Gluteus Maximus

Meet Gluteus, he's not a monster but he's still a bit weird. That much protein just can't be good for you.

Just in Time for the Annual Update

It's almost exactly a year since my last post - who says blogging is a fad! Anyway, the main reason for my silence is that I am writing a book about light, as some of you may have seen on my website, and it takes up most of my spare time. Once it's over I really hope to take up Monsterosity again, it deserves better than this....

Sadly the book is at least six months away from completion, probably more.

In the meantime, meet Ernie. He's harmless, mostly.

Ho ho ho

In the spirit of Christmas Chris Shipton has very kindly donated this festive creature to Monsterosity. There's nothing like an open fire to get you into that yuletide mood. Thanks to Chris for the lovely contribution.

Click on the image to cosy up to this friendly pair.

Like a sugar in a plum...

Meet Em, she's hot. To the touch in fact. Click on the picture for a face-to-face encounter. For once I was able to think of some facts by myself, so it's probably not as funny as the one Allan writes.

Buzz buzz buzz

After a month of neglect I've finally had the chance to get back to my lab and make another creation. He's called Buzz, and is an airborne hybrid of monster and machine. No idea how he flies mind. Thanks to Allan Sanders for providing his usual wit.

Click on the image for a better look.

Getting a grip

Tired of shaky lines when drawing with your Wacom tablet? Then it's time to cut back on the coffee (or is it the alcohol from the previous night?) and check out this tutorial for better drawing:

Wacom control

Enjoy!

3 point perspective without a grid.

Here's a quick tip on how to deal with complex perspectives such as the one in Lullaby Leslie using digital techniques rather than drawing a bloody grid:

block models

Enjoy!

And also apologies for letting the blog slip a bit. I have two new monsters in the works, and some guests who are very late for dinner (you know who you are!). I'll be sending Al Dente over to see them if they dawdle much longer.

Teeth the size of a truck, brain the size of a peanut.

Always bottom of the class at Dragon school, meet Impy McFly, a contribution from the very cool and talented Ryan Wood, featured recently on Drawn! I've been a fan for a long time, so it's a real honour to have such a great monster from Ryan.

As ever, click on the image for a better look at that painterly goodness. And thanks to Allan as usual for his help with the fact sheet - on his birthday no less.

Mini Menace

Awwww, say hello to Munchkin, he's a cute little chap with an unfortunate violent streak. I blame the parents. And in fact so did Munchkin, and he punished them accordingly.

Click on the image to make the tiny terror a little bigger.

Thanks again to Allan for help with the fact sheet.

Ivan the Horrible

Monsterosity would like to welcome a new guest today: Ivan, he's green, he's mean, and he's got a frightful temper. He comes to us courtesy of Ann Ellis.

Click on the image to see what he's so cross about.

Tea at Auntie's

It is with only mild revulsion that I have the pleasure of welcoming the latest guest to Monsterosity: Fiona Sansom, who obviously suffered some trauma as a child. Thanks Fiona for the charming picture and the monstrous facts.

Click on the picture for a better look, as long as you haven't eaten too recently.

Christmas comes earlier every year....

And here at Monsterosity we see nothing wrong with ramping up for Christmas in August, so let's get into the festive spirit with this wonderful guest monster from Bob Rissetto! Yes kids, it's a Zombie Santa, so you'd better be really good this year.

Click on the image to get a better look at the grateful undead.

Many thanks to Bob for the image, and to both Allan Sanders and Bob again for help with the monster facts.

Lighting in passes

This is a handy little technique for dealing with multiple light sources, it originally comes from 3D and compositing for film, but I've adapted it to 2D and Photoshop. It works very well in the right situation. Follow the link below for more:

Lighting in passes

Master, ve have a guest....

I am thrilled to welcome this monstrosity from the lab of Dr Uli Meyer, I think he's called Igor. We love having guests for dinner here at Monster Mansions. Thanks to Uli for generously donating this creature.

Click on the image for a closer look.

That Unhealthy Glow

If you've ever wanted to know how to deal with luminous warts, then this is definitely the man to ask. Gamma Ray can in fact give real world advice on a range of health problems: from unwanted limbs suddenly appearing, to unexpected mutations and strange glowing lumps taking over your head.

Click on the image for a better prognosis.

The Monster Makeover

If you would like to have skin as good as this, I've created a quick tutorial explaining how Katie achieves that cracked green look. If you get off on blending modes and other Photoshop nerdyness this is the ideal way to waste fifteen minutes of your life. Follow the link below.

The Monster Makeover

And also, a big thank-you to the guys at Drawn! for featuring the blog. That made my day.

Look who's come for dinner

I'm delighted to introduce the blog's second guest, from Jonathan Cusick we have Monsanto Man. He was born one stormy night in the allotment, and is definitely not organically grown.

Click on the image for a closer look at the future of food. Muwahahahahaha.

And just for the record, if Monsanto wish to sue, we'd love the publicity.

How to paint the lazy way

As another look behind the scenes, I've created a very quick walkthrough for the Rufus and Rex image, specifically how easy it was to paint that floor. Digital makes perspective a doddle really, this is a quick trick to deal with simple one and two point perspective in Photoshop. Three point perspective is more tricky, so when I need that I usually set up a block model in a 3D package, which is how I did it in Lullaby Leslie.

To see the walkthrough, click here.

That (fatal) feminine touch.

Meet Katie, she's no friend of mine, or anyone's for that matter. She rarely gets to know people for long enough to make friends. You'll need to click on the picture to get a closer look at her. Just don't get too close.

She's just borrowed someone's eyes for a minute. To see an alternative picture of her, minus the eyewear, click here.

Guest Monster The First

I'm delighted to introduce the blog's first guest, the offspring of Allan Sanders and a gallon of toxic waste. Meet Vernon, he's lovely. You'll need to click on the picture to really see that texture on his skin. Best not touch it though, it's corrosive.

Behind The Scenes part 1

As a first look at the how-to-draw-a-monster part of this blog, here are the preliminary sketches for a couple of the images. They were both done pretty quickly in Sketchbook Pro (under an hour for each drawing), and luckily captured exactly what it was I was after.

The concept and the characterisation is really all I care about with these monster pictures. Rendering is easy and just a matter of time, but without that first spark of character the painting has no life, and no purpose. The sketches tell me right away if the image has what I'm looking for.

Ruthless Rufus. (And Rex).

Here is the latest addition to the Monstertorium, a particularly nasty pair of, well, things. Don't forget to click on the picture to get a good look at the blighters.

In the coming days I might post some "making of" stuff. Just to lighten the mood.

Big thanks to Allan Sanders for facts 1 and 2.

The Firstborn Are Dead.

OK, here is Monsterosity 2.0. No more rhymes, all the monsters have been updated with their new look fact sheets. I think it's a huge improvement.

Thanks to Allan Sanders for the help with the monster facts - all the good ones are his!

The fonts have also been updated, with a more lugubrious look. Scroll down to see the updated images, and be sure to click on them to read the fact sheets.

No more bad poetry

AOI discussion regular Allan Sanders has given me some feedback regarding the rhymes I've been using with the monsters, he didn't like them much and I think he may be right!

Allan has suggested going for a fact sheet type format and has kindly agreed to help me write them, and who knows - the blog may even become a collaboration, which I think would be great.

This has got me to thinking that in the long term I might like to invite other illustrators and writers to contribute, maybe have the odd guest monster now and again.

Toothsome Twosome

Two new monsters have arrived, meet Al Dente and Lullaby Leslie.

Unfortunately some children were harmed in the making of these images. They suffered in the name of art though.

Click on the images to see the full scale of the horror.

Page 1 - The Boss

Here is the first entry, I'm not sure about the design of the type, but it will do for now. Click on the image to see a bigger and more legible version.

The big Hell-O

Welcome to my blog of nasties, In the coming months I hope to post a truly horrific collection of the unhinged and the horrible. The inner demons are asking to come out.