Robert Englund - A Nightmare On Elm Street, "Freddy Kruger"

Robert Englund: A Nightmare On Elm Street - Freddy Krueger

Portrait, 12 x 14.5 in.

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Robert Englund here as the face that's haunted  my nightmares since I was six years old, Freddy Kruger!  From his first appearance in the original Last House On The Left, We Craven had big plans for Freddy, though I don't think even Craven himself foresaw just how popular the character would become.  With a 2010 sequel in the bag I was really excited, until I found out that they had recast the Freddy Kruger part after nine films.  This is my little way of saying thanks to Robert for all the great years and scares we've shared, long live Kruger!

Pam Grier, "Foxy"

Pam Grier - Foxy

Portrait, 11 x 14 in.

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When I set out to do a Pam Grier piece I was originally going to do one from the Jackie Brown era - as that is probably the best things she's ever done despite her prolific career.  The more I thought about it though the more I thought I needed to at least start with a piece that paid homage to her films such as Fox Brown, Coffee and Doll House.  I started off with a small 8.5 x 11 in lay out but her hair wouldn't allow for that.  It was huge and even adding the extra inches I didn't quite get it all.  If you grew up watching her movies like I did it's time to snag up one of these amazing prints and get your wall snazzy yesterday!

Marlon Brando, "Godfather"

Marlon Brando - Godfather

  

Portrait, 8.5 x 11 in.

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Marlon Brando was a master of acting and over his illustrious career played more roles than I could recount here.  Many of those roles have become legendary, some of the most lauded moments in American cinema - but in my mind one of them stand above almost all the rest.  It at least earns a place on the top five list there and that's his role as Vito Corleone, The Don, The Godfather - in the movie of the same title.  One of the best period films ever made and unarguably one of the best mafia films ever made, Brando cemented his place as a house hold name for generations to come with this one.  And now Vito can give you your own consultation any time you want!

Alfred Hitchcock, "Shadow"

Alfred Hitchcock - Shadow

Portrait, 8.5 11 in.

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Everyone has a favorite Hitchcock film - Vertigo, The Birds, North By North West, Psycho, Rear Window, Dial M For Murder, I could go on and on.  Looking over the list of movies it's almost inconceivable that one person could have done them all, and that he was also the person that at once created a uniquely original version of the emerging horror film of the time - the thriller.  Suspense and mystery were the supreme tools of Hitchcock, earning him the apt title,the Master of Suspense.  On one hand he was a dark and sinister, brilliant and uplifting director of the time - and on the other a loving and warm family man.  I tried to do a half and half image of him that kind of conveyed that a little.  No matter what your favorite film, hasn't he earned a spot on your wall?

Stephen Geoffreys, "Evil Ed"

Stephen Geoffreys - Evil Ed

Portrait, 8.5 x 11 in..

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Until the recent talk of a remake the 1985 film, Fright Night has definitely flown under the radar for the most part, cementing it's role as a cult classic and fan favorite.  I am definitely one of those fans, watching both Fright Night and it's sequel nearly every Halloween for years now.  Roddy McDowell often steals the show for people as Peter Vincent but Stephen Geoffreys always caught my eye during a particularly charged seen that seems very out of place in the res of an otherwise camp and pretty badly acted film.  Geoffreys career has been a rough one, finding him doing pornographic films sometime after Fright Nights release.  I submit this piece in loving memory of the man who stole a scene from Roddy McDowell in one of the most awful films I've ever seen and ended up making me love it!

Audrey Hepburn, "Cigarette"

Audrey Hepburn  - Cigarette

Portrait, 8.5 x 11 in.

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Audrey Hepburn is a legend, just mentioning her name summons the ideals of beauty and elegance.  She is pictured here early in her career while she spent all her time nursing those long cigarette filters in her dainty little fingers.  I had thought about doing her in Breakfast At Tiffany's but instead I decided instead simply to remain in those idyllic years of her career during which she would make such movies as Paris When It Sizzles, How To Steal A Million and of course 1964's blockbuster smash My Fair Lady.  If you're like me and just can't get enough Hepburn even with all of her films available on DVD now you need to snag this piece up and make your wall a bit more stylish, everyone should be so lucky as to have her consultation on decoration, haha!

Alyson Hannigan, "Sprite"

Alyson Hannigan - Sprite

Portrait, 8.5 x 11 in.

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Alyson Hannigan has worn many hats in her career.  She started off as a side joke int he American Pie series and has made her way into the the lexicon of the American language now with her role on the television series, How I Met Your Mother - which is in it's sixth season.  A mother several times over, I will always remember Alyson Hannigan in her early roles - so young and jovial, cute in ever sense of the word.  I tried to capture a snapshot of that smile - when you look at it you know exactly who you are looking at, and you almost can't help but smile back up at the wall every time - guaranteed to brighten the room up with this one!

Julie Newmar, "Tasteful"

Julie Newmar - Tasteful

Portrait, 8.5 x 11 in.

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Julie Newmar went on to world fame as an actress, most notably in her role as Catwoman on the 1960's camp version of Batman, she always wanted to be a comedian after all.  In the 30's though she made her living as a pin-up model.  She never did anything extremely racy in my opinion, but she did do some really nice tasteful pin-up work that I consider to be classic Americana along side the likes of Bettie Page and Marilyn Monroe.  I think I captured the essence of that very well here in this piece which is a companion to the earlier Catwoman, #1 piece that I did portraying her more as she always wanted to be seen - a jovial comedian, rather than a sexy cover girl - in my mind and on your wall though she can be both!

Lon Chaney Sr. - Phantom Of The Opera: "Phantom"

Lon Chaney Sr. - The Phantom Of The Opera

Portrait,15 1/2 x 10 /2 in.
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Another piece in the ongoing series of Classic Universal Horror Monsters is in my opinion - the original Horror monster.  Before there was Lugosi there was Chaney, before there was sound there was Chancey, before there were make-up artists there was Chaney.  We still don't honestly know how he achieved the upturned nose make-up for The Phantom of The Opera to this day, though these days most people believe he used very thin wire to upturn his snout.  Seemingly impervious to pain in the service of achieving a realistic appearance on screen Chaney is considered by some to the first character actor.  Whatever your opinion on the man might be it's hard to argue that he is anything but a legend among horror fans.  Once he haunted the screen, they say he still haunts the opera set which is miraculously still standing today, but if you want he can always haunt your wall!

Johnny Depp: Fear & Loathing In Las Vegas - Raol Duke, "Colonel"

Johnny Depp - The Colonel

Portrait, 13 1/2 x 10 1/2 in.

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The essence of gonzo in it's purest form - or is it?  Johnny Depp, a Kentucky native, is seen here in his leading role as Raol Duke aka Hunter S Thompson in 1998's Fear & Loathing In Las Vegas.  Though released to mediocre reviews and a disappointing box office, the film has gone onto to become a cult classic.  It was selected as a modern classic by The Criterion Collection Company and won a Golden Palm at the Cannes Film Festival.  Now, twelve years later we are still waiting on the companion piece to this film, The Rum Diary which is slated for release in the next year or two.  You don't have to wait until then though, get gonzo - grab this print, stick it in a suitcase and smuggle that sucker home!

Bruce Campbell - Evil Dead: Ash, "Woods"

Bruce Campbell, "Woods"

Portrait, 8 1/2 x 11 in

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I guess it all depends on what circles you run in, but if you know anyone that I do then Bruce don't call me "Ash" Campbell has been one of the biggest names in and out of little Hollywood, and has been for nearly three decades!  Due to Campbell's working relationship with director Sam Raimi on their Evil Dead trilogy and cameos in such films as Spider-Man 1,2 and 3, as well as Dark Man he has become a house hold name.  In more recent memory he has been starring as Sam Axe on the television show, "Burn Notice" for some time now.  Despite all of that I will forever remember him as the star of Within The Woods.  A 30 minute short film version of Evil Dead that was shot on 8mm while Bruce was still on college to attract investors to the aforementioned film.

Holding his spattered chainsaw just out of frame you can almost feel the blood oozing off the page in this illustration.  If you grab a print of this one be careful, it looks like it might drip a little!

Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight: The Joker, "Face"

Portrait, 8 1/2 x 11 in

Charcoal, Soft Pastel and Oil Pastel on Paper

After completing the Jack Nicholson 1989 "Splash" picture I knew I had to do a Heath Ledger companion to the piece.  I re-watched The Dark Knight and decided that this had to be my first color piece.  I went with a mixed medium approach, blending charcoal, soft and oil pastels to achieve the finished product.  It wasn't easy - the minimalistic approach to color was a fun thing to play with in this piece but it really made me want to do one with his bright green hair.  I'm really happy with the finished product in this case though, Ledger's sardonic eyes peering out from the shadows and that demonic smile perfectly silhouetted.  I can't wait to start getting prints of this one done, they are going to look just amazing!

Johnny Depp: Pirates Of The Caribbean - Jack Sparrow, "Sparrow"

Portrait, 8 1/2 x 11 in

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If there ever was a man outside of the Chaney family that could 'wear' the title, "the man of a thousand faces" it is Johnny Depp.  Over his career he's taken more and more control over his own career and taken it some really interesting places.  In this picture I decided to do a portrait of Johnny Depp in The Pirate's Of The Caribbean as Jack Sparrow the head pirate and arguably the lead of the films so far.  Eyeliner and dreadlocks have now become synonymous with Depp and I don't think he minds one bit with that scraggly little goatee hanging out on his face months after the completion of the films.  And have no fear if you feel left out at the end of the film because you don't have any wicked pirate booty for yourself you can forget about it now!

Mike Smith: Trailer Park Boys - Bubbles, "Hat"

Portrait, 8 1/2 x 11 in

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I did this piece for Vulturefest down in Makanda this year.  Trailer Park Boys is probably the most brilliant show I've ever seen and of all the characters Bubbles is undeniable the best.  Mike Smith started on the show as a sound-engineer having had limited success in his Canadian grunge band Sandbox, who recorded two albums on EMI.  Due to some wonderful coincidences he ended up landing a starring role on Trailer Park Boys and is working on a new show with the cast from TPBoys now.  Watching TPB lately I was struck with how much I liked Bubbles when he was in his snow gear so I decided to stick him in that here.  His little beanie cap just cracks me up, not that his face isn't enough that is!  I can't wait to see this suckers hanging in the living room, now that's a conversation starter!

Hunter S. Thompson, "Gonzo"

Hunter S. Thompson, "Gonzo"

Portrait, 10 1/2 x 12 1/2 in
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Thompson led a troubled life and might not have been a picture of sanity to most people, but he's a personal hero.  He was always ahead of he game, one step in front of everyone else.  His life was an incredible journey, kicked out of his home town after he was arrested, Thompson subsequently joined the army where he began his illustrious career as a journalist.  Though he worked at Rolling Stones magazine for several years, and was even teamed with Ralph Steadman the artist who would follow Thompson on his rise to the top, but failed to hit it big until there was an 'incident'.  Thompson was sent to cover the Mint 500 motorcycle race but instead turned in a bizarre op-ed piece of what would later become known as "gonzo" journalism.  The manuscript was the outlines of what would become the know American Literary Classic, "Fear & Loathing In Las Vegas"; which know stand along with other titles like "On The Road" and "Naked Lunch" as quintessential counter-culture reading material.

Joel Gion - Brian Jonestown Massacre, "Dig"

Joel Gion, "Dig"

Portrait, 10 x 10 1/2 in

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Can you hear the tambourine man a callin?  Joel Gion from The Brian Jonestown Massacre, or at least he as back as of the time of this portrait, made me reconsider my opion of tambourine players in a band.  He served not only as a musician but also a bouncer and the glue that very nearly held everything together.  Typical of Joel, nothing about this drawing was typical - his glasses weren't the hardest part of this picture, it was that hand that nearly drove me nuts.  For some reason getting the proper foreshortening on it was just a massive pain in the neck.  In the end though I was really happy with how this ended up.  Everything about this besides that hand was an absolute pleasure to draw.  You normally don't get to draw mutton chops or a hair cut like that on anything but a comic book character, and even then it's hard to pull off - I mean you just can't dream that kind of thing up!

Tom Waits, "Dark"

Tom Waits, "Dark"

Portrait, 8 1/2 x 10 1/2 in

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So far the final installation in the Tom Waits series he is depicted here in the mid-90's while working on one of his plays, The Black Rider with writer William S. Burroughs of "Naked Lunch" notoriety.  It was this era in Tom's life that made me know he was going to knock his role as Satan in Doctor Parnassus out of the park.  Going well back to his Mystery Men days, this classic fedora and suit look just screams lounge lizard but there's so much more to Tom.  This was the very first picture that I did in the Conte Pierre Noire lead pencils that have become the basis of most of the work presented on this blog.  A fortuitous combination of subject and medium to say the least.

Clint Eastwood - The Man With No Name, "No Name"

Clint Eastwood, "No Name"

Portrait, 10 1/2 x 13 in

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Before he was Dirty Harry, Clint Eastwood became known as The Man With No Name supplanting the legacy of John Wayne for several generations. 

Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper

Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper, "Easy Rider"

Portrait, 11 x 14 in

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This was a really fun piece to do.  Peter Fonda hurtling along the road on his Chopper, Dennis Hopper lurking in the background.  I also had to get Jack Nicholson's helmet in there or it wouldn't really be Easy Rider now would it?  I chose to do this in a slightly larger format that most of my other stuff so I could really get some more of the bikes and that helmet into frame which I think makes the picture.  It's one of the strongest compositional pieces that I've done and I'm super pleased to be able to finally offer prints of it!

Marilyn Monroe, "Personal"

Marilyn Monroe, "Personal"

Portrait, 8 1/2 x 11 in

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Few personalities have captivated America like Marilyn Monroe.  She defined the term super-model for perhaps the fist time, but that's not what this portrait is about.  I really wanted to do a picture of Marilyn Monroe as a person, not an object, something rarely seen in my opinion.  It's a million miles from the toothy Hollywood grin that made her a household name, but there's something tangibly beautiful and sincere about this piece.  On a lighter note, Something Had To Give and this print is available now, cause Some Like It Hot (I had to do it!).