I have some cool news! The November issue of Rue Morgue contains an interview with yours truly! The very talented horror artist, Ghoulish Gary Pullin, interviewed me for his “Fright Gallery” column, and I feel extremely honored. The piece is titled, “The Cult of Chris Kuchta.” This magazine is one of the best out there, and this is really exciting for me. It happened at a perfect time. Check out Gary's work here: ghoulishgary.com
Hope you guys get a chance to check it out!
I've been doing a lot of charcoal sketches lately as raffle art prizes at the conventions I've been set up at this fall. It really helps when you have a set deadline. I know that I've got to get it done by the next show, which has been pretty much every weekend for a few months now. ALMOST every weekend. So, I've got a lot of these! I'm going to talk a bit about the process while posting images along the way. Hope you enjoy.
Charcoal drawings are an exercise in the study of form in light. If you're learning how to paint, it may help to practice drawing a few charcoal sketches to get the hang of it. I like the medium a lot because the classic monsters I draw are already filmed in black and white, so it just feels right. It also makes the modern characters like Leatherface look creepy.
First, I sketch the contours and general shaping of my subject, then I focus on lighting and texture. I use a technique ,called reductive drawing, which matches my under-painting technique. I just pre-tone the board then erase the highlights and strengthen the darks. It's really pretty simple once you get the hang of it. You can switch up your charcoals between hard and soft, and between using pencils, sticks or vines. Vine charcoal is very soft and works wonders when you want clothing or fabric to appear believable.
Working in charcoal is great because of all the variation in tone you can get. You have such a high range of tones that the whole spectrum is there at your fingertips. I use both kneaded erasers and a makeup applicator, or even white charcoal pencil once in a while for adding highlights. To finish your piece, spray it with a fixative to prevent smudging.
There are a handful of ways to use charcoal effectively, so in this case, everything isn't always black and white!
Jack Kirby Self-Portrait
August 28th would've been Jack Kirby's 95th birthday, so I thought this week's blog should be a little tribute to one of my favorite artists since childhood. Gone, but not forgotten. He was an American comic book artist whose illustrations inspired many fans like myself, and his legacy of creativity still influences artists today. He was basically a pioneer in the world of comics. Kirby was part of the creative conception behind Captain America in 1940. He pretty much created the majority of the cast of Marvel characters, despite an ongoing copyright war between his family and Marvel, who owns all of his character creations. Kirby worked for Marvel, DC Comics, and worked with Stan Lee in co-creating characters like The Fantastic Four and X-Men.
Jack Kirby's Captain America
Just look at this Captain America illustration. It's pretty obvious why Jack Kirby is known as “The King of Comics!” He was an artistic badass! His exciting visual style and illustrative dynamism made his work stand out compared to other comic artists. The angles and consistent action in each panel makes it feel as if you're right there in the story as it's happening. His work has a lot of movement.
Jack's legacy truly does live on, not only in our hearts, but there's a great place called the Kirby Museum. It's got a huge archive of his work on there, where they're doing a really great job of educating the masses about his career, art, and inspirations. Check it out and enjoy! kirbymuseum.org
On Jack's birthday this year, his granddaughter, Jillian Kirby, ran a campaign called Kirby4Heroes. Funds donated to this on August 28th went to the Hero Initiative organization, a non-profit charity which raises funds for aiding comic book creators, artists, and writers in medical or financial need. It's a unique organization with a noble cause.
Another really cool event revolving around Jack's 95th birthday this year was the “Wake Up and Draw” project. On August 28th, fans could keep up with the art on Twitter using the #WakeUpAndDraw hashtag. The Hero Initiative recruited 100 artists to contribute. Check out their art HERE. Furthermore, just this week on September 18th, an auction has begun for the Wake Up and Draw art contributions! The auction runs four weeks. Wanna bid? Register for free at ComicArtFans.com!
Jack Kirby's work is so relevant today in so many ways, it's astounding. There's a new movie coming out soon called ARGO, directed by Ben Affleck. It's based off of a true story about a CIA rescue attempt to save six Americans hiding out in a Canadian Ambassador's home during the Iran hostage crisis. They convinced Iran that those six people were actually part of a sci-fi film crew, scouting for a movie titled Argo! It gets better. The CIA's fake production company used real designs by JACK KIRBY, stolen from the work he'd submitted for a film! It was Jack's art that helped these hostages successfully escape Iran! Nuts! I have to see this movie!!!
I'll finish this post with my painting of Ash. He's pretty much a superhero in his own right. I wanted to convey a sense of urgency in the action, to get that feeling one gets while looking at a Kirby action piece, with the hero in the foreground and chaos exploding around him.
Lastly, I may or may not have mentioned that I've been working on a comic book this summer! Things still haven't been finalized, so I'm not at legal liberty to make any official announcements, but fans of the macabre will enjoy it if everything pans out as planned. I am extremely excited to be working with the people behind this project. Can't wait to tell you guys about it!
Also I would like to go on record to say that my favorite Kirby comics are as follows: The Demon, Kamandi , New Gods, and Captain America!
Evil Dead 2 by Chris Kuchta
HEY! This weekend, I will be in Pittsburgh at HORROR REALM! Hope to meet more fans there!
The Artist Influences series is going to be about the top artists who left a great impression on me over the years. I can think of a top ten list right off the top of my head. Let's start with a classic painter.
One of the many artists I took a great deal of inspiration from is Rembrandt. Let me just say that if I had a name like Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, I'd just go by my first name, too! Easier, right? Funny, I have the opposite problem where people have a hard time pronouncing my last name!
Despite being a tortured artist from life dumping endless misfortunes on he and his family, he continually whipped out brilliant stuff. Light, texture, sense of space, and atmosphere are elements he excelled in.
Also it bears mentioning that his process of painting, the dutch -Flemish style, is the one that I have largely adopted to create all of my personal paintings.
The Night Watch by Rembrandt
With Rembrandt, it's all about the lighting. See how well it works in the Night Watch painting above. Studying his work immediately impressed the notion of how very important it is to capture lighting within a painting. It makes the subjects feel more 3-dimensional and less flat. It's also a great way to highlight your key players in a piece with a lot of characters in it. Shine ’em up to make sure they become the stars of the piece.
Carcass of Beef (Pictured below) is a painting that most closely resembles my style, especially in relation to my sepia paintings. Mmm... Dead ox for dinner!
Carcass of Beef by Rembrandt
I haven't really gotten the bug to do a ton of self-portraits like Rembrandt did. I've sketched a few, but for now, I'm more obsessed with painting as many of my favorite monsters as possible. Guess I'm not a monster... Yet!
I'll leave you with a painting I feel expresses my interest in examining light rather well. It's definitely much more colorful, but I'm proud of all the little lighting nuances in my Candyman piece.
Candyman by Chris Kuchta
The Thing alien scene
Legendary horror film director John Carpenter was in Chicago recently for Flashback Weekend Horror Con, and it got me thinking about doing a little post tribute. Well, a true tribute would take pages and pages! But, I've included a photo of a poster from my personal collection, as well as a painting that depicts the image that influenced my obsession with THE THING at a young age. It's one of my top ten favorite horror films!
When I was a kid, I saw The Thing on TV and one image stuck in my brain. It haunted me for years because I didn't know the name of the movie, and had no way of properly describing what I had seen to others. But, hell, I HAD to see this again! It was the coolest thing I'd ever seen on TV. I bet most people can name a few movies that had scenes which messed with their heads as kids. You spend years wondering what that movie was and relentlessly try to find it. We didn't have "Google" growing up! This painting here is that alien scene that stuck in my head!
Years ago, I was very fortunate to have had a conversation with John Carpenter. He's incredibly nice, and he even liked my piece a lot, noting how well I'd captured Kurt Russell. He said he'd always had a really hard time finding someone who could draw Kurt well, and that it's why he kept using Drew Struzan for poster art. Drew had Russell down to a science. Nope, Kurt is not easy to draw. Some faces are way harder to capture properly than others. It's weird. I didn't get to talk to Carpenter this time around, as I had a table across the street at Wizard World. But, it's great to see through fan photos and interviews that he was clearly having a blast at the convention. There's just nothing like the feeling of meeting one of your idols. Just like that alien scene, the feeling sticks with you.
Hellraiser portrait. 16x20, oil on board.
One of my top ten favorite films is Clive Barker's HELLRAISER, and I couldn't be more proud to present this freshly finished piece to you all. I put a LOT of work into this one. Since I'd wanted to have it ready for Wizard World, my time was limited. No TV, socializing or going to the movies. These are sacrifices I'd never give up entirely, but I'm okay with doing several week stretches because it's totally worth it in the end. As a professional artist, I feel it's necessary to always have something new for each show. Don't let the fans get bored. The last thing you want is to come off as stale. Need to add a little fresh meat to the table!
I've literally been painting for four solid hours every night like some kind of frenzied madman. Deadline stress aside, it's still damn fun. I kid you not, the moment I added the final touches, I threw up! That's how hard I'd been concentrating on getting this piece done in time!
I also like to play with the idea that I was possessed during the process. Cenobites are supposed to be angels and demons who are on this demented plane of existence that lies between pleasure and pain. In essence, sadomasochism. Artists busting their asses to make deadlines kind of fall into that category!
I really hope everyone likes this piece, and I'll see some of you at Wizard World in a few days! 11x17 prints will be available for purchase at my table.
Here's my bio on the Wizard World artist page! www.wizardworld.com/chriskuchta.html
Tombs of the Blind Dead Spanish poster art
I absolutely love collecting old movie posters. The illustrations created decades ago were top-notch and really eye-grabbing without having to use floating heads. Well, unless the heads were decapitated! There was a sense of bravery and freedom going on in classic horror posters – a feeling I don't really get from posters put out today. I think the designs have started getting better, now that everyone openly mocks floating head syndrome, but a lot of it still feels too “safe” to me. I like layouts that feel alive and wild. Painted scenes that make me yell, “Hot damn! I want to see that movie!!”
Occasionally, I'm going to post some posters from my own collection here as being “From the Vault” and will try to include an art piece depicting the film's influence on me.
For starters, TOMBS OF THE BLIND DEAD! I've included both my Spanish and Thai posters, as well as my personal tribute to this amazing film. The Spanish art really has a menacing tone going on, something to scare the kiddies. The Thai illustration is a bit more bizarre, not as scary, but has some key scenes which may give an unintended comical effect. Still awesome, though!
Tombs is definitely a series of films that hit a cord with me and a lot of other people.I mean, where else are you gonna get a vampire/mummy/knight kicking ass in a film? another thing about these movies is that you never quite know what to expect. They follow their own rules so no expected weakness can help you!
Tombs of the Blind Dead - Thai poster
My painting of Tombs of the Blind Dead
Weird Tales, May 1929
Since I missed the "Planet Pulp" art exhibit at Gallery Provocateur last weekend, I feel like lamenting some more on the lost art of pulp mags. I really love the cover art on stuff like Weird Tales and The Shadow. Then again, who doesn't?
I consider the old pulp mags a great source of inspiration. For instance, check out this May 1929 cover art of Weird Tales. Is it not amazing?!?! Women, monsters (in this case, a 'gator), and madmen. All objects are strategically placed to instantly capture the eye's gaze. The colors stand out, and it's got the vibe of a wild action scene put on pause, just so we can get a glimpse of the insanity going on. These are the kinds of scenes that influence people to buy this stuff. Sometimes, I don't even CARE what's inside the mag. I just want that damn cover to stare at!
One Weird Tales artist I really like is Lee Brown Coye. His work was really strange and carried a pretty creepy vibe. He did some great black and white illustrations called "Weirdisms" that were stand-alone art inside Weird Tales. Check out this one below with the eerie little story at the bottom.
Someday, I'll take a stab at this never forgotten art, as I do have an idea brewing for an illustrated pulp story. But for now, I am mostly focused on painting movie monsters. It's probably going to be an ongoing series!
Being on the road so often for conventions is amazing, but it usually means missing great
movies that people get to tell me was good. I was able to catch a viewing of Exit Humanity
and loved it, so I'd like to spread the word about it. There are a few familiar faces in the
cast, like Bill Moseley, Dee Wallace, and Brian Cox. It didn't have a big budget, but for a
Civil War zombie film, they really outdid themselves. The zombie makeup was great, and
the thing that REALLY stood out for me was the inclusion of animation! How often can
that not end up corny? Everyone behind this film clearly had a passion for it, so their talent
and drive really did it justice. I love that they did such a great job meshing live action with
animation, making it a standout in recent zombie films. It's nice to be inspired by a zombie
film in an age where they are more than a dime a dozen.
Official Trailer HERE.
Another zombie film that recently impressed me was The Dead. It has that bleak, hopeless
and pretty much apocalyptic feel as a classic Fulci flick.
Check out the trailer!
But back to Exit Humanity! I found out a little more about the artist behind the animation,
Snezhan Bodurov, and wanted to share this neat video of animated sequences he did for
the film. These are illustrations of stories told in Edward's journal.
Exit Humanity Animation from Snezhan Bodurov on Vimeo.
We had the opportunity to attend the Terror in the Aisles at the Portage Theater Friday and Saturday night. We were excited to see Anne Bobby, one of the Stars of Nightbreed, and Russell Cherrington, the restorer of the Nightbreed Cabal cut film. It was a fantastic weekend getting to meet some amazing horror fans and was thrilled to get to hang with many of our Chicago friends. Rusty Nails continues to put on a great show and this past weekend was no exception. We also had the opportunity to view the upcoming "Devil in my Ride" and it was amazing. Be sure to grab a copy as soon as it's available.
