Category: Artwork & Creative

Illustrations, paintings and other artistic endeavours involving werewolves.

Weekly Werewolf Art: “Werewolf Heads” by Popuche

Popuche is an art student from France whose work focusses on sci-fi, cryptid and horror concepts. I particularly like her character and environment designs, and the organic warmth of her colour choices.

Her recent piece “Werewolf Heads” features the detached and mounted domepieces of fourteen of cinema’s most famous werewolves. It’s fascinating to see so many different werewolf designs presented in the same image, side-by-side. Depending on your point of view, the variety of aesthetics and scale either

  1. highlights the diversity of werewolf concepts, or
  2. underscores the reality that no one can agree what the hell these beasts are supposed to look like.

Check it out for yourself. Can you name them all without zooming in to read the tags? I got eleven out of fourteen.

Editor’s note: Weekly Werewolf Art is an old feature of Werewolf News that I’m hoping to bring back. I’ll be spotlighting werewolf art that I find interesting, technically great or otherwise noteworthy. Out of respect for the artists, I will never repost the original – only a cropped thumbnail, and an image embed where the source permits.

Jan. 15th 2018

“Night Shift” comic by Tandye Rowe shows why you don’t force a werewolf to work late

For our twelfth wedding anniversary, my wife Tandye surprised me by creating this four-page comic in which a fictionalized version of me works at a fictional job and runs into a little problem with a fictional asshole boss. It’s called “Night Shift”, and I got her permission to post it here for Werewolf News readers to enjoy. You can check out a preview page below, and you can download it as a PDF here:

Tandye Rowe – Night Shift.pdf [12.7MB]

If you’d like to see more of Tandye’s monster art, you can check out her Redbubble site, where many adorable killer creatures lurk.

Dec. 18th 2017

Now’s your chance to get this “Mordeō” werewolf & vampire art book

Here’s a Kickstarter project that I think is well worth the help it needs to reach its goal.

[Mordeō is] An original illustration artbook dedicated to vampires and werewolves. A total of 36 artists had the opportunity to depict such creatures in different ways, from historical and classic examples to more modern interpretations of the species. The book will be 6 x 9 in in size, 50+ full colour pages in total, printed in a hardcover bound book and stamped with gold foil in the front.

With five days to go and $5,000 CAD raised so far, I think this book is still very much in the “feasible” zone. Pledge a buck if you can spare it and you like the idea, or pledge more to get a copy of the book, original art, some postcards, patches, and beautiful glow-in-the-dark enamel pins. You can also follow the project’s development (and maybe get in on some give-aways) on the Mordeō Twitter account and Tumblr site.

Here’s a list of the artists involved:

Andy Lee / annerdraws / arurelius / Asundances / CINAMONCUNE / Daniela Viçoso / DOXOlove / Erion Makuo / Eva Lynch / Faye / Fiend / Grace Zhu / Hanna Schroy / hawberries / JAUNE / JuHi / Karehng / Kel / Kiyami Omotayo / KLsloth / Lane / Margo Sikes / Mell / Milo Johnston / Mric / Noble Demons / P-RO / phi / POP / Rauviel / Ronnie G / sangcoon / Stephanie Escalona Morales / Tabita / Wrathes / Xaien

And here’s a mockup of the book cover and a look at some of the extras, including those gorgeous pins.

Oct. 27th 2017

SleepyOni craftily transforms an old-school toy into Leonard The Loup-Garou

Illustrator, maker-of-things, and skull enthusiast SleepyOni has done the best thing anyone can possibly do with a non-werewolf toy or game: he lycanthrope-ized it through skill and craft. Watch as he deconstructs a “Cool Ghoul” magnet-and-metal-filings toy and then designs, prints, trims and re-assembles it into the far-superior “Leonard The Loup-Garou”.

Wherein I disassemble a classic toy from my childhood and make it weird. Well, weirder.

Found a whole series of Wooly-Willy-style toys at Ye Place Of Work, all themed for Halloween. BUT THERE WAS NO WEREWOLF. Such an injustice could not be left to stand, as werewolves are very clearly one of the best monsters.

Via SleepyOni’s very good Tumblr. Check out his web site, Instagram and YouTube channel for more of his work!

Oct. 25th 2017

Here’s what “It” werewolf Pennywise would’ve looked like if “money people” hadn’t cut it

Werewolf News readers who’ve seen Andrés Muschietti’s stellar film adaptation of “It” know that it had one glaring omission, and now thanks to artist Carlos Huante we know why.

The tale’s eponymous monster wears a variety of shapes, each attuned to its prey’s deepest fears, its favourite (and most iconic) being that of Pennywise the Dancing Clown. In Stephen King’s novel and the 1990 made-for-TV adaptation, one of those shapes was that of a werewolf.

When the trailer for Muschietti’s film arrived earlier this year, I took a particular scene as solid evidence that we’d see another depiction of Werewolf Pennywise. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. Muschietti’s decision to slightly modernize the story’s setting included a revamp of It’s fear-based forms, leading to the absence of a few “classic monsters” (including the werewolf) and the introduction of some new ones. Effective, but kind of a bummer for werewolf fans.

Today, this Instagram post by artist Carlos Huante – who’s been designing creatures for Hollywood features for nearly three decades – revealed that Werewolf Pennywise was under consideration for the 2017 adaptation, but was ultimately excluded when “the money people shot it down”. The drawing is part of a set of commissions done in relation to Huante’s latest art book, Rasca, and shows what he might have pitched if the money people had decided to allocate some of the film’s USD $35 million budget to a lycanthrope with pom pom buttons.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Carlos Huante (@galleryanatom)

I’d like to think that Huante’s vision of Werewolf Pennywise might still make an appearance in the second film, due out in 2019. Considering the first film’s astonishing box office success (USD $604.4 million and counting), I doubt funding will be an issue.

Special thanks to friend of Werewolf News (and kick-ass artist) Doruk Golcu for sharing the link with me!

Oct. 13th 2017

Werewolves Versus: Hollywood is out now!

Hi! If you’ve been wondering where the heck I’ve been for the past month or two, well, I was very busy working on the latest issue of Werewolves Versus, the digital (and maybe soon-to-be print) anthology I make in collaboration with artists and writers from the werewolf community – folks like you! This latest issue mashes up lycanthropes and film, and I’m extremely proud of the results.

You can get all 167 pages for any price you like, including $0, right here. And if you’re interested in being in the next issue, Werewolves Versus: Fashion, check out the submission guidelines!

https://werewolvesversus.com/post/165063126731/werewolves-versus-hollywood-is-available-now-get

Sep. 6th 2017

Frank Bruce’s grim storybook comic “The Marrow Bones”

Pop quiz! Which of the following best describes Frank Bruce’s online, free-to-read comic The Marrow Bones? Find the answer at the bottom of this post!

  1. a lovingly-illustrated storybook for disturbed children
  2. a pitch for an enjoyable episode of Tales from the Crypt or The Outer limits
  3. “a tale of societal expectations and conformity”
  4. a dark little morality tale with a punchline that could be summarized by the last line of Mother Mother’s song “The Stand”
  5. all of the above

I had a lot of fun reading this. It’s a privilege to see someone’s concept expressed with such diligence, craftsmanship and character. The artwork – generally hand-drawn on Bee Paper products with Sakura Micron ink pens and Copic markers,  according to Frank’s site – is mesmerizing, and the story leads down some interesting paths before taking a (maybe kind of expected but still enjoyable) twist.

There’s a ton of captivating art on his site, including a gallery titled “Women & Werewolves” that had me scrolling for a long time. For more of his work you can also follow him on Instagram and Facebook.

Thanks to @EvilViergacht for the link.

Quiz answer: stop reading this and go look at the comic, ya dingus

Jul. 13th 2017

Welcome to #Julycanthropy

I love a good werewolf-themed event hashtag. I even tried starting one myself, to middling success. (Pro tip: don’t expect your art-related group thing to pop off if you don’t really draw anything yourself). Enter #Julycanthropy, the preferred portmanteau of summertime werewolves everywhere.

Originally coined (as near as I can tell) on Twitter last year by Tiffany Turrill, Julycanthropy is a great excuse to draw werewolves for an entire month. It’s like Inktober with all of those pesky non-lycanthrope prompts removed. Participating artists generally post their daily drawings on Twitter under the #julycanthropy tag, where the rest of us can enjoy the wide variety of thematic interpretations.

Collective, decentralized events like this are awesome because anyone can do whatever they like, but for those wanting a common set of prompts to work from, may I recommend Maria Nynfa‘s list:

The featured image on this post (used with permission) is a work-in-progress shot by Ben G Geldenhuys – check out the finished piece here.

Jul. 6th 2017

Best Buy offers exclusive “Wolf Man” SteelBook Blu-ray with cover art by Alex Ross

Via Bloody Disgusting comes the news that Universal (who really seem to be doubling down on their stable of monsters lately) is re-issuing seven of their classic horror films this September. They’ll be sold exclusively through Best Buy as SteelBook Blu-rays, featuring brand-new cover paintings by legendary comic artist Alex Ross. Included on the roster is 1941’s “The Wolf Man”.

So what’s a “SteelBook Blu-ray”? According to the SteelBook site, it’s a cool metal case.

Prized by fans and collectors for its iconic design, luxurious finish and ability to showcase artwork, a SteelBook® edition is a premium metal case that represents the ultimate way to store your favorite movies and games.

Nowhere on the Best Buy site are the specifications of the Blu-ray disc itself given, so it could very well be the same edition of The Wolf Man that’s available for purchase right now, albeit with some lovely new artwork wrapped around it.

I think Ross’s work here might be the best Wolf Man art I’ve seen since Martin Ansin’s print for Mondo, but the delivery format isn’t for me. My DVDs and Blu-rays and VHS cassettes are all slotted sideways on a shelf so that only the spines are visible, and I’m not interested in collecting physical media for films anymore anyway, unless the film itself is something rare or exclusive. In this case I’d rather pay for a print of Ross’s beautiful new art that I can put up on the wall than a 5″ x 7″ copy that’s stuck to the front of a metal box.

If this edition of The Wolf Man catches your fancy, though, you can pre-order it directly from Best Buy for $19.99 right now and it will ship in mid-September.

Jun. 27th 2017

JD Laclede, the West Coast vibe, and “Ask The Werewolves – Memory”

Having lived near the Pacific Ocean for most of my life, there’s a particular “west coast” vibe that strikes a chord with me whenever I detect it in a story or piece of writing. It’s in the music of Loscil and Tycho, the writing of Douglas Coupland and Kim Stanley Robinson, and as I am increasingly delighted to discover, the work of JD Laclede.

JD writes and draws Ask The Werewolves and he also wrote the outstanding story “Broken Colors” for Werewolves Versus Fascism. He does a lot more than that – see for yourself on his Patreon and at his site – but anything he creates that depicts his vision of California comports especially strongly with my own tough-to-articulate feelings about the land between Alaska and the Baja. There’s love, hope, sweet melancholy, and that distinctly Pacific mashup of glittering new cities and ancient coastal forest.

All of that is encapsulated wonderfully in the animation he posted recently in response to an Ask The Werewolves question. You don’t even need to be familiar with Blackbird (the werewolf depicted), the city of Midnight, CA or the conceit of ATW to get that vibe. I’m grateful that JD and so many other artists, writers and musicians are able to express what I can’t about this place… and I’m particularly thankful that JD can do it with wry humour and werewolves.

Jun. 24th 2017