Saturday, October 02, 2021

52 Fridays - IT! Terror From Beyond Space

 

Happy Friday! First day of October, which means the kick-off for the Halloween season. I grew up in the 70s and 80s (actually, I haven't really grown up fully, still working on it) happily neck deep in a classic era of horror and sci-fi movies, so Halloween is a special time of the year for me. With that in mind, I will be drawing from those old, beautiful creature features for my drawing references this month. First up is the lovable, pig-like lizard alien from the 1958 pulpy standard, "IT! The Terror From Beyond Space". This man-in-a-suit-on-a-rampage potboiler was one of the acknowledged inspirations for the first "Alien" (1979 - Ridley Scott).   There's something dark and primal in this rough, low budget rubber monster that connects my brain to the tribal mask art that I normally draw from and also gave me a flavor of a Francis Bacon painting. That connective thread between so-called "high-art" and "low-art" is tight and I get a similar experience from both, but then isn't all art but a mirror? You can't help but to filter what you experience through yourself. Besides, it's just fun to draw monsters.

Happy Halloween!

OK HW