Surrounded by Eerie, Creepy Monsters!

  While I had my fair share of straight up comic books growing up what I preferred more than anything was the horror comics produced by Warren Publishing. This included EERIE, CREEPY and sometimes VAMPIRELLA. My Mom allowed me to subscribe to only one which I chose to be EERIE magazine. What I'd actually do was scrape up the cash and stealth purchase CREEPY whenever I could. My Mother prohibited me from bringing VAMPIRELLA in the house after a while as she didn't approve of her lack of clothing and revealing anatomically correct artistic style. I also subscribed to Famous Monsters of Filmland by Warren Publishing, not a comic per say, but the covers did feature some fantastic art by Basil Gogos (see below).

  Having read the contents of the aforementioned magazines I would often just sit and stare at the covers. I really didn't know it at the time but this introduced me to incredibly talented artists such as Frank Frazetta, Ken Kelly, Ben Casey, Richard Corben and many others.

EERIE #74 - Copyright Warren Publishing - Cover Art: Ken Kelly

  In thinking of the composition and use of color for Poe's painting I was heavily influenced by Basil Gogos who did many covers for Famous Monsters. Gogos also went on to create Rob Zombie's famous album cover, "Hellbilly Deluxe".

Copyright: Rob Zombie ~ Art: Basil Gogos

Copyright Warren Publishing & Art by Basil Gogos

  Another influence of mine is the great Lon Chaney Sr. (more on this in later blog posts) and the following is Basil Gogos painting of Lon Chaney's Phantom of the Opera make-up for his portrayal of Erik.

Art: Copyright Basil Gogos

  The portrait above shows how I am looking to portray Poe. A very painterly portrait with dramatic lighting effects and still somehow very realistic depiction of the subject.