Festivals

I'm in Florida right now for Spooky Empire's May-Hem Convention in Orlando this weekend and I'm hoping to see some of you there! Halloween Extreme is included this year, which is a Halloween, horror and haunted house extravaganza. There's also a tattoo festival, a zombie paintball shoot, a zombie prom, a pumpkin carving contest, trick-or-treating for kids, artist demos, and a lot more. It's a great time and I'd like to see more familiar faces at this event!

I'll be vending my art as usual, so be sure to come by my booth! Here are a few new charcoal sketches that will be for sale at the show this weekend:

SEE YOU THERE!!!

In early March, I spent a weekend in Chicago to show my work at the Sci-Fi Spectacular and to meet director Frank Henenlotter. The Spectacular is an annual movie marathon that was 24 hours this year, screening mostly 35mm prints of classic horror and sci-fi movies. These festivals are great for meeting a lot of different people who love this weird stuff and it's always nice to meet fans in person. Not to mention seeing all my Chicago buddies!! I displayed my monster paintings new and old, art prints, shirts, knickknacks, and my new illustrated book.

Firstly, I came to the Portage Theater on Friday night as a fan. Spent time with my wife and friends watching the Basket Case trilogy with an introduction by Frank Henenlotter. How cool is that for a Friday night? Frank's also made some fun body horror flicks like Frankenhooker and Brain Damage!

Frank discussed how he really didn't have plans or ideas for Basket Case 4 until very recently. The ideas seem to be brewing in his head now, so maybe this could very well happen someday. Independent projects are really hard to get off the ground, which is something he's struggled with a lot. Of course, any horror fan will say his work is amazing, disturbingly gross and hilarious all in one, so he's definitely got our support!

On Saturday, Henenlotter was around for quite a while throughout the day meeting fans at the Spectacular and introduced Brain Damage early in the evening with a hilarious Q&A! He stressed how important absurdity in horror is for making you laugh. He uses very loose outlines of scripts and mostly wings it. He's totally into handmade horror, which is hard to do properly without at least a decent-sized budget. His movies are visceral, gross, and wildly comical. He said he got tired and bored when doing stop motion, so he'd just kick the props! But it works for him. I love no matter what he does. It was extremely cool meeting him!

Here's my BASKET CASE painting!

Mad Monster Party Con is this weekend and I've created a few drawings to be sold as limited edition, exclusive prints! The convention season has begun! Last weekend, I went to Chicago to sell my work at a 24-hour sci-fi festival and meet director Frank Henenlotter! More on that in the next blog.

Today, I'd like to show you guys some drawings that will be exclusive for the Mad Monster Party Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina March 22nd-24th.

These are limited edition prints so keep that in mind when at the show! It's a great time and I look forward to seeing everyone again. As always, please stop by my table to say hi or just discuss movies! Check out the crazy list of guests here! Or check out my previous blog about this convention and the guests I'm looking forward to seeing right here! I will also have some copies of my new illustrated book as well!

Mad Monster Party is on Facebook!

Mad Monster Party Website

Hope to see you there!

Last weekend, I saw John Dies at the End which was presented by the director himself, Don Coscarelli! My wife and I made a trip into Chicago to see it at the Music Box Theatre. As you can see in the picture below, I was too busy chatting him up to think about posing. It happens! He's really nice and he signed some autographs for me. Cool guy. It was also great to hang out with some of my fantastic Chicago horror friends.

The movie is pretty good. It leans more towards Coscarelli's style in Bubba Ho-Tep than in the Phantasm films. It's just a really fun, trippy horror comedy. He said he didn't put much of the book in it, though there are certain familiarities for sure. The writing reminded me of A Scanner Darkly due to the snappy dialogue. The special effects are great. If I had to criticize anything, the friendship between the lead guys didn't feel very strong compared to the book. That gives some disconnect, but the movie was still damn enjoyable. It also has a Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer tone to it, too. I suppose it has a little bit of everything. Go see it!

 Another cool thing about John Dies at the End... Besides fun appearances by Doug Jones, Angus Scrimm, and Daniel Roebuck, one of my favorite modern illustrators worked on it! David Hartman aka “Sideshow Monkey” was the animator and he also acted as one of the spider victims! He's worked with Coscarelli before with Bubba Ho-Tep as an illustrator and the visual effects supervisor. Hartman does magnificent work. Check out his website here: Sideshowmonkey.com

I've done a few Phantasm paintings in the past. Here's a color piece of The Tall Man!

Next year is already shaping up to be an exciting one, and I'm looking forward to the Mad Monster Party Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina on March 22-24, 2013. This is a huge horror, science fiction and fantasy con that has a pretty good selection of guests for all types of fans. Celebrities like Hammer scream queen Veronica Carlson (Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed), Lon Chaney's great grandson, Ron Chaney (House of the Wolf Man), Bruce Campbell, David Naughton (An American Werewolf in London) and not to mention a Jaws reunion!

However, the guest that thrills me the most is legendary Haruo Nakajima, the greatest suit actor ever to wear the Godzilla suit, and the FIRST. Click on the link above to see his great body of work. Be amazed! Some of you may have met him at a G-Fest before, but each time he graces our presence is a meaningful one.

I love EVERYTHING Godzilla-related. War of the Gargantuas is also a favorite movie of mine. I pretty much watched all the big monster movies when I was younger. They're fascinating to me. No CGI back then. It was all blood, sweat and tears! The Godzilla suit was so heavy, Nakajima literally sweat his soul out each time he wore it!

Mad Monster Party will also feature vendors (like me!), movie screenings, celebrity meet-and-greets, an after party, and a haunted mill to walk through! madmonster.com

 Head on over to the MMP Facebook page here!

Here's my take on Godzilla mayhem in sweet, beautiful sepia!

Happy Holidays, everyone!

Thought I'd post this awesome mention I got from my friend Brian Kirst in his killer blog,

BigGayHorrorFan.com. He did a write-up of Terror in the Aisles, filled with great photos from

the night, which includes a photo and blurb about yours truly, along with other Chicago-area

horror friends rocking the scene. I love the photo taken of me with Nightbreed star Anne Bobby!

It was great talking with her. I especially loved Brian's description of my work:

"Chris' pieces seem to breathe with a liquid intensity."

I hope everyone checks out this post of his recap! Check it out HERE!

Since we're on the topic of mentions, I got another one by my friend Aaron Christensen on his

movie blog, Horror 101 with Dr. AC. He did this INSANELY huge write-up on his very first trip

to G-Fest, which we happened to be attending last weekend as well. It was a blast, and as you can

see from AC's post, he had a fantastic time, too! Thanks to AC for the shout-out, and I really

recommend giving that gigantic, monster-filled post a read. If anyone knows me, they know how

much of a Godzilla fan I am. The photos alone are enough to sway anyone to go next time!

Read it HERE. Movie fans might want to check in to it to catch his recaps as he experiences

Fantasia Fest!