The Day 7 prompt was “werewolf”. I love werewolves so I look forward to this prompt every year and never have a shortage of ideas for it, especially since I am a fan of horror movies. I decided to draw the character Larry Talbot from the classic movie ‘The Wolf Man’ because I have not drawn him in many years now and because Lon Chaney Jr’s werewolf is so iconic. The way I have drawn him, he looks like he has been caught mid robot dance.
Day 27 brought me what is always one of my favourite prompts: “lagoon”. ‘The Creature from the Black Lagoon’ is not my favourite or even second favourite Universal Monster movie but I absolutely love the design of the monster. He is always a joy to draw. That may be in part because his odd facial proportions and all of those prehistoric reptilian plates suit my drawing style. While I have drawn the Creature a lot, I don’t think I have ever drawn him swimming underwater before so that is what I chose to do for this year’s Drawlloween illustration. I also painted him in greyscale to capture that Universal Monster Movie vibe.
The Day 17 prompt was “Frankenstein”. ‘Frankenstein’ is my favourite novel of all time – partly because it was one of my favourite texts to teach – and the 1931 movie is one of my favourite films of all time too. I, therefore, had to draw Boris Karloff’s portrayal of the Creature. The novel’s Creature and the movie’s Monster are, of course, very different. While he plays him as more of a hulking, somewhat mindless brute, I love the fact that Karloff manages to emote through all of that heavy make up and suggest some sensitivity and humanity lurking beneath the monstrous exterior. That balance was what I wanted to communicate in my illustration. It turned out to be my favourite illustration from my 2020 Drawlloween efforts and maybe my favourite of all the Karloff Monster drawings I have ever done.
The Day 14 prompt was “extraterrestrial”. I am not a big fan of sci-fi but I enjoy science fiction when it intersects with other genres, especially horror. Two of my favourite movies of all time are ‘Alien’ and ‘Aliens’, both of which are set in outer space despite not being strictly sci-fi. The antagonists of this movie franchise are the Xenomorphs. The character design of the xenomorphs is just superb for each stage of the life cycle. This illustration depicts the adult xenomorph. My sons are purists when it comes to such things and wanted to know why elements of my drawing look like a warrior xenomorph while other aspects are taken from the drone variant. I used my memory rather than a photo reference and that is why my xenomorph is a mashup.
I have drawn the Creature from the Black Lagoon a lot over the years. I often draw all of those characters from the classic Universal monster movies, a bit of a recurring theme for me I suppose. My challenge for today, therefore, was really to try and draw the Creature from the Black Lagoon in a way I had not drawn him previously. Last year for Drawlloween, I drew the Creature as a surfer and that inspired my illustration for today: the Creature as a child first learning to swim, complete with a yellow duck flotation device.
Pict Ink 