Today’s Penny Arcade! comic proves once again that when it comes to marketability and positive brand association, werewolf beats vampire every time. Having said that, I would probably skill be reluctant to buy a new DS game from either of these guys.

Tandemonium has alerted me to UDON Entertainment’s Darkstalkers Tribute book, which sounds like the holy grail for fans of the video game series‘ iconic art and character design. Expect plenty of Jon Talbain art!

Inside are nearly 300 pages of artwork portraying the Darkstalkers cast in a feverish array of styles and designs, from tightly rendered realistic paintings through to abstract and iconic interpretations. This is a lush video game art gallery in a book, bursting with inspiration and energy on every page.

The book is a nice fat hardcover edition, and you can pre-order it straight from UDON’s site for $80 US + shipping. It will also be available at a number of anime and video game conventions, including Anime Expo, Otakon and Penny Arcade Expo. Preorders through the web site ship in August.

Two weeks ago we were talking about the imminent release of the entire Werewolf TV series on DVD. Now it seems the folks at Dread Central have wielded their charm and managed to get an exclusive copy of the package’s cover art! Behold the glory, the beauty, the lycanthropy, the dramatic lighting:

The series is being remastered, repackaged and re-released by Shout! Factory on September 1st.

Tip to the entertainment industry: permit more exciting, beautiful re-releases like this one is shaping up to be, and you will induce people to use their credit cards instead of µTorrent or Transmission.

Thanks to Dread Central for obtaining this. One day I hope to be as cool and influential as you.

Remember earlier in the week I was asking if anyone had a larger version of the Gladiators V Werewolves artwork I posted?

This is Longscar, created by Martin Rezard in zbrush and Photoshop. I found this posted on Creature Spot, a “gallery, a blog, and a spot for all creature fans to flock to.” Awesome site, awesome artwork and hopefully indicative of an awesome movie!

Vectortuts+ has got a really impressive vector art tutorial by Tom Whalen. The subject? A samurai werewolf in poster format, created in Adobe Illustrator. I’m geeking out already.

Click above for a rasterized full-sized version, or visit Vectortuts+ for a step-by-step breakdown of how Tom created this masterpiece. Full access to all of the goodies (including a vector file download) requires a paid membership, but it’s well worth checking out the free content at the very least– you can get a good sense of the poster’s development, from sketch to final design. Nice work, Tom!

Earlier today I posted a request on Twitter for people to send me links to any cool werewolf pictures they had, whether they created it or not (with appropriate credit, of course). This request was set off by an intriguing postage stamp-sized photo in @chaoticlycans’s background image. He was kind enough to provide a link to the full-sized version, which he says came from “somewhere on photobucket”. Does anyone know what the original source is?

The other noteworthy response came from @Ashleyfishman, who sent in three separate drawings of her own. Nice work, Ashley, and thanks for responding!

Edit: Ashley has just gifted me with the very first piece of Werewolf News fan art! Ashley, you rock!

Anyone else who’s got some particularly cool werewolf images of their own, whether it’s their own artwork or something they found elsewhere (again, with appropriate credit given to the source), send it my way via Twitter (@werewolfnews) or the Werewolf News contact form. Also, if you’ve found something awesome but don’t know where it came from, submit it and I’ll post it with a request to help identify a source. There’s a lot of really great werewolf art out there, from protraits to transformation scenes– let’s see some more of it!

Sometimes the only things necessary are a synopsis, an image and a link.

Through all of history, on the night of the full moon, the bloodcurdling cries of werewolves have pierced the night sky. For centuries, werewolves have had to content themselves with shortened forays of feral change as dictated by the source of their power — the moon! But all that is about to change as three werewolf friends — Ted, Jeff, and Stan, leave Earth and travel to the lunar surface in a quest to become kings of the moon! Unfortunately, Moon Patrol captain Maggie Pilgrim has other plans . . . as does the hive of vampires living on the dark side!

Oh heavens yes. From the creators of Star War: Clone Wars, Werewolves on the Moon: Versus Vampires issue #1 hits stores June 3rd. Check out a 5-page preview or place a pre-order here. Thanks for publishing stuff like this, Dark Horse.

Werewolf News is pleased to present this special report from jujitsu / River City Ransom sensation Mike Roukas.

There is a fine line between the intentional retardedness of Teen Wolf and the unwitting ineptitude of the JarJar Binks-era Star Wars movies. I regret to say that when it comes to making werewolf-related media, it’s very easy to cross that line and blast into uncharted dimensions of stupidity. The following are what I believe to be the top five aesthetic blunders in the wide, wide world of werewolf book covers. Please keep in mind that the cringe-inducing ineptitude of these covers doesn’t necessarily reflect the writing inside them, but it probably does.

Read more…

Haverty Marionettes is “Atlanta’s first and only theater company dedicated solely to the creation of puppetry for adult audiences”, and their current show, The Phantom Limb, is garnering positive attention. What’s it about, and how is it related to werewolves? From the Haverty site:

[The Phantom Limb is] an account of events in the life of Mr. Albert Fish, the ‘Brooklyn Werewolf’. Life-size and miniature wooden marionettes, live actors, 2D cut-outs and silhouette film combine to create a surreal dream world weaving fairy tales and historical fact into an unconventional exploration of morality, fantasy, and the capacity in nature for evil.

Grim stuff, but by the looks of things, it’s presented in a fascinating way. According to the review on Creative Loafing, the show includes “short puppet-based vignettes that riff on ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ and ‘Peter and the Wolf’… [and] The wolf puppet features an intriguingly half-human design.” Here’s a closer look at the wolf and Red Riding Hood puppets (photos by Stephanie Richardson):

The Phantom Limb is playing at 7 Stages in Atlanta, March 13 through April 5. I’ll post more ticket and showtime info shortly!

Daniel Lamontagne sent in this video of a 5-minute speed-sculpture he did of a werewolf, using ZBrush (which you might remember as Rick Baker’s weapon of choice for The Wolfman concept art). It’s rather amazing to watch how a few simple shapes can be poked, prodded and massaged into a detailed 3D model in less time than it takes for my tea to steep. Nice work, Daniel!