Halloween SCAREblog- Day 1 (Nosferatu)...

I know, I know, the name sucks, but come on, it's 2 am on a Friday night... SCAREblog was the best I could come up with. Ok, so here's the deal: back in 2007, James Rolfe over at Cinemassacre must have thought he didn't have enough projects on the go, so he decided that he would put a short series together chronicling the history of horror films, calling it "Monster Madness". He would post a new video every day in October, leading up to Halloween, with each one examining a film he considered important to the genre, making it like a really cool little advent calendar. I don't know how he finds the time, but he's done one every year since then. It's kind of become a tradition and something that I really look forward to each October.  

So, I figured I'd join in on the fun in my own way by doing a drawing every day in the month of October, themed around some of my favourite horror movies/monsters/characters/whatevers. If old Jimmy Rolfe can do a video for every day, I figure I can at LEAST do a drawing... They're not going to be in any particular order or anything, the only criteria is that I have to have SEEN the movie the character/scene/whatever is from. Let's see how it goes... If I manage this for the entire month, I'll be astounded. Day 1 is 'Nosferatu'!

It's off to a bit of a shaky start with this one... I have to admit it was a bit of a rushed job, but I totally forgot that it was October 1st already. I saw 'Nosferatu' years and years ago... I couldn't have been any older than 12 and it was showing on TV in the middle of the day. Despite the fact that I was watching it in broad daylight, it was still incredibly creepy, the movie feels like you're watching someone's nightmare. The scene this drawing's from is where Count Orlock appears in the distance and walks towards the camera, coming in through the arched bedroom door. As a kid, this kind of thing terrified me... Being alone and completely vulnerable with this creature slowly and inevitably coming to get you. The fact that the camera doesn't move only adds to the feeling of helplessness and dread, making you feel like you're rooted to the spot, but unable to look away. That scene really stuck with me, so I figured it'd be a fitting way to start the month. As the days go on, I'm hoping to use this as an excuse to experiment a little bit with different styles and get quicker at turning drawings around. This is quite similar to a lot of other drawings I've been doing lately, but at least it gets things started!