Drawlloween 2023 – Gremlin and Mogwai

*Mild Spoiler alerts for the 1984 movie ‘Gremlins’*

The prompt “Nocturnal” is broad enough to allow scope for a multitude of possibilities but I immediately knew I was going to draw something from the movie ‘Gremlins’. It’s one of my favourite movies and one we watch every December as a family – since I have long argued that it is a Christmas movie. When Randall Peltzer obtains the mogwai as a gift for his son, Billy, one of the warnings that is impressed upon him is that the mogwai must not be fed after midnight. Inevitably, that rule is broken and the result is adorable mogwai transforming into monstrous, mischievous, murderous gremlins.

I have drawn both mogwai and gremlins before but there was still a challenge in this drawing in that, working in a fairly small format, I had to fit both a mogwai and a gremlin into the composition while allowing enough detail of both critters to be visible. I could have added more visual texture to both had I more time available but, as a drawing started and finished within one day, I am pleased with how this illustration turned out.

Drawlloween 2023 – Creature from the Black Lagoon

The Creature from the Black Lagoon is another movie character that I draw every single Drawlloween and I have never yet tired of drawing him. The character design is so good and also suits my drawing style. That said, trying to come up on a new spin on the same subject every year is a real challenge. My idea for this year was to have the Creature floating in one of those inflatable rings people use for relaxing in swimming pools. I drew him in bird’s eye view perspective because then the circular ring would align with the circular backgrounds I have been painting to visually unify all of my Drawlloween illustrations. That may have been a bad decision, however, as my 14 year old reckons it looks more like the Creature is jumping out of a weird somewhat eye-looking shape rather than supporting his weight on an inflatable ring and floating. Maybe, therefore, this is an idea that I will use again but hopefully execute better.

Drawlloween 2023 – Frankenstein’s Monster

As I explain every year when the “Frankenstein” prompt appears on the list, ‘Frankenstein’ is my favourite novel and the 1931 movie one of my favourite films. I, therefore, end up drawing the Boris Karloff version of the Creature almost every year. I suppose I like the familiarity of the subject during a creative challenge and it is also interesting to look at all of the versions I have drawn across Drawlloweens past and observe any growth or skill development. The tricky part, however, is coming up with a new way to approach the exact same subject. Having not drawn Frankenstein’s Monster in profile for any Drawlloweens, I thought that would be different enough to keep things interesting. I enjoyed drawing the face from that angle and I really like the hands but I definitely struggled to create the sense of the Creature’s looming height. The 2020 version, therefore, remains my personal best.

Drawlloween 2023 – Dracula Self-Portrait

I am participating in Drawlloween for the umpteenth year in a row and I will, once more, be operating from the prompt list created by Mab Graves. I am attempting the full list, so a drawing for every day in October, and I am hoping this is just the shove I need to get back into a much-needed regular art habit.

Without further ado, this is my first drawing for this year. I think this is at least the third year in a row where the first prompt has been some kind of spooky twist on a self-portrait. I always jot down ideas for each prompt as soon as the list is released and I had a really long list of ideas for this one. Ultimately I plumped for drawing me as the decrepit version of Dracula from the movie ‘Bram Stoker’s Dracula’. I do love getting into my pyjamas and dressing gown as soon as the sun starts going down so this Dracula’s costuming seemed like an appropriate vibe for me. I am (not yet) as wrinkly.

Drawlloween 2022 – Werewolf Self-Portrait

As I indicated yesterday, there really is no prompt today for Drawlloween. The list declares “You did it; You’re a Rockstar; Rest and recap!” which means I could have done no drawing today. However, I have always created 31 drawings for Drawlloween, one for every day of October, so the thought of only having 30 this year made me feel unsettled. I am a completist so I had to conclude the month with another drawing. When I posted my first Drawlloween drawing on Instagram, someone commented that they would like to see werewolf me fully transformed. That gave me the idea of using a werewolf self-portrait as bookends for all of this year’s drawings. I liked the shape of that idea. This, therefore, is me in full werewolf mode. I wanted to keep enough of my face that it was recognizably me still, rather than looking like a wolf wearing my clothes, and I have made werewolf me much more athletic and less plump than I would probably be.

So that’s it for another Drawlloween! Thank you for following along with me as I participated in this challenge. I have appreciated the encouragement of all the likes and comments. Thank you.

Drawlloween 2022 – Creature from the Black Lagoon

The day 10 prompt was “Lagoon Creature Feature” and I can just never resist drawing the Creature from the Black Lagoon. I believe I have drawn him for every single Drawlloween I have participated in. I have drawn him as a surfer, as a child, in monochrome, and a female version so the challenge was to come up with a new idea. What I settled on was the Creature in late middle age, less athletic, a bit schlubby. I think he looks like he would be the father of the original Creature.

Drawlloween 2022 – Nosfe-Rat-U

There are so many puns in the Drawlloween prompt list this year but the eighth prompt was specifically about puns: “pundead”. I had a few ideas for spooky puns but I kept circling back to the “undead” element of the portmanteau and determined that I should draw either a zombie or vampire. Inspiration then struck immediately because Nosferatu is one of my favourite horror movie characters of all time: a rat version of Nosferatu. I hope I have managed to make him both creepy and cute.

Drawlloween 2022 – Werewolf Self-Portrait

Yikes! Apparently I have not posted to this blog for an entire year since my last post was about the conclusion of last year’s Drawlloween. Now I will have to dust off the cobwebs of the blog to share my illustrations for this year’s Drawlloween. As with previous years, the prompt list was generated by artist Mab Graves. She was thoughtful enough to release the list early which gave me a much-needed head start. I will be publishing the posts, however, on the relevant day of this month.

The first prompt was “spooky self-portrait”. This was a similar subject to the first prompt for last year’s Drawlloween. As I drew myself as the Bride of Frankenstein last year, I decided to carry on with the classic Universal Monsters theme and draw myself as a werewolf. I went for a mid-transformation look so as to fulfil the self-portrait element of the challenge. It needs more grey hair but otherwise does look quite like me.

Drawlloween 2021 – Phantom of the Opera

The penultimate prompt of this year’s Drawlloween challenge was “Costume”. I will spare you all of the segues my brain did that brought me to the Lon Chaney portrayal of the Phantom of the Opera but I was glad of the opportunity to draw a character I have not drawn in a long time. That movie is almost a hundred years old now but Chaney’s performance and the look of the character still holds up. I remember it giving me the creeps when I was wee and it still gives me the heebie jeebies now. I confess that, as I was drawing the Phantom, I forgot what the prompt was so the mask was added almost as an afterthought.

Drawlloween 2021 – Creature from the Black Lagoon

“Lagoon” is one of my favourite prompts every Drawlloween because I am such a fan of the Creature from the Black Lagoon. I don’t think I could ever tire of drawing that monster. The challenge comes in trying to create a new twist or add a different element to the drawing of the Creature. I have drawn him in Edwardian swimwear, as a toddler in a flotation ring, in board shorts, and many other variations. My twist for this year was to dress the Creature in a mid-century swimming costume, like a 1950s starlet lounging beside a luxury pool. The legs went a bit skew-wiff but, since its a monster, I think I just about get away with it. I had so much fun creating this illustration. Incidentally, the disc behind the Creature is an iridescent grey-green which seemed apt for a swamp dweller.