31 Days of Halloween bonus: Macabre Monster Nails!

Just a quick bonus post today to show off Cindy's nails that I painted for her. The Frankenstein Monster is on the thumb, Dracula is on the forefinger, Mummy is on the middle finger, Witch on the ring finger, and a zombie on the pinky. They're far from perfect, but I reckon they came out okay, given the teeny tiny canvas on which I had to work! I did both hands, but it's the same arrangement on both. Maybe I should open my own seasonal nail salon, eh? :P

31 Days of Halloween: DIY vinyl decorations

One year ago: The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) & The Mummy (1932)

Any of you who frequent comic shops or craft stores have probably seen blank vinyl decorations such as these. We ran across these at the craft store Michael's, and naturally, I had to have a few! These were obviously designed with creating monsters in mind, and they're also much cheaper than the more generic blank vinyl figures. I have before & after photos of all except the ones based on the vampire body; I had already started drawing on those before it occurred to me to take photos of them in their natural, blank state.

This one was clearly intended to be a vampire, so naturally, my contrary ass had to go in another direction and make it a demon chick instead. She's loosely based on DesDEMONa(get it?), an original character of mine. The idea of one of these cutesy little figures having a lace-up corset, thigh-high boots, and fishnets just cracks me up. Maybe that says something about my state of mind...

It was unclear what this one was supposed to be, but I took a shot in the dark and tried turning it into a Frankenstein Monster. Lo and behold, it worked! The green wound up being much darker than expected, so unfortunately, it obscures a lot of the detail I drew on this fella. The green and brown did not respond well to the vinyl surface either, and every little stroke shows. I've got an extra, so I'll try it again at some point, with some different materials, and hopefully have better results.

This one seemed designed with a witch in mind, but I decided to make a scarecrow instead. I still want to find something that looks like old rope that is in scale with him to wrap around him, as well as a small scythe. I think he looks pretty cool in the meantime, though.

Last but certainly not least, we have Dracula. My girlfriend made him a cape, since I'm utterly useless when it comes to working with fabric(yes, even something as simple as cutting out a cape; I can't seem to keep it even and symmetrical). I simply forgot to put it on him for the photo. It didn't even occur to me to deviate from the Lugosi model, but it would be a fun exercise to do another version of Dracula at some point, assuming I can get my hands on another of these.





That's it for today! Everyone have a great weekend, and Cthulhu bless.

31 Days of Halloween: The Frankenstein Project

One year ago today: The Phantom of the Opera (1925)

It's Frankenstein Friday!  In recognition of that grand tradition, we're taking a look at something that makes my perpetually empty wallet ache even more: The 6.5 foot tall animatronic Frankenstein Monster! I was walking through the Spirit Halloween store with my girlfriend soon after the store opened for the year when we spotted this thing of horrific beauty.

 It was HUGE, and its eyes and the electrode in its neck light up as it raises its arms and grunts. It was awesome, and I had to have it! Unfortunately, the damn thing costs $300. It is officially licensed from Universal, and that surely adds to the price. Even so, that is, frankly, a ridiculously inflated price. The more I thought about it, the more flaws I began seeing in it. First of all, the Karloff likeness is not very strong. It looks only vaguely like him at best. Considering that it is actually called the "Life-sized Boris Karloff Frankenstein Animated Prop," one would expect a much stronger likeness to the actor. Second, the sounds of the monsters grunts and the voice crying "It's alive!" are not from any of the films. They're just generic monster grunts that sound nothing like Karloff's, and a generic mad scientist voice that sounds nothing like Colin Clive. Nitpicking? Maybe, if we weren't talking about a $300 item, but I expect near-perfection at that price. Third, the monster is lime green. This is common done in depictions of the Frankenstein Monster, and it generally doesn't bother me that it's become part of his accepted look. Again, however, we're not talking about a generic representation of the Monster, but something that is supposed to specifically represent Karloff's version. The Frankenstein Monster of the Universal films is not green. Green makeup was used, but that was so that the Monster's skin would appear dead white on the black-and-white film, which is how his skin is supposed to look.

That may seem like a lot of griping, but I reiterate: at $300, it needs to be damn near perfect. Plus, even for all its flaws, I still think the damn thing is awesome and I still want it, so focusing on its flaws makes it less frustrating that I can't afford the damn thing. But hope is not lost! I quickly resolved to build my own life-sized Frankenstein Monster, one that is more accurated to the classic Universal films. By building a wooden frame and padding it out to the appropriate girth, dressing it, and using a really good mask and some really good monster gloves, I think it will turn out pretty spectacular. A few minutes of searching turned up this mask:

Yeah, it's pretty awesome. It even has the piece that covers the neck and all, that'll be a big help. Also note the dead-on likeness and appropriate skin tone. The Spirit store itself stocks these gloves, which will be just about perfect once I do a bit of detailing:

That's about $50 total, and the other stuff shouldn't be too expensive. It'll mainly be a matter of putting the work into it to make sure it turns out right, and I'm definitely willing. Unfortunately, I don't have much money to spare for the components at this time, so it likely won't be ready in time for Halloween. But I'll be working on it for the next little while, buying what I need when I can, and it should be ready by this time next year! If it turns out as well as I hope, I'll probably do a Lugosi-style Dracula next. In the meantime, by all means, go check this thing out if you have a Spirit store nearby. For all its flaws, it's still large and impressive in person, and I'd be tempted to buy it anyway if I had the money. You can find the nearest Spirit store here. And no, they're not paying me anything, although they probably should be, as much as I promote them and talk them up! ;)