Issue 22 of the brilliant Hammer Horror mag Little Shoppe Of Horrors is available now - this highlights Hammer's groovy 1970 Drac flicks! I must backtrack though to 1979. I was at my first fantasy convention - Terence Fisher in attendance - yep I'm that old .:) I was rummaging through the dealers room - I'd already bought a set of Twins of Evil front of house stills and a Vampire Circus quad poster - when I cam across a couple of very early issues of LSOH. A quick scan alerted me to the fact I needed these. I think I was thrilled to see such top quality artwork being used. I decided there and then I'd draw up some pieces and send them on ( ah to be 14 again:). Of course I never sent my crude attempts at drawing Hammer scenes - but the fire had been lit.
Fast forward a number of years - I meet my great artistic pal Neil Vokes ( http://vokesfolks.blogspot.com/) - Neil suggested me to Dick Klemensen and childhood dream came true. I drew up an Ingrid Pitt from Vampire Lovers and Maddie Smith from the same film. I've been fortunate enough to be in every issue since and trust me the artistic competition is daunting ( we are talking Bruce Timm for instance!!) - knees start wobbling.:)
Below you'll find the first of a number of LSOH pieces I'll be sharing. I pencilled Caroline Munro twice - you can see which one I submitted. I actually think the piece not used had the better idea - but the likeness worried me.
You can get LSOH at http://www.littleshoppeofhorrors.com/ and from next issue , Diamond won't be distributing it - so Dick's website is a must.
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nice story, can relate to that tingling sense of joy. when i started to contribute to LSOH in 2008, it was as big-a-buzz as any paying gigs, in some cases, more so. it's a love affair...
ReplyDeleteand the pics you've posted are tops! am digging the texture you're adding.
i know i should/we all should be grateful that we actually have an ade salmon blog, but you ever thought of putting these all together in a little printed collection?
LSOH memories for me go back to 1972 when i was 18-yes I'm THAT old-i loved the various horror related fanzines that began to appear in the 70s and i saw an add for the 1st ish of LSOH-well i HAD to have it and ordered it thru the mail (you remember the old fashioned way we used to order our fanzines?)i got every ish from that point on-
ReplyDeletethen years later-after becoming a pro comic book artist- i began to correspond with Dick via the aforementioned postal system-i told him of my work in the comic biz-FRIGHT NIGHT at that time-and i sent him sketches in '89-the 1st one he printed was a shot of his character Ralph of the Vampyres with Evil ED from my series-it got published in double issue10/11 in '90-as of ish-#12 in '94 (geez-remember when LSOH only came out every few years?)i've been very proud to be in each ish since-
via the phone (no we didn't text each other either-we couldn't have yet anyway-lol)Dick and i became fast friends-then it was at the Famous Monsters Con in '93 where i finally met my publisher and new brootha,Dick Klemensen (and Videooze's Bob Sargent,too)
being a small part of LSOH all these years has been a joy and a singular pleasure...;o)
A printed collection ? - hmm there might be a rights issue I think. The texture was an afterthought really. I try to think hard on what displays best in LSOH - gives impact - so I'm constantly using slightly different approaches looking for the best print style. I was happy with the texture when I saw them printed. Thanks Shane.
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All of these pieces are terrific, but I must say the the Ralph Bates is one of my favorites! If there ever is a printed collection made available, I certainly would be interested in getting one!
ReplyDelete'Tis true Timm is great, but you are definitely a worthy artist for that publication!
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