2014 Monster Month: Day 23 – The Nightmare

Welcome to the final selection in my 2014 Monster Month series of creepy crawlies and things that go bump in the night. As you can see, this grand finalè is autobiographical. Well, at least it is how I remember bedtime to be when I was a child.

I was that kid who would look pensively into his bedroom to make sure no monsters were peeking out of the closet or rumbling under the bed. If the coast looked clear, I would run full tilt into the room and leap onto my bed so fast that the monsters beneath had no chance to reach out and grab my ankles. Of course the mattress was off limits to them, so if I made it there safely, the monsters were powerless to attack me.

However, those monsters knew they would have their turn – a moment when I would be the most vulnerable. It was that moment in the middle of the night when one would have to get up to go to the bathroom. You wake up, and are too groggy to realize that you are sliding out of bed to go into the hall, which also means you are too groggy to think defensively. The monsters take that moment to SPRING out from the abyss beneath the box spring and munch on their midnight snack of a wailing child.

The next time your children wet their beds, don’t get angry at them. They are just protecting themselves from going down the gullet of a hungry monster. Instead, be thankful you still have your children and applaud them for their defensive thinking.

 

Purple People Eaters
Buckle up. It’s going to be a bumpy night.

 

Well, thank you for joining me again on this year’s monstrous journey. It was fun letting my mind wander to create these creatures. Hope you enjoyed them as much as I did in drawing them. Keep coming back throughout the year to see what other goodies I unleash, and feel free to click on the Monsters category on my blog homepage to see what beasties you may have missed in the past!

Happy Halloween! Be safe!

2014 Monster Month: Day 21 – Rarefied Air

We are down to our last three monster posts for the month, and it’s about time we classed up the joint.

Not all monsters are, well . . . monsters. While some roam the countryside making mayhem wherever they please, others are of an upper crust upbringing and behave in a quite dignified manner. They abhor the besmirching, (yes, I said BESMIRCHING) of the monster species by the uncouth antics of a few.

So, without further ado, may I present monsters who enjoy some rarefied air…

 

tuxedo monsters
Thankfully, this is not a musical and they won’t break into song. Whether classy or not, all monsters are tone deaf.

 

Tomorrow is a Throwback Thursday offering – a piece from a project from a couple of years ago.

2014 Monster Month: Day 19 – Slumber Party

During last year’s Monster Month, I introduced you to my neighbors, the monsters who live above me. (If you missed that post, CLICK HERE for some context!) While their noise levels have lessened slightly by a decibel over the past year, they recently unleashed a torrent of audio pollution upon their unsuspecting neighbors that tops anything they were guilty of before. Yes, I speak of the event known as “the slumber party.”

When parents open themselves up to host an overnight gathering of little female monsters from all over town in their home, they know that it means very little sleep for themselves. This is fine for them to do when they own a house (so long as they keep the windows closed), but when one shares walls and floors with other people who are not celebrating the occasion with them, the word “inconsiderate” is not strong enough.

I learned something that day – little girls are highly capable of sustained energy. For four hours, one could clearly hear banging, thumping, squealing, growling (yes, growling), yelling, singing, loud music, and probably the slurping from a fresh kill. In my home, pictures were tilting, ceiling fans falling, cracks forming, book shelves twisting, glasses shattering, and nerves were rattling.

 

Slumber Party
There is nothing like your own private four hour earthquake. Good times.

 

Once the trembles subsided that night,I went to bed. Somehow going to bed late does not mean little monsters sleep in late. Right at the crack of dawn the walls started cracking again. There was no escaping it – no matter where you went in my home you were assaulted by the continued revelry from above – even in what is usually the quiet sanctuary of the bathroom. Truly monstrous indeed.

So, if you live in an apartment, please be kind to your neighbors and figure out an appropriate way to celebrate your little monsters away from disturbing the rest of mankind.

We are in the final week of MONSTER MONTH! Enjoy and share these precious moments with your friends!

2014 Monster Month: Day 18 – The Duel

Little can be more tragic than two brothers fighting a duel to the death, unless of course those brothers happen to be conjoined twins. Not only is turning and facing each other a slight difficulty, but who really wins when one gets shot? The results are truly monstrous indeed.

 

gun duel
On second thought, perhaps having to wear a powdered wig is the most tragic thing in this scene.

2014 Monster Month: Day 16 – Play Ball!

Yesterday was the first day of the World Series! In honor of baseball (a sport I LOVED playing when I was in school), here is a monster about to show up “hit king” Pete Rose.

Now, of course I realize that the Cincinnati Reds are not in the World Series. However, a good friend of mine is a huge Reds fan, and I made this big red monster for him earlier this year whilst the Reds were in the fight. Swing away!

 

baseball beast
This one gets to pitch to himself since he ate the pitcher.

2014 Monster Month – Day 15: The Tenant

Who is to say that one monster’s face cannot be the comfortable warm home of another monster? This just might be the way to live for the upwardly mobile. Well, mobile to be sure. Living in this manner would prove challenging to accept your packages from Amazon, but it might be a decent tradeoff considering you wouldn’t have any grocery bills. I personally prefer less saliva in my living room, but the world doesn’t revolve around my opinions.

 

cavity creep
…and remember kids, brush your teeth at least twice a day to prevent cavity creeps!

2014 Monster Month – Day 14: Snotty Snobs

Matthew 7:5 – Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye. (KJV)

sleep apnea

Welcome to our third full week of monsters! Come back tomorrow for a dental lesson.

2014 Monster Month: Day 10 – Jackenstein

I often get asked “why monsters?” There are two answers to that: 1. the world of fantasy allows for as much creativity as one can handle, and 2. Jack Davis.

Jack Davis is the monster king. He has drawn many topics over his career for MAD Magazine, TIME Magazine, advertising art, movie posters, TV Guides, animation – you name it! However, his abilities with comic monsters have no comparison. While he has drawn the grotesque at times, it is his fearless work with a brush and ink on countless comedic takes on the creatures of the night that have delighted this fan for a long time. And which monster of his do they keep coming back for more? Frankenstein’s monster, naturally (or should I say “unnaturally”?).

On a rare recent visit with Jack, he told me that the Frankenstein monster is the one he gets asked to draw most often, and is it any wonder? Once he created that six foot tall Frankenstein poster in 1972 that captured the imagination of little boys everywhere while disgusting their mothers, he cemented his status as the king! I have had my own fascination with Frankenstein’s monster over the years, likely due to Jack’s influence. So much so that I include a Frankie every year in Monster Month! (Click here to see the collection!)

So, this year’s Frankie is a caricature of the monster king himself, Jack Davis, complete with his own zombie Georgia bulldog in a piece I like to call Jackenstein!

 

Frankenstein
Jack “Frankenstein” Davis roaming the countryside and keeping away from fire.
Jackenstein close
A little close-up so you can see the full hideousness of Jackenstein! Mwuahahaha!

 

If you are unfamiliar with Jack Davis’ almost 90 years of sketches, paintings and illustrations (he was born with a pencil in his hand of course), please CLICK HERE to see some great examples of his work!

Return again tomorrow to see how bees interact with monsters!