2012 (in music)

In mid December I was lucky enough to get hold of the limited edition vinyl of the new YEAR OF THE GOAT album 'Angels Necropolis'. The whole package is beautifully put together and very evocative of the band's music. To mark this most excellent purchase, here's a list of a few of my top purchases from 2012 (in no particular order).

Year Of The Goat - Angel's Necropolis                      (Classic Rock)
Forgive Durden - Razia's Shadow                               (Alternative)
Troubled Horse - Step Inside                                       (Classic Rock)
Anberlin - Vital                                                            (Alternative)
Kiss - Monster                                                              (Classic Rock)
Zombina And The Skeletones - That Doll (EP)           (AWESOMENESS!)
Bloody Hammers - Bloody Hammers                          (Classic Rock/Doom)
Lunar Dunes - From Above                                         (Ambient/Psych)
King Bathmat - The Truth Button                                (Progressive)
Astra - The Black Chord                                              (Progressive)
Look Right Penny - Sugar Lane                                   (Metal)
Uncle Acid And The Deadbeats - Bloodlust                (Classic Rock/Doom)
Manowar - Lords Of Steel                                            (Heavy Metal)
Graveyard - Lights Out                                                 (Classic Rock)
Witchcraft - Legend                                                      (Classic Rock)
Kadaver - Kadaver                                                        (Classic Rock)
Owl - Owl                                                                     (Classic Rock)
Glitter Wizard - Hunting Gatherers                               (Bonkers!!)
Baron - Illegitimate Nephew                                         (Ambient/Indie)

This post has no real purpose (unless anyone who is kind enough to read it, discovers some new sounds because of it!).

2012... in a nutshell.

Hello one and all. Happy holidays from me to you (albeit a bit late!) Well... what can I say about 2012? In terms of creativity it's pretty much died on it's arse. I haven't had a 'good' drawing day in months, and it shows no sign of letting up. I'm hopeful that 2013 will bring about a new view, a renewed love of drawing if you will.... I guess I'll have to wait and see what the new dawn brings.

Here's a chilled out furry thing, smoking a pipe to end the year on!

PEACE!

GHOST XLIII

Time for prayer is coming....

The Angel.

An idea I had earlier today.... Keep your eyes peeled to see if it goes anywhere!

WAR OF WORDS - HAIR

A little late for last week's word, but (for me anyways) it was worth it. I took a little more time over the design, building it in illustrator as I went along... and I'm actually happy with it!

Dragula!

Here's a work in progress for a band poster (not sure who yet) based on a sketch I did a long, long time ago! Kinda liking the thick lines on this... makes it look 'cartoony' somehow!

WAR OF WORDS - TALK

Dr. Acula, the enigmatic host of the short lived late night talk show 'The Bloody Stake'.

WAR OF WORDS - COSMIC

Had some more ideas for cosmic (1 being a 50's style Sci-Fi poster involving cosmic alien babes from outer space- inspired by Zombina And The Skeletones rather fab 'Staci Stasis' track). But for now, here's Captain Cosmic, and a cosmic fembot.

WAR OF WORDS - INTERNAL

Had a vague idea revolving around holes in people, which in a single sketch became this! I like it, the beatnik musician who lives for non-sensical poetry and free form jazz wankery, because it's from the soul (man!).

I'm thinking about playing around with this image further, and turning it into a gig poster for someone, somewhere!

Disney does Star Wars

Not totally in love with the idea of Disney making new Star Wars movies (but I guess they can't be any worse than the most recent 3 movies). I love the animated show that's currently running (now on season 4 and re-introducing Darth Maul).

Just hope the house of mouse proves me wrong.... Just in case they don't... here's my re-design of Princess Leia!

Anna Fur Laxis (Dr Sketchy's October 2012)

Here's the first of my Dr Sketchy's drawings 'worked up'.

WAR OF WORDS - FLUFFY

First thought was the 3 headed dog from Harry Potter.... then I thought about doing a 'cheesecake' illustration of a girl in a skimpy nightie with some fluffy slippers.... then I did this!!... go figure!

ZOMBINA AND THE SKELETONES

They're BACK! On Halloween night 2012... Zombina and the boys, finally release some new material (in the form of a new EP called 'That Doll Tried To Kill Me!')....

Find out ALL you need to know here.

This has been a public service announcement!

DR SKETCHY'S PAGAN RITUAL. OCTOBER 2012

An excellent night at the latest Dr Sketchy event with my W.O.W buddies, Dave and Heather. Here's the best of my scribbling. Models - Serpentina and Anna Fur Laxis.

Awesome!

That thing that inspects the stars!

Take a look out of your window, on a crisp, clear night... If you look really hard... you might just see 'The thing that inspects the stars'.

WAR OF WORDS - NIGHTMARE

You'd have thought that this word would have been easy... I think that I was trying to make an effort to avoid the obvious! I just started creating shapes and here it is! hmmmm....

If I was going to follow the obvious route... I'd have plumped for Alice Cooper!

BACK FROM THE DEAD!

My musical muse have risen from their slumber and will be playing a PSYCHO MOTEL gig in Liverpool next month. Hopefully this will signify the release of a new record!!(?) In the meantime... here's a poster I did to celebrate!

I AM THE LAW!

Dredd Head.

War Of Words - TREAT

A few ideas for this word (of course, ALL Halloween related) here's some of the Elvira sketches I did. Will post/work up some of the others when I get a moment.

Here comes the Fink!

Another in the (7") series of Illustrations. This time for new band 'The Finksville Five' featuring members of 'The Ghastly Ones'. Check out their excellent first track 'The Judge' here.

HUNTRESS KILLS!

Here's another poster for Metal band HUNTRESS, led by the inimitable Jill Janus... High priestess of ROCK!

Check them out here.

Dr Sketchy Halloween

There's an up coming Dr Sketchy event on in Chester near Halloween, there's going to be TV crews there too apparently. Best try and get my game face on! The top doodle is based on Anna Fur Laxis (who's the main performer for the evening).

Zombina are BACK!!

Yes folks... my favourite band ZOMBINA AND THE SKELETONES are back in action! Here's a super rough sketch for a gig poster based on the cover artwork for Steve Niles 30 Days Of Night Graphic Novel.

Huntress

Here's a sketch of Huntress singer Jill Janus. Might put a poster together for their up coming UK gigs. The band were really receptive of the last poster I did for them, so it will be interesting to see if they like this one too. It will no doubt look totally different by the time i've killed it with ones and zeros!

SPECIAL OFFER!!

For a limited time only, there is FREE SHIPPING on goodies at my Society6 page!

http://society6.com/thisishorrorbiz/prints

War Of Words - Spike

Obvious choice for the word really.... but it was a guilty pleasure. The sketch was done in seconds (just as a shape guide) and the digital piece was done 'live' in Illustrator. Next week, word is TREAT.

What's This?

Here's the original thumbnail sketch idea I had for a promotional flyer for a potential GLOOP project, celebrating Halloween, Christmas AND The Nightmare Before Christmas.... I'm not certain anything will come from it due to a lack of interest from most of the group... I have an idea though... the few of us who have shown an interest could still do a little something to celebrate!

The Nefarious Night Time Plan...

Another strange sentence I wrote to accompany this sketch.... must be something in the water!! I like this one a lot!

The thing that inspects the skies...

I also wrote the line "The thing that inspects the stars" whilst watching the original 'The Day The Earth Stood Still' for some reason... interesting though!!

Little Elf... A slight return.

For some strange reason, I started drawing 'Little Elf' from my long forgotten children's book that never was. I'm not sure what this means, it kinda made me a little bit sad though...

Maybe its telling me to finish what I start for a change!!

Public Service Announcement

Coming soon...

War Of Words - EVE

This apathy for creation continues... Nothing has been able to kick-start me out of my distain for my own work. I'm not sure how much longer I can keep fighting this wave.

Here is my entry for EVE (the only thing that keeps me drawing at the moment).

WAR OF WORDS - ACT

A picture to lament the much missed Ghastly Ones. The second image in my 7" series.

Punk Rock Vampires, Destroy!

Just for kicks, a mock 7" single cover for Zombina And The Skeletones excellent 'Punk Rock Vampires Destroy!'... I miss these guys!

WAR OF WORDS - BADGER

Here's my entry for last week's word 'Badger'. Had the idea for a graphic symbol early on. The species has such a distinct look, the design came naturally. The application presented a few more problems, then the other day I received a copy of the new ORCHID CD 'HERETIC'. A clever design based on the old gatefold 12" singles (complete with replica 'vinyl look' disc). So, here is my design for the 'fictional' early 70's progressive rock band 'Badger'. This was to be their debut single, but in a bizarre twist of fate, the singer/guitarist Rodney Badgerbottom (from whom the band took their name) was run over on a country lane and killed.

Rumor has it that the master recordings for their debut album were recently uncovered in drummer Brian Rabidd's allotment and will be released through Rise Above early next year.

Werewolf On Wheels

Sketch based on the work of the rather marvelous Derek Yaniger!

Vampire's ROCK!

What's he playing? Answers on a postcard to.....

Cheeky Monsters!

 Some tiny thumbnail sketches.