I guess I can’t get enough of embarrassing myself, because here we go with another couple of drawings from my childhood.  These two illustrations are in the same series as the haunted house and “keeper of the house” I posted last time.  This pair of creatures must have been inspired by my Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Monster Manual.  

Ghouls haunt graveyards and eat the flesh of the dead.  But the really important thing about this drawing is that after I named the critter a “goul” I realized I spelled “ghoul” incorrectly.  I added the “H” in what I’m certain I believed to be a clever design scheme.  Obviously, the diet of dead flesh has given this poor beast a case of the bone-warping rickets or something, but that’s part of his charm.

So … there was this girl, see, and she was real proud of her hair.  Her name was Pipi, and she had the prettiest pig tails in the whole county — everybody said so.  One day, Pipi went to the county fair, where she was going to enter a Pretty, Pretty Pigtails contest.  Everyone knew she would win, but a group of jealous girls in leather jackets decided to rough her up so their leader, Frizzy-headed Frita, could enter and get the prize money for smokes.  They chased Pipi across the midway, finally nabbing her near the Salt Water Taffy puller.  As they grabbed Pipi, she tripped and fell into the candy maker.  Her pigtails gummed up the machine and were pulled to horrible lengths … seconds before Pipi herself was maimed and killed.  Now, on nights when the sky is alight with red lightning, Pipi’s spirit returns to wreak vengeance on any girl with pretty hair.

Okay … I dunno why I decided extra-long hairdo would look cool on a ghostly creature … but now you’ve had your bedtime story for the evening. 

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Art Gallery – The House of Mysterious Secrets

Art Gallery

A couple of more drawings from my ancient collection of artwork.

These are inspired by the grocery sack full of horror comics I bought at the flea market (great DC anthology books like House of Mystery, House of Secrets, Ghosts, and Ghost Castle).  Oftentimes, the splash pages of these comics were devoted to a shot of the book’s host hanging around in a creepy, gothic chamber surrounded by all sorts of ghoulish characters.  Those splash pages, with their slime-dripping monsters and forelorn ghosts, encouraged me to create my own haunted mansion populated by a passel of horrible denizens. 

First up, the house itself.  

Sitting atop a grave-dotted hill, the house is a crooked, leaning structure, obviously painted by someone who loved various shades of blue.  The tower in the back is buckling under the weight of the antedelluvian secrets within … or the pen slipped while I was drawing.  The front of the house looks sort of like a face, like the house from The Amityville Horror, but obviously this joint is more sinister BECAUSE THE LIGHT COMING FROM WITHIN IS RED!

Every haunted house needs a caretaker.  Here’s my take on the ghostly lord of the manor, creatively called “The Keeper of the House.”   

The Keeper is more of an old-school horror-host, sporting a flowing green cloak.  His face is a skull/phantom hybrid … or my pen slipped.  Once you enter the house, you must sign his guest book.  Need I say, you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave?  Apparently, the thermostat is stuck on sweltering heat within the house, because the Keeper’s pits are sweaty … but don’t you dare make fun (or try to stab him with your steely knife), because check out the power radiating from his hand.  That vile energy is used to smack down those who try to escape … or those who forget to use a coaster on the coffee table.

By the way, if you look closely at some of these drawings, you’ll see words bleeding through behind the image.  My dad ran a photography studio (Heritage Studios) and I often drew on the back of old office documents.

More soon.

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Art Gallery