Tag: Movies

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Tutorial: My Painting Process (Alien)

Over the years, many inquisitive fans have asked me about my painting process. It's pretty simple, really. Most of the emphasis is not stressing on drawing every tiny detail, but it's about capturing the mood and lighting just right. I really admire Rembrandt (see my Rembrandt post here) and his attention to the reflection of light on his subjects. I'll be using my latest Alien painting as an example for a step-by-step tutorial on how the process works. Step 1: I start the whole process out as a monochromatic underpainting, usually as a sepia tone. I paint all of my work alla prima (painting it all at once instead of using pencil). Step 2: I sketch in all the main character elements that are important to the composition. Here is the time I think about size and eye flow in a painting. Still working monochromatic at this point. Step 3: This is the final stage in the underpainting. The background elements go in and the final shading occurs. Once dry, I begin color application. Step 4: The final color stage as well as painting the really small details and highlights comes in here. This is the fun part, when you get to see a painting come together. And that is generally the basic structure for how my painting process works each time. It may seem difficult to others, but it works very well for me. If you have any other questions, always feel free to ask! I love what I do and wouldn't change a thing. The most important thing for each artist is to find one's own style. What works for you may not work for others. Whatever process feels most comfortable is the right one for you. You can find me on Facebook at Horror Artist Chris Kuchta's Gallery of the Macabre and on Twitter at @Bloodedemon. Also DeviantART as bloodedemon and I'm now on Pinterest.

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John Dies at the End with Don Coscarelli

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!

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Favorite Movies of 2012

The year 2012 was a great one in many ways, be it movies, art, or events. Art-wise, I had some interviews go to print, most notably with an awesome piece written by fellow artist Ghoulish Gary Pullin for Rue Morgue Magazine. I just released a debut book that is a complete portfolio of all my work, titled In Vivid Red: Horror Art By Chris Kuchta. I also did some concept art for a few projects that can't yet be discussed in case they end up happening! My career flourished as I pushed myself to be on the ball as much as possible. It wasn't easy, but I hit a good twenty or so conventions to display and sell my work, which required busting serious ass to get a new painting ready for each show. I like to offer something new each time. It was hard and stressful in many ways, but totally worth it. I cannot stress enough that hard work ALWAYS pays off. Between all the travel and nights in my studio, teaching, and whatnot, free time was sparse. But when I had it, you can bet your ass I spent it watching movies!!

I enjoyed a lot of the films I caught last year, so I'll list off a few that really knocked it out of the park for me.

THE AVENGERS - What else is there to say besides HELL, YEAH! Everything about it was phenomenal. It was everything I expected to see and more. I liked all the individual Marvel films leading up to this epic battle of all battles, but this just blew me away.

PROMETHEUS - I personally thought Ridley Scott did a great job on this, even if the first half was a bit on the slow side. It was amazing to see in the theater.

THE CABIN IN THE WOODS - Possibly the best horror movie to come out in 2012. It was designed so perfectly. I loved the literal destruction of stereotypes and challenge for others to come up with something new. The creatures making havoc all over the damn place was unbelievably cool.

THE WOMAN IN BLACK - This was a great take on the story and didn't harm the memory of the original film in any way. The gothic scenery and costumes were spot on, and it was damn creepy!

THE DEAD - I thought this was great. It had an old school quality to it, which was probably the lack of CGI regarding the zombies. It reminded me of Fulci's stuff and it had that distinct bleak feel to it. Check it out!

THE RAID - This was just plain AWESOME. The martial arts are unbelievable. It's got a really simple plot, but it doesn't need any more than that, due to the unparalleled explosion of action! The cinematography should win awards. The cameraman literally injects pure kung fu right into your eye sockets!

EXIT HUMANITY - I really enjoyed this, especially for the inclusion of art within the film as used for telling the story. I did a blog post on this HERE.

THE DARK KNIGHT RISES - Just a stellar movie all around. Great way to finalize things.

THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE 2 - Oh, come on. This was so wild, you gotta love it!

V/H/S - Most of this was pretty good. I think it's the only found footage anthology that exists.

FATHER'S DAY - Oh, yeah! As wild as it gets. I love this stuff. It reminded me of Hobo With a Shotgun a lot.

DEAR GOD NO! - Another crazy exploitation horror movie that has to be seen to be believed! Most of the guys in this are not actors, but real bikers!

DEAD WEIGHT - A friend co-directed this Wisconsin-shot, independent film, and I seriously recommend it! It's about survival and the evil of man above all things. That even a zombie apocalypse can be the least of your worries sometimes.

SINISTER - Not extremely original, but it was simply done very well. Creepy!

TUCKER AND DALE - How hilarious was this? I caught this at a festival and was glad I did.

Those were the standouts! I also enjoyed The Moth Diaries, The Innkeepers, The Hole, Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter, and The Divide. Movies I REGRET watching are: Apollo 18, Red Riding Hood, Monster Brawl, The Devil Inside, Incubus, Underworld: Awakening, the new Resident Evil, and TCM3D royally sucked! These all really missed the mark on so many levels. I try to be pretty open-minded when it comes to movies, but these were just total messes.

2013 films I look forward to: Iron Man 3, Pacific Rim, Mama, Carrie, Lords of Salem, Star Trek, Wolverine, Frankenstein Created Bikers (Dear God No sequel!) and I, Frankenstein!

It's probably pretty obvious what a huge movie fan I am just by looking at my art. Besides for entertainment, movies are great sources of inspiration for me. I may even put a whole damn movie or all the characters in one painting! An example of this would be my BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA piece!

 

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Posters from the Vault: Tombs of the Blind Dead

 

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!

 

 

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A Zombie Film for Horror Art Fans: Exit Humanity

 

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.