HAPPY HALLOWEEN! I hope you enjoyed our month of images from "Scared!: How to Draw Fantastic Horror Comic Characters" Thanks for coming along for the ride and we'll see you back here in a few.

BETTER CHECK YOUR PULSE..... Later today the PULSE ( http://www.comicon.com/pulse/ )will be running an interview with yours truly. Check it out! Big thanks out to Jennifer Contino for setting it up.

I almost forgot, here is a link to a web ad for SCARED! if you want to buy the book there is a link to Amazon.com. Thanks for looking! http://www.wideopenwest.com/~illustratorx/ScaredAd.htm

One of the things I always try to include in my books is insight from industry pros. Marc Silvestri and the whole Top Cow crew were gracious enough to provide some artwork and instructions for those seeking to break into working in the comic book industry. Here is a page from Marc's run on the Darkness comic book published by Top Cow.

Frank Cho is known for drawing beautiful ladies, but I think people are finally realizing he draws everything beautifully! Here is a giant gorilla (Pong not Kong) fighting a T-Rex from the book "SCARED!: How to Draw Fantastic Horror Comic Characters." Frank also contributed some sweet cartoon strips to my third book "Thunder Lizards!"

Bill Bronson is a long time friend from my art school days. We both ended up working for toy companies after art college so I have a lot of respect for him as I know the crazy industry stuff he had to put up with, plus he draws ghouls, girls, and Gwar stuff like no one else! We needed a haunted house for our "SCARED!" book and he really came through for us! One look at this place and you get that "don't go in there" vibe.

Originally the STRANGE CASE OF DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE was written by
ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON after a vivid nightmare he woke from in 1885. Here is the uber talented Bryan Baugh's version from SCARED!

Bryan and I were incredibly fortunate to get Bernie Wrightson included in Scared! Bernie Wrightson is the master of the macabre. Check out his website at: http://www.berniewrightson.com/ This is his bio from that site: Legendary Artist Bernie Wrightson has been bringing us some of the most detailed and horrific art for thirty years.

Best known for Swamp Thing and original Frankenstein artwork, Bernie continues presenting his horrific and mystifying images through creator-owned comics and film production companies.

From Stephen King's The Stand to Batman and The Punisher, there's not a comic book reader who hasn't heard his name. But it's his horrific, flesh-dripping illustrations that attract thousands of fans - they just can't get enough of his detailed inks. And it's the style he likes most.

So, who is Bernie Wrightson?
Bernie is considered a horror legend. To himself, and those who know him well, he's just Bernie. You don't have to call him "Mr. Wrightson," as they say, "he'll look for his father."

This pic by Bryan Baugh of a classic looking Witch was just a ton of fun to color. It isn't often I get to use greens for skin tone.

I'll get you my pretty and your little dog too!

Here is King Mecha Daikaiju X-Osaurus in his Black and White state. This is actually just a really tight pencil drawing I darkened in Photoshop to make it look like ink work.

Daikaiju means "giant monster" in Japanese. Here he is colored green before I came to my senses and realized he looked slightly like another well known giant monster.

Here is the giant monster from Scared as he appeared in the book.

Here is my fly guy from Scared! in black & white. I was trying to kind of merge the two screen versions of the Fly we've seen, the old Vincent Price 1958 black and white one with the disturbing human head on a fly body "help me, help meeeee" scene and the 1986 Jeff Goldblum movie directed by David Cronenberg.

I knew an old lady who swallowed a fly
Perhaps she'll die.

I knew an old lady who swallowed a spider
That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly
Perhaps she'll die.

I knew an old lady who swallowed a cat
Just think of that! She swallowed a cat.
She swallowed the cat to catch the spider
That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly
I don't know why she swallowed the fly
Perhaps she'll die.

I knew an old lady who swallowed a dog
Oh what a hog! To swallow a dog,
She swallowed the dog to catch the cat
She swallowed the cat to catch the spider
That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly
I don't know why she swallowed the fly
Perhaps she'll die.

I knew an old lady who swallowed a goat
She just opened her throat and swallowed a goat
She swallowed the goat to catch the dog
She swallowed the dog to catch the cat
She swallowed the cat to catch the spider
That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly
I don't know why she swallowed the fly
Perhaps she'll die.

I knew and old lady who swallowed a horse
(spoken) She died, of course.

Here is the cover after with the logo and type in place. When you design a cover you got to leave lots of room for type!

Here is the cover of "SCARED!: How to Draw Fantastic Horror Comic Characters" without the type.

Bryan introduced me to the wonders of EC comics while we were in art school together. One of our goals on the book SCARED! was to pay tribute to all those great EC characters and artists. I think Bryan's love of those old EC books shows through in drawings like the SEAHAG shown here.

Continuing our spotlight on monsters and mayhem during our Month of Horrors, I thought I would spotlight some of the work Vince Locke contributed to my book "Scared!: How to Draw Fantastic Horror Comics." Many now know Vince for his work on the graphic novel "A History of Violence," which is now a major motion picture, but I've been a fan of his work for over a decade and I think the following illustrations show why.

Here is a great page of artwork from Vince Locke's run on the Dead World comic book. I've never been a big fan of gore, but even I can appreciate that no one can draw maggots as good as Vince can.

My co-author Bryan Baugh owns this original page of art. It hung in our apartment all through art college. For some reason our dates never truly felt safe at our place.

Vince Locke first caught my attention with his Dead World comic book back in the early Nineties. He is a Michigan native so I would often see him at comic cons not far from my home in Ohio. I never guessed I would have the oppurtunity to work with him, but when Scared got okayed by my publisher I immediately gave him a call. He was only too happy to help out and contributed many fine pieces, as well as allowing us to reprint some of my favorite pages from the old Dead World comic.

Well our Month of Horrors is almost over and I have so much great artwork from my book SCARED! yet to share, so I'm going to try to double the output on images until the end of the month. That's right, you heard me correct, twice the pictures, the same great low price-free! Here is my favorite piece Mitch Byrd did for SCARED! I had a blast coloring it as well. I'm pretty sure this is the first time I've had the oppurtunity to color Zombie Pirates, hopefully it will not be the last.

What can I say about Arthur Adams that has not already been said? His artwork was the main reason I got serious about drawing when I was in high school. I had always drawn and I always loved comics, but when I saw New Mutants Special #1 I decided I wanted to draw for a living. Arthur just makes everything look fun. I had met him a few times at comic conventions and was surprised at how approachable he was, so I contacted him about doing some toys based on his Monkeyman and O'Brien series when I got a job at an action figure company. Eventually that company went belly up and those figures never got made, but Arthur and his wonderful wife Joyce still return my phone calls and have been super cooperative about getting me their artwork to use in my books. This is the first piece of Arthur's work I colored for print and I was so nervous about painting it, but I think it turned out alright.

One of the things often overlooked by artists is the opportunity to design cool set pieces for their illustrations. Everything from the sky to the foliage should be designed to convey a sense of atmosphere.

I was working in the lab late one night
When my eyes beheld an eerie sight
For my monster from his slab began to rise
And suddenly to my surprise

He did the mash
He did the monster mash
The monster mash
It was a graveyard smash
He did the mash
It caught on in a flash
He did the mash
He did the monster mash

From my laboratory in the castle east
To the master bedroom where the vampires feast
The ghouls all came from their humble abodes
To catch a jolt from my electrodes

They did the mash
They did the monster mash
The monster mash
It was a graveyard smash
They did the mash
It caught on in a flash
They did the mash
They did the monster mash

The zombies were having fun
The party had just begun
The guests included Wolf Man
Dracula and his son

The scene was rockin', all were digging the sounds
Eegore on chains, backed by his baying hounds
The coffin-bangers were about to arrive
With their vocal group, "The Crypt-Kicker Five"

They played the mash
They played the monster mash
The monster mash
And it was a graveyard smash
They played the mash
Its caught on in a flash
They played the mash
They played the monster mash

Out from his coffin, Drac's voice did ring
Seems he was troubled by just one thing
He opened the lid and shook his fist
And said, "Whatever happened to my Transylvania twist?"

It's now the mash
It's now the monster mash
The monster mash
It's now a graveyard smash
It's now the mash
It's caught on in a flash
It's now the mash
It's now the monster mash

Now everything's cool, Drac's a part of the band
And my monster mash is the hit of the land
For you, the living, this mash was meant too
When you get to my door, tell them Boris sent you

Then you can mash
Then you can monster mash
The monster mash
And do my graveyard smash
Then you can mash
You'll catch on in a flash
Then you can mash
Then you can monster mash

Okay, dinosaurs are not monsters, but I wanted to share this review of "Thunder Lizards!" from Mike Fredericks' Prehistoric Times, one of my favorite magazines.

Thunder Lizards!: How To Draw Fantastic Dinosaurs (Paperback) by Steve Miller $19.95 144 pages Publisher: Watson-Guptill Publications ISBN: 0823016633 A grand, new dinosaur drawing book for adults, focusing on anatomy and encompassing the latest scientific research to show serious artists exactly how to draw realistic dinosaurs. Thunder Lizards covers everything from Tyrannosaurus rex, to Allosaurus, to Velociraptors, to the plodding Apatosaurus � more than 50 dinosaurs in all, plus flying and marine reptiles and tips on drawing dynamic dinosaur sequences. I asked the author (a fan of PT) to send us a quote about his new book. "I hope everyone enjoys reading and drawing from Thunder Lizards! It represents over two years of research, writing, and illustrating. I feel incredibly fortunate to have gotten to work with such a wide range of excellent paleoartists. I still can't believe artists like Gregory S. Paul, Bernie Wrightson, and Arthur Adams contributed illustrations to the project. I learned to draw dinosaurs from looking at their art and now I have the opportunity to showcase their talents and that of others like Bryan Baugh, Frank Cho, and Brett Booth. Hopefully Thunder Lizards will energize the imaginations of the next generation of dino-artists. I also got this quick note from Ray Harryhausen who also has a book out from my publisher. "Good luck with your book. Young people for many years have had an interest in prehistoric life, probably because the dinosaurs seem like creatures of the imagination." Steve's new book includes many names you've seen submitting art in PT over the years. The dino art is all quite excellent with leanings toward comic book style dino art (very similar to my own style I suppose) and I think you will really enjoy it. Chapters cover bone structure, muscles, basic dino classification, individual dinosaur types and more. Grab this book!

Don't call her "Buffy" this slayer is probably closer to the same "vein" of hunter as "Blade." Just one of the bad, beautiful, and bodacious Brett Booth characters from "Scared!: How to Draw Fantastic Horror Comics."

illustratorxSome people asked about getting larger pics of some of Brett Booth's artwork from my books, so here is a link to his zazzle acount to order posters. http://tinyurl.com/99nh4

Here is something you won't find in Scared! I was thinking of Godzilla's nemesis Biollante when I drew this, but it turned out looking a little too much like "Little Shop of Horrors." Since Scared! was already overfilled with illustrations this one got the ax, but thanks to the magic of the internet you can now see this magnificent specimen of botanical hunger!

My favorite episode of the short lived "Amazing Stories" had an actor stuck in a Mummy costume trying to get to the hospital to see his wife give birth. It was called "The Mummy is a Daddy" or something silly like that. Now that was good tv.

Here are a couple of Mummies from Scared. I love seeing real Mummies in museums, we don't have physical proof for vampires or werewolves but we just keep digging up more and more mummies. So maybe the legends are true...

"Between me and the moonlight flitted a great bat, comeing and going in great, whirling circles" From Bram Stroker's Dracula

Even a man who is pure at heart
And says his prayers by night
Can become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms
And the autumn moon is bright

If there's something strange
In your neighborhood
Who you gonna call
(Ghostbusters)
If there's something weird
And it don't look good
Who you gonna call
(Ghostbusters)

I ain't afraid of no ghost
I ain't afraid of no ghost

If you're seeing things
Running through your head
Who can you call
(Ghostbusters)
An invisible man
Sleeping in your bed
Oh, who you gonna call
(Ghostbusters)

I ain't afraid of no ghost
I ain't afraid of no ghost

Who you gonna call
(Ghostbusters)
If you're all alone
Pick up the phone
And call
(Ghostbusters)

I ain't afraid of no ghost
I hear it likes the girls
I ain't afraid of no ghost
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Who you gonna call
(Ghostbusters)
If you've had a dose
Of a freaky ghost
Maybe you'd better call
(Ghostbusters)

Let me tell you something
Bustin' makes me feel good

I ain't afraid of no ghost
I ain't afraid of no ghost

Don't get caught alone, oh no
(Ghostbusters)
When it comes through your door
Unless you just want some more
I think you better call
(Ghostbusters)
Ow

Who you gonna call
(Ghostbusters)
Who you gonna call
(Ghostbusters)
Ah, I think you better call
(Ghostbusters)...

Here is a trio of images from my long time partner in crime Bryan Baugh! All characters are available in Scared! How to Draw Fantastic Horror Comics, from Watson-Guptill.

Executioner

Mean Dog

vampire bat

Oops! I'm a day behind on blogging and with "Lost" on tonight if I don't post early this morning I'll probably miss two days in a row! So here you go, a double fright fest; a vampire count in a Nosferatu like pose and him in his vampire bat form. When ever I draw vampires I'm always influenced by the movie "Fright Night," a film which I still love even if it gets dissed by a lot of horror fans. I saw it on Showtime when I was in high school one rainy night in the early hours of the morning. I think the circumstances you see a horror film under have as much to do with how fondly you remember a film as much as the quality of the actual film.

Here is the front piece from my "Scared!" book. I think it would make a great wallpaper for your computer desktop during the month of October. It is a jam piece by Bill Bronson, Bryan Baugh, and myself.

Here is the piece I commissioned from Roger Cruz to go with the Drac, Frankie, and Wolfman piece I showcased yesterday. I had tons of fun coloring this badboy. I especially love the creepy green "the FOG" smoke I came up with.

Roger Cruz caught my eye with his X-Men work back when he was heavily influenced by Joe Madureira, okay he still is, but he has added a lot of his own flava to his recent work. I was thrilled when he agreed to allow me the use of this image and I commissioned a companion piece which ultimately got cut due to space restrictions, hopefully someday Bryan and I will do "Scared 2" and it will finally see print.

Here is Bryan Baugh's creeping brain...I mean his drawing of a Creeping Brain.

Here is Bryan's Wolfman, definately has that classic Lon Chaney [Larry Talbot / the wolf man] feel to it. My son, who was only 14 months old when I was coloring this illustration, saw it and called it a "funny monkey." At the tender age of 1 I had not yet explained to him what a wolfman was so I guess "funny monkey" was as close as he could come. Now at two he calls it a werewolf; I would like to argue with him about the differences I see between wolfmen and werewolves, but I'll save that until he is three.

Continuing in our month of SCARES we have a wolfman by yours truly. A few people have ventured guesses on what movie or character I based this guy off of. In reality it wasn't a movie but food! I was thinking of the old Fruit Brute wolf from the General Mills breakfast cereal.

"How many candles am I holding? Let's count them. One candle ah-ah-ah. Two candles ah-ah-ah. Three candles ah-ah-ah...." Sorry, I've been watching a lot of Sesame Street with my kids. Another great illustration from Bryan Baugh, my co-author on "Scared!"

Bryan Baugh's depiction of cat people are equal parts sensual spookiness and frightful fun. For more great and terrifying artwork check out his website at http://www.cryptlogic.net/

Bryan Baugh is my co-author on Scared! He drew around a dozen or so zombies for this book, most made it into the book. They were a lot of fun to color since I got to use all sorts of hues seldom seen on the living.

This Gipsy Woman and Frankenstein monster appeared in the RPG EVERWAY 1996 Calendar. It is a pretty rare Arthur Adams illustration and I was excited to get to reprint it in SCARED!