spend any meaningful amount of time or energy on these notions at any given moment. They're just there, under the surface, whenever I consider being truly frightened of anything that isn't real.

Not real. I mean, all of us feel real terror about how the world can be, the horrendous things life throws at us, throws us into, makes us do and takes from us. Any of us can name any number of horrible realities we'd just as soon never think about that keep us awake and sweating in the lonely watches of the night, those dark moments as parents when we think of all the things that can go wrong for no other reason but that things go wrong... but that sort of terror is not at all what I'm referring to here.

No, these are the things that have little logical basis, no real weight, no basis in reality. Things like one of my friends being terrified for some of her early years by a moving ball of yarn and needle, or the giant hands that would come out of the ceiling to grab another of my friends on a fairly regular basis.

They just scare me, and can still scare me like they did when I was a kid.

And oh, don't get me started on her...

Pure terror. Lady Elaine would somehow kidnap me, take me away from my parents, and make me live with her in her Museum-Go-Round subsisting (I always suspected) on things like corn nuts and asparagus, making me cut my hair and wear false lashes and rouge on my nose.

So, after you've all had a laugh, I demand reparation.

Any serious childhood 'scaries' you still feel? Or can at least remember?

Now, I don't mean the movie(s) or book(s) that scared you (like they were supposed to), or common phobias like clowns or spiders (I'm lookin' at you, Frog Queen!) or even favorite monsters. I don't mean grown-up fears either. I think we've covered some of those in our other 'Fear For Thought' discussions.

I mean the lifelong, illogical, no-one-else-would-possibly-find-it-scary secrets you've kept since you were first terrified by whatever it was/is?

I challenge you all for stories, pictures if possible but at least some comments and stories of the crazy thing or things that drove you to your parent's bedroom when you were young.

C'mon... I know you each have at least one thing that can still bring you to your childhood knees in abject terror, even if you can't possibly explain, even to yourself, just why.

Free drinks all around for every story.

Get crackin', get dreamin'...

DDSP-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-oooooky!

"Tread carefully now..."

Hello S&Pers!

Oh don't get up. The box isn't heavy, I'm alright.

Whew! Okay.

So how has everyone been?

I know I don't get in here too often lately -- things just pile up -- but I always come by late at night after all that pile up gets a little less, uh... piled. What?

Anyway, tonight I bring a little bit of monstery, Hallowe'eny goodness in the form of a video game.

Not quite as "old school" as Odyssey, Pong, or Atari, no. But in these days of that is so five minutes ago tech, anything from the early '90s is damn near ancient.

From Electronic Arts comes one of my Top 5 favorite games, video or otherwise:

Escape From Monster Manor!

Man! I love this old game!

I think it'll hook up to the Predicta TV atop the bar, so we can all see it as we play.

Alright -- hook up should be simple -- there!



The game was made by Electronic Arts in 1993, for the Panasonic 3DO Interactive Multiplayer console, a grand, noble but ultimately failed gaming system that cost too much initially ($700 US in 1993?!), and had too many golf and soccer games and not enough interesting games by the time the console was affordable.

I certainly was never going to buy that system -- I made a good living then but no way was I dropping that kind of money when I've never been much of a video game kinda guy -- but when I saw the box for this game in the $7 bargain bin at my local big box store in 1995, I figured it looked so cool and had to do with monster, ghosts and haunted houses that there was no point in not buying it for seven bucks. I also figured at some point soon, the game system would be obsolete, cheap and plentiful, and when that happened, I'd be killing myself for not buying this when it was available.

Well, within a year I'd met someone who pointed to the game on one of my shelves and asked if I had the 3DO.

"Nope. Just bought the game really cheap, waiting for the system to drop into my lap."

He laughed. "I'll sell you mine for $100."

In my house we call the game 'Shootin' Ghosts', and I've been doing it off and on ever since that fateful meeting.

I especially love to play it at night, during the long winter 'off season'. Something seems very right about it -- put on some tunes, make some hot chocolate, shoot ghosts. Simple heaven.

How can you not love it? Such imagery:

And when you took one too many hits, you got this, bubbling up from behind your attacker, laughing at your foolish mortal attempt to defeat its eeeeeeeeviiiiilll:

I cannot tell you how happy I am to have found it (I knew it was in the house, but it took a month of casual searching to find the whole system!), and to bring it here. I know we're not about video games in this ol' pub, but I also knew you would all enjoy the heck out of seeing it at least this once.

Escape From Monster Manor, the Skull & Pumpkin salutes you. With a ray gun and a bunch of keys and pieces of a magic talisman...

... and no fear about what's around that corner...


More Hallowe'eny games to come soon. For now, more work calls.

Catch you on St. Patty's Day-


O' ZOM-beeee!

Bela-ted praise.

Yes, belated. And Bela-ted, as in related to Bela.

Just a day before Thanksgiving, I received a fantastic little gem in the post but had to wait until this weekend had run its course before really sinking my teeth into it *ahem*.

Just released a few weeks ago, Monsterverse, founded by artists/writers/editors Kerry Gammill, Kez Wilson and Sam F. Park, gave us the splendor of Bela Lugosi in a new role -- that of spooky comic series Horror Host, in their acclaimed and highly-anticipated

Yes! A Basil Gogos cover, no less!

Chock full of spooky (and some very funny) stories, the 50 page beauty feels completely modern in style yet offers such a throwback to the '60s and '70s EC and Warren horror comics so many of us grew up enjoying.

Bela is hosting, starring in, narrating and otherwise presenting these tales of terror with a little help from his sexy new sidekick, vampiress Nosferina:

Back cover painting by the awesome Bruce Timm!

There is so much for a comics, horror and Bela lover to chew up in this first issue, and others have already written all about it (better than I ever would) in the last few weeks. But I did want to mention my favorite segment:

Based on my favorite Eddie Wood creations, Lugosi's Dr. Erich Vornoff and Tor Johnson's Lobo, from Wood's Bride of the Monster (1955), this little vignette features very cool little figures built and photographed/written/smashed together by one Joe Freire (can't find a site on him, sadly). It's fun, it's different, and it's delightful.

So many great artists lent their talents to this issue: Terry Beatty, Frank Deitz, Rafael Navarro, Kim Loh... I could go on and on.

If you love Lugosi, fine comic art, and enjoyed the Warren, EC, and Eerie Publications comics anthologies of the '60s and '70s, this is perfect for you.

You can purchase this treasure for FIVE freaking dollars (plus shipping) at Monsterverse's own store.

It's really fine to have Bela back in any form. 

DDSPULLDESTRINGK!

300 Posts and One Special 'Geist.

Guest. I meant GUEST.

I am so happy to note the S&P's 300TH post (to now well over 30,000 visitors!) with a special guest.

Let's move these stools over there -- right, closer to the fire, it's gettin' chilly! -- and let's make comfortable painter, sculptor, seamster, illustrator, artist extraordinaire and loyal patron of the Skull & Pumpkin, Adam Chiet!

 Who is this guy? In his own words:

"I'm a self taught sculptor with a BFA in Illustration/Design from the Massachusetts College of Art (93'). My professional artistic career has spanned over 15 years and I have been lucky enough to work as a sculptor for Universal Studios, FL., Walt Disney World, FL., several museums, casinos and themed restaurants. I've also worked in the video game industry, and as a digital photo-retoucher in NYC. I'm also proud to have taught art on the elementary and college level. Besides my sculpture work, I've recently worked for a major company designing light/sound/animated Christmas and Halloween villages for the retail market."

Adam's been kind enough to allow me to dig into his twisted brain and explore the creative clutter there!

S&P: Adam, can you remember when you first discovered your love and talent for creating things with paint, clay, and pencil?

AC: I think I was about 3 and I was drawing the family pets, dogs, cats, fish. Then my parents and brother, my family took notice because it wasn't your usual stick figures but actual shapes and faces. When I turned 4, I started sculpting animals and dinosaurs with my Play-Doh. Dinos would eventually lead me to Godzilla and then the classic monster films!

S&P: Does artistic talent run in the family?

AC: Yes, my mother could paint and draw and still is into many different types of crafts. My dad can build anything and although it's not his profession, he is a very capable carpenter. My brother however is just a pharmacist, haha!

S&P: Were you always a Classic Monster lovin' kid?

AC: Absolutely! The Creature Double Feature and having a brother 3 years older than me, helped introduce the classic monsters to me at the age of 5 or 6.

A fantastic bust of our good friend, actor Daniel Roebuck, as horror host Dr. Shocker!

S&P: You began Chiet Design in 1999. What compelled you to jump into business this way, and how has the ride been?

AC: I wanted to have a small voice in the creation of monster figures. I was a big fan of the Telco Halloween motionettes, and based a series of large Monster figures off of these whimsical electronic display figures. It's been over 10 years and I've had very busy times, and down times, but I've made many one of a kind figures. The challenge now is to make more elaborate and detailed figures with each passing year.

S&P: What, if any, are your criteria for choosing a subject for your next incredible piece?

AC: Mostly it's up to the collector. I have my personal favorites and have covered them in the past. I'm thinking about a line of Super-Hero and TV personalities next!

S&P: Is there an average length of time for finishing a piece?

AC: It really varies. It can range from 13 hours to 25 hours. Each figure is hand made, painted, and clothed. Also, commissioned figures may also have a custom sculpted head as well!

S&P: You've had to become a fine seamster in order to really complete and bring your figures to life. Was this something you'd done before?

AC: No, in the early days I actually hand sewed everything, but the more involved costumes were sewn by a seamstress for me. All of that was very time consuming. It was only a few years ago I finally was taught how to use a sewing machine, haha!

S&P: Do you have a favorite character/subject in horror? Sci-fi? Fantasy?

AC: Yes, I love the classic Monsters, and I also love fantasy and classic sci-fi too. My favorite character is the Wolfman, but I also love vampires, and mummies... okay there are too many and not enough space to list all them, haha!

S&P: Do you have a favorite piece from your own creations?

AC: I'm very partial to two figures -- the (Glenn Strange) Frankenstein and The (Lon Chaney Jr.) Mummy with shades of the Aurora model kit -- but honestly I like them all.

S&P: Any hints about future projects you're particularly excited about?


AC: Yes, I'm very keen on doing some vintage Batman & Batman Villains, The Three Stooges, Abbott & Costello, Karloff, Price & Lorre from the "Raven" and definitely more Hammer monsters!


S&P: Any advice for aspiring artists?

AC: Draw, paint, sculpt, design -- try to do it all -- and then in all that chaos you find your voice, your style, and what your trying to say with your work. If you have the time, create, create, create!

 One of my favorite Chiet wonders is this fabulous bust of Uncle Forry!

S&P: All Halloween loving guests of the S&P must eventually answer Question 13! Would you care to share a story or memory of any particularly fond Halloween experiences? You're free to ramble... this is what the S&P is for!

AC:  I love this question! Halloween for me is New England -- crisp, dark nights; the rustling of dead leaves on the ground as you walk; the beginnings of a slight chill to the night air; window decorating that begins on Oct 1st... and lawn decorating that begins on Oct. 2nd! It's finding the perfect pumpkin, or pumpkins; taking old clothes and stuffing them with fallen leaves after raking the front lawn; passing my Halloween excitement onto a new generation each year, while still honoring the child in me -- I remember all my Halloween costumes from age 5 to 43 -- and I'm looking to add new memories to the Halloween of my 44th year!

 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Adam, thank you very much for indulging us and passing along some of your monster-makin' wisdom! Most of the Skull & Pumpkin's patrons are artists of one stripe or other (usually more than one!), and your incredible work inspires us all!

Folks, you REALLY need to go to his website and peruse his insanely cool portfolio of big scale pieces. The Scrooge and Marley figures alone are worth the trip... but there's so much more!

One of these days when I have the funds to make it worth his while, I'm going to commission a piece from Mr. Chiet just for the Skull & Pumpkin... can't wait!


A hearty S&P toast to Adam Chiet... raise 'em high, everyone --


"DUMDUMSHREKPOP!"

I don't scrapbook.

I really don't.

I like the idea of it, and I suppose this little old S&P is a kind of scrapbooking project with added features -- and with Blogger and Firefox I use an application for saving all of my pages and pics which is actually called Scrapbook!

But I never really dug the whole scrapbook thing.

I remember seeing the baby books and scrapbooks my mom and her friends used to have; the covers of the books were like charm necklaces glued to plastic baby's breath and tiny pastel flowers, with miniature toy bottles, little rocking horses, diapers (!?) and other baby things glued onto every single millimeter of the padded cover.

Kinda turned me off of the whole notion.

But then I found a really cheap (after-Hallowe'en sale!) set of scrapbook decorations.

 Holy Monsters!

These little guys are the coolest.

Lookit Frankie's eye!

And they come with little gems and bats and moons and pumpkins and

now I have become my mom's old friends.

See? More Hallowe'en to be found. 

Neverending.

God bless it.

DDScrapbook!