Friday, February 26, 2010

Steve Bissette's "Vermont Monster Guide"

I stumbled across Steve Bissette's home page awhile back. It is full of art, news, and lots of art. If you haven't read it already, I highly recommend his story of the creation of the Saga of the Swamp Thing #20, which begins here.

The artist is selling signed copies of his and author Joseph Citro's book The Vermont Monster Guide. The book features one paragraph to a couple pages on different monsters purported to dwell in Vermont. Every state has stories like this, but Vermont seems to have a lot of weirdness for such a small state. In here you can learn about The Bennington Monster, The Hopping Horror, and the thing that seems to freak me out the most: "Giant Red-Eyed Rabbits." These rabbits dwell on an island in Lake Bomoseen. Since the island is thirty feet from the shore, only the biggest rabbits could make the leap, so they've been breeding on this island. The book says they haven't harmed anyone but the idea of them bothers me(and Bissette's illustration, only he could make a B&W sketch of a bunny rabbit look creepy).

Bissette's drawings are what really make this book, people familiar with his work know he can add an extra edge of creepiness to everything. Some of the beasts, like The Hopping Horror, are only depicted in silhouette, making them even more weird. Highly recommended.

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Lord of the Rings: Pics or It Didn't Happen


Here is a screen shot of probably my favorite frame from The Lord of the Rings movies. I didn't happen like this in the book, but I don't care.

Monday, February 22, 2010

Bernie Wrightson: Another Fine Jam...

When in doubt, post something by Bernie Wrightson. Here is a scan of the original art for the opening page of a never completed 1970 story: "Here's Another Fine Jam You've Gotten Me Into." You just know that one of those characters was gonna end up chopped up and put in jars at the end of the story.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Girls With Cats

Here's a few drawings of girls with cats by Arthur Sarnoff. I've been enjoying his slick, commercial romantic illustrations. I was doing some searching for information about him today and found out he is really famous for his paintings of dogs playing pool.

Oh well, I'd rather look at this paintings of women.








Tuesday, February 16, 2010

National Lampoon: Wrightson & Frazetta

Here's a few National Lampoon covers with fantastic art. One by Wrightson, and three by Frazetta.



National Lampoon Encyclopedia of Humor, 1973. Cover art by Bernie Wrightson.




National Lampoon, April 1971. Cover art by Frank Frazetta.





National Lampoon, June 1972. Cover art by Frank Frazetta.





National Lampoon, August 1973. Cover art by Frank Frazetta.

Friday, February 12, 2010

Friday, February 5, 2010

Some Cool Paperback Covers



I Married a Dead Man by William Irish. Unknown cover artist.





Cats Prowl at Night
by A.A. Fair. Cover art by Gerald Gregg.




The Flying Eyes by J.Hunter Holly. Cover art by John Schoenherr.




The Gods Hate Kansas
by Joseph Millard. Cover art by Jack Thurston.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Nonsense Lit (and Art!)

Nonsenselit.org is a cool website dedicated to nonsense literature. There is some good art on there too. My current favorite is Peter Newell, particularly The Hole Book. There is a gallery and a page dedicated to nonsense in early comic strips.

Below is one of my favorite illustrations form Newell's The Hole Book:





via

Monday, February 1, 2010