One of Us Put a Spell on You...

Maker of perhaps one of the most famously covered songs, Jalacy "Screamin' Jay" Hawkins was definitely in a category all by himself. The wild on-stage theatrics came after the drunken recording session that gave us the wild, concussive recording of "I Put a Spell On You". A fascinating icon, Screamin' Jay is well worth catching in his on-screen performances in Jim jarmusch's Mystery Train and Alex de la Iglesia's Perdita Durango.

Flash Lightnin'

This quick portrait of Texas bluesman Lightnin' Hopkins sets off what was to be a series of musicians. As it was first, it's not my favorite of the bunch. I think I may revisit Hopkins...if only because he had the coolest glasses I've ever seen...not to mention that I don't think I've heard a guitar sound so mournful as his.

99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall...

With some free time on a night out, I began to draw my environs...and got carried away...

Cocteau Cocktail

While sitting in a booth in a pub, I'm afraid that I became quite enamored with the fixture holding the globe light that illuminated our table. The small hand jutting out from the fixture reminded me of the living fixtures that lined the walls of Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast...only, the smaller size of this tiny fist gave an even more fairy tale air to it. My rendering, however, due entirely to the shadows that fell across it, looks more like the fist of some mad scientist from some other world, as drawn by Jack Kirby.

Your Vice Is a Locked Room...

Maybe it was the wild clothes...maybe it was the 2 foot long fake lashes...maybe it's just that golden nostalgia of the past...but they don't seem to make them like they used to. I won't say that they don't make them like they used to, after all, with nearly 9 billion people and 51% of those being woment, they're still making plenty and some are bound to be like they used to. In any event, today's quickie was inspired by Euro-bombshell Edwige Fenech. She starred in everything from titles like the The Case of the Bloody Iris to Ubalda, All Naked and Warm. I shan't have to elaborate I don't believe. I know I need to simplify my liine more to give it that Enrique Badia Romero-era Modesty Blaise look, but you can't say it doesn't look like I had a little fun.

A Bit More Marble on Monday...

As I was using several different sketchbooks at the time, some of these got out of order I believe...In any event, here's another rendering of a figure formerly formed in marble.

"It's the Wood that Should Fear Your Hand..."

Martial Arts film legend Gordon Liu (star of the great 36th Chamber of Shaolin) made Pai Mei something of a home name following QT's Kill Bill. I think many of us who grew up on afternoon Kung Fu Cinemas on some UHF channel (ask your parents, kids) just thought of him as the bad buy with the long, wispy eyebrows and mustache. However, Pai Mei was based on historical figure 白眉 or Bái Méi (which literally means "white eyebrows"), one of the legendary Five Elders who survived the destruction of the Shaolin temple by the Qing Dynasty. Folklore as well as film history has often treated him as the traitor who helped Imperial forces to destroy the temple, which is often why he is depicted as a villian. But conflicting historical accounts depict him as anywhere from having betrayed the monks to try and save them to having become defeatist against overwhelming odds. (Also, according to some foklore, Bái Méi was the killer of martial arts legend Fong Sai Yuk.)

El Hombre Lobo...

I had heard mention over the years of the films Paul Naschy (née Jacinto Molina Alvarez) whose most famous creation was the werewolf, Waldemar Daninsky. It was only within the age of DVD that I finally managed to see a few of them. Yes, they're a little stiff. Yes, the make-up effects are sometimes laughable. But they're trashy and fun, and have a dire earnestness about them that has understandably made them cult favorites amongst Euro-trash cinephiles. This sketch was from a still I grabbed from one of Naschy's non-werewolf numbers, El Caminante (1979), in which Naschy plays the devil who's taken human form to wreak a little havoc on the Middle Ages.

A Spooky Little Girl LIke You...

I've been told this image is creepy...oh hell...I think I agree. Incidentally, my friends Jason Shawn Alexander and Chris Taylor have a fun tale of terror in Dark Horse Comics' CREEPY #6. Very well worth a look, kids.

Not Common People...

My subjects for these quickie sketches are often jut images I see during the day or something someone randomly mentions over an email. I don't remember what chain of non-sequiturs led me to draw Jarvis Cocker of Pulp, but I did it just the same. Admittedly, this wooly version of Jarvis lands somewhere closer to Eric Clapton due to my lack of specific rendering, but I swear that's who I was looking at at the time.

"For a time I was delighted with bomb throwing..."

Manfred von Richthofen has remained one of the most romantic figures ever produced by war. Even those who think him one of the great villains of World War I still tend to regard him with an obvious respect. Credited with 80 aerial combat wins in the war, Richthofen still managed to make a controlled landing despite severe damage to his heart and lungs when he was finally shot down. Since his death, books and movie depictions or references to him continue to keep his or his plane's image in the popular consciousness. In any event, I took a long moment to produce this study of The Red Baron, another figure of what seems like a truly bygone era.

Far More Fearsome by Far...

I recently stumbled across a group of photos from World War I. It was primarily nobility farting around pretending to lead troops without getting too dirty...certainly far from jumping in a trench filled with mustard gas bayonet first. Still, this little number was based on actual uniform I saw, and not some retouched modern steampunk job either. This woman had the Jolly Roger embroidered into her funny fur hat...and some weird part of me found it far sexier that most of what passes for fashion these days (insert hearty chuckle here). Ah well, time continues to slip into the ever more moderated and modulated future.

**INSERT KUNG FU NOISE HERE**

I have no idea what I was doing here...I mean, apart from slinging ink to create some sort of dynamic and loose Bruce Lee throwdown. I referenced an image from some Bruceploitation flick...and yet, it ended up looking more like Bruce than the guy on the lobby card. It's also, oddly enough, the closest I've ever come to looking remotely like Bill Sienkiewicz's slung ink style.

Vroom with a capital "V"...

...only with while wearing jodhpurs. That's what's in this season, ladies.

"...also known as the Rat."

For fun, for Fathers' Day, I went back and did a little revision on my portrait of Eli Wallach as Tuco from The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly.

Marble in Ink...

Is it Friday...already?

Everyone like beautiful ladies right?

Haven't Lost ALL My Marbles...

Call Me...

For some reason, two episodes of the Muppet Show always stuck in my mind from my youth. One was Alice Cooper, and his rendition of School's Out with all the giant monster muppets. The other was Debbie Harry...especially her performance of One Way or Another. I might have been more than just a little bit smitten at the time. Of course, had I been a little more on the ball, I would've gotten this up for her Birthday on the 1st.

A Very Different Gian Maria...

Took in an old Italian comedy about medieval times and was surprised to find Gian Maria Volonté in comedic role. So, for a fun quickie, I gave him a sketch...