Werewolf art timelapse – Ryan Pancoast’s “Lambholt Pacifist / Lambholt Butcher”

Here’s a video of Ryan Pancoast painting the art featured on the two sides of “Lambholt Pacifist / Lambholt Butcher“, a Magic: The Gathering card from 2016’s “Shadows Over Innistrad” expansion.

From what I understand of the game mechanics, which is very little (this is the most I have thought about Magic since the afternoon in 1995 when my uncle tried and failed to get me interested), this card’s two sides represent the same person. Even if you’re clueless about the game, the identical background foliage and the discarded cowl in the nighttime / werewolf image are lovely clues. Therefore what we’re seeing in the completed images are this mysterious woman’s binary states of existence: “I am cool with birds” and “I absolutely fucking hate birds”.

Both paintings are available for purchase as prints, because sometimes the Internet is good! You can see more of Ryan’s amazing paintings at his site and on his YouTube channel.

Thanks to friend of the site (and wonderful artist in his own right) Doruk Golcu for posting this video.

Jul. 17th 2018

I finally found the Sawbones episode about lycanthropy (and other Halloween diseases)

I’ve been listening through the backlog of Sawbones, a informative and darkly funny medical history podcast hosted by Dr. Sydnee McElroy and her husband Justin. Last year they talked about the full moon and its connection to clinical weirdness, including werewolves, but way back in 2015 the show got even more lycan-specific. In the episode “Aah, Real Monsters!” Sydnee and guest host Rileigh Smirl (Sydnee’s younger sister, subbing for Justin and crushing it) discuss “the Halloween diseases” – werewolfism and vampirism.

This isn’t just a recounting of the Wikipedia entries for hypertrichosis and ergot poisoning. In typical Sawbones fashion, Sydnee presents an insightful and cogent history of lycanthropy and porphyria – including a surprisingly compassionate recap of Peter Stumpp‘s story. Rileigh provides enthusiastic and delightfully pro-werewolf colour commentary, and influences the episode’s vibe in such a way that “having a real disease” comes off as a bad situation, but “being a Halloween monster” is extremely good. That’s as fine a Sawbones conclusion as any they’ve reached in all the episodes I’ve heard.

You can hear the episode here, or find it in the Sawbones archive, available via Apple Podcasts or whichever podcasting app you like.

Jul. 17th 2018

Sorry, football fans! That scary werewolf suit is not a new team mascot

Everyone else in the world seems to be hyped about the World Cup, but for the past four days, the only football chatter I saw online was about was the new would-be mascot for Lobos BUAP, a team in Mexico’s Liga MX.

Photos and videos of this absolute lad started circulating on Twitter earlier this week. Without researching its provenance – I don’t know Spanish and I just assumed it was a cool Underworld Lycan / Dog Soldiers mashup costume someone wore to a convention – I tweeted a dumb quip and moved on. Then word started spreading on Twitter and in the media that this was actually a controversial new mascot for Lobas BUAP, whose previous mascot designs had been a bit more conventional.

I love this bit of editorializing from La Verdad [translated from Spanish]:

The primary objective of having a mascot is to capture the affinity of the little ones and to be able to interact with the fans in the stadiums, but the new Lobos BUAP team mascot has generated controversy due to its fear-giving aspect, having a height of almost two meters.

I can only speak for myself, but seeing a two-meter-tall werewolf roaming the crowd at a stadium when I was a little one would have made me a football fanatic for life.

News sources couldn’t pin down whether this horror-centric new design was a gimmick or a longer-term change established for the duration of Torneo Apertura 2018. That’s because the whole “new mascot” story was a misunderstanding that got blown out of proportion as football and pop culture sites repeated it. According to an article posted to Mileno today [translated from Spanish]:

The supposed werewolf mascot that went viral in social networks is nothing more than a project separate from the professional team, since its developers were only visiting the University Stadium.

The suit is actually a project by brothers Erick and Ivan Olarte, pictured above with their family. The latter is an architect who graduated from UAP, and he and his brother created the suit in their spare time for the sake of the challenge. The Olarte brothers have worn “Licaon” – as the suit is called – to a variety of events in the past few years, and while the media attention of the past week has been a wild experience, they are already setting their sites on their next project.

Disappointed? I am too, a little, but I also personally find “two brothers made a radical animatronic werewolf suit in their garage” a more exciting story than “football team tries to psych out its competitors by terrorizing fans”.

Jul. 13th 2018

Figurosity gets into #Julycanthropy with “An American Werewolf in Cyberspace”

Figure drawing reference site Figurosity is getting into the “all werewolf art, all month long” mandate of #Julycanthropy with member David‘s collection of 66 werewolf action poses.

If you’re looking for some inspiration to snap you out of that “howling at the full moon” pose you always draw your werewolves in, this is an excellent free resource. If that’s not enough, a $2.99/month membership will let you see under this werewolf’s clothes (not like that, come on) or even under his fur and skin. Here’s a preview of some of his layers, courtesy of the Figurosity Twitter account.

There are many other models and poses on the site, too, but as my pals online say, “why not werewolves?”

Jul. 12th 2018

The werewolf’s back in Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween

The werewolf from the 2015 Goosebumps film is back for the upcoming sequel, Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween. He’s lower-resolution, true, but he’s still got his basketball shorts, and he still cannot get enough of the cold cases at the local grocery store. Extra lean ground beef and blackberry Liberte greek yogurt? He goes wild for the stuff. Check him out (and a bunch of other monsters too, I guess) in the trailer.

Know who’s definitely not back? Anyone from the cast of the first film (including, most regrettably, Jack Black), nor the writers and director who made the first film a weirdly polished nostalgia trip. The trailer gives Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween a kind of made-for-streaming-TV look, but then, it comes out in October, when I’ll watch just about anything with a goofy/spooky vibe to it. And I mean anything.

Jul. 11th 2018

“Inhumane” werewolf revenge film seeks investment with teaser trailer

Inhumane is a feature-length werewolf film from writer/director Eric Winkler that, like so many other promising werewolf films, doesn’t quite exist yet. It’s currently in search of investment based on the strength of a teaser trailer, some cool concept art (see the image at the top of this post) a shorter version already in the can.

The synopsis:

Lisa [Lindsay Lillig] runs a bookstore in her rural Missouri hometown. Assaulted at work by the town sheriff’s son, she reports the crime only to be victimized once more: The son and his cronies rape and beat Lisa, leaving her for dead in the woods.

Taking on superhuman abilities after being bitten by a werewolf, Lisa begins exacting brutal revenge on her attackers. Is she justified in her actions? Can she retain her humanity as she cedes more and more of herself to her animalistic ways?

Inhumane’s being pitched as “a female empowerment movie”, but a post-assault revenge tour sounds more like a grindhouse or exploitation film. That’s not an indictment, and there’s certainly a precedent for good films that merge the two, but I’m relieved that Winkler is involving Lillig and his wife / production partner (whose name I can’t find anywhere) in the writing and overall vibe of the film.

From an interview Eric did in May with Velvet Film and More:

We filmed a short version of the movie last Fall. Our lead actress lived in LA at the time (she’s since moved back home to KC), and she and her husband (he’s also an actor) were back in town for a wedding. We had them for two days. We filmed for 17 hours each day. Then we did some pickup shots. I found the filming process to be absolutely exhilarating. And I was in awe of the professionalism and talent of our crew. I’m so honored to even be associated with them! …the main goal has always been to make the full-length movie. Not unlike many independent films, we’re seeking the funds to do that. We currently have a rough cut of a teaser trailer finished, and it’s fantastic, even in rough cut form!

A version of that trailer (see below) was posted to the Inhumane web site, and while the name makes it seem like it might not be the final version, I’m already pretty impressed, particularly by the very nice kill towards the end. Here’s hoping Winkler and his team get a chance to put together a feature length cut that delivers the same kinds of delicious “fuck you” moments.

Inhumane is on IMDB, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Jul. 10th 2018

Comic “Day of the Devourer” gives us a glimpse at the life of an impulsive monster

Artist Eli Bishop has created a comic that proposes a very elegant explanation for why some people just suck so, so bad. It’s called Day of the Devourer. The whole comic is readable online, but you can also buy a physical version for less than the price of a fancy coffee.

Why are werewolves so much angrier than regular wolves? Why is this very lazy man spending all his time on increasingly unpleasant compulsive behavior? This short comic may make you wonder about some of the people you run into online.

The twist in the comic isn’t hard to guess if you’ve been doing werewolf stuff online for one million years, like most people reading this site, but all the little details Eli includes kept me from rushing through to the end. I particularly like the nods to the financial practicalities that could keep such a scenario going.

Eli ran into me online and I think our exchange was much more pleasant than anything on display in the comic. I dig his art, and I have to say, I miss the days when the Internet was populated by more lovely bespoke web sites like his. I clicked around for a bit before writing this post, and I discovered that I am Mister Rogers.

See more of Eli’s work on his site, on Facebook, and on Etsy.

Jul. 5th 2018

WV06: Werewolves Versus Fashion

After weeks of work, I’m very proud to announce that the six issue of the collaborative werewolf magazine I edit and produce is out! All 149 pages of WEREWOLVES VERSUS: FASHION are here for your enjoyment, at the low low cost of $0 (or whatever you want to pay, and since it took a lot of work and all the contributors get a slice, I entreat you to consider paying something).

This is an art-centric issue, containing over 45 hi-res images – mostly monstrous portraits and fashion pin-ups, but also a 12-page comic guest starring me as “Candace Locke, from the Bureau”. I also received a number of short stories (and one poem) that were just too good to pass up. Check out the cover, the pitch, and contributor list below. If you’re intrigued by the idea of werewolves embracing and / or literally destroying haute couture, check it out!

Everyone can look great in a tailored suit or a stunning ball gown, even when you’re eight feet tall and covered in fur, but the true value of fashion isn’t how it makes you look, it’s how it makes you feel. It can crush you with unrealistic expectations, give you the strength to carry on when things are desperate, or empower you to bite the startled head clean off the shoulders of your enemy.

Our sixth issue is a double-sized look at the claw-throat world of lycanthropic haute couture – a realm where the fabrics are dark to hide the blood, enchanted stretch materials can make you a legend, and fur is most definitely still murder (especially when it’s your own).

Featuring over 45 pieces of hi-resolution original art and over 32,000 words of werewolf fiction and poetry from these contributors:

…plus lethally stylish cover art by Ben Geldenhuys.

Jul. 3rd 2018

La Sportiva Lycan – the shoe for werewolf trail runners

My first post in a month and a half and it’s about a piece of gear related to one of the several things that have kept me otherwise occupied – trail running! (a post about the other big thing that ate my late spring is coming later today).

Yes, I’ve been getting deep into trail running as a way to keep fit, balance out all the time I spend staring at screens, and enjoy the mountainous coastal rainforest I live in (prime werewolf turf). One of the most prominent and trusted voices in the sport, Ethan Newberry (aka The Ginger Runner), just posted a video review of a product that made me realize it was time to overcome the self-annoyance of not having been here in a bit: outdoor gear company La Sportiva’s got a new trail shoe called the Lycan. Says the company:

The Lycan is the ideal Mountain Running® Shoe for training on off-road, rocky terrain where long-lasting sticky rubber and good shock absorption is needed.

Why they think “mountain running” is a registered trademark is beyond me, but I’ll give them a pass because they named a damned shoe after the Underworld-coined term for “werewolf”. Nothing about the shoe’s marketing explains why they went with that name, but as Ethan’s video (linked here, embedded below) and a variety of other online reviews indicate, the shoe does have some werewolfy traits: it’s hard, fast, unforgiving, nimble, grippy, and maybe a little bit bulky. I even like the design, although it seems like they missed an opportunity to add a fur pattern or some other indicator of dangerous animality to the print.

It comes in men’s and women’s styling, with two different colourways for each, and retails for $115 USD. There are places online to order a pair for yourself, but if you’re in the market for something as niche as a running shoe built for trails, you probably already have a go-to merchant where you can try them on. I certainly do, and I’ll be checking them out as soon as I’ve worn out my current shoes.

Jul. 3rd 2018

Full Moon Features: How to Make a Monster (1958)

After its twin successes with 1957’s I Was a Teenage Werewolf and I Was a Teenage Frankenstein, it’s only natural that AIP would want to pair up its two monstrous creations, Universal-style. And it did so the following year in How to Make a Monster, released 60 years ago on July 1, 1958. The form that monster summit took, though, was the fictional (and generically titled) Werewolf Meets Frankenstein being produced (in self-reflexive fashion) by American International Studios, which not only has its own lot, but also a proud history going back 25 years.

Much of the credit for American International’s longevity is due to the work of its tireless makeup man Pete Dumond (Robert H. Harris), but when he’s given the shove by the new regime that has taken over the studio, he fights back by adding a special ingredient to his foundation cream that gives him influence over Larry Drake and Tony Mantell, the young actors playing the Teenage Werewolf (Gary Clarke, taking over for Michael Landon) and Teenage Frankenstein (Gary Conway, reprising his role from the earlier film). They are then dispatched to murder the new studio heads, who only want to make (ick) musicals. Naturally, this attracts the attention of the police, who turn the heat up on Harris’s nervous assistant, Rivero (Paul Brinegar), after the monstrously made-up Tony is spotted running from the scene of one of the crimes.

The funny thing about the film, which was shepherded by Teenage Frankenstein director Herbert L. Strock, is while Pete starts out extremely mild-mannered, over time he becomes more and more of a raving lunatic, taking on the mad scientist role previously played by Whit Bissell in the earlier films. And things take a definite turn for the macabre when he creepily invites Larry and Tony over to his house (where the film abruptly switches from black and white to color) so he can immortalize them as he’s done with his other creations, which are displayed in a room populated by props from previous AIP films. Suffice it to say, whatever his actual plans are (the dialogue is vague on that point, but I think it’s something along the lines of what Vincent Price does to his victims in House of Wax), the boys are right not to want any part of them.

Jun. 27th 2018