I'll be exhibiting @ the ALTERNATIVE PRESS EXPO this weekend in San Francisco....I'll be sitting with Ted Mathot @ table #106...come on by and say hey!
Whenever I travel, I'm always on the lookout for Monsters, Creatures and Mythical Beasts represented in Art and Architecture...I recently returned from a trip through London and Northern Italy ( Lake Como, Tuscany, Venice ), and thought I'd share a sampling of what I found there:
People often forget that GODZILLA wouldn't exist if it wasn't for the influence and success of the 1953 Sci Fi classic, THE BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS. This was indeed the first movie where a giant monster is awakened my a nuclear blast and proceeds lay waste to New York.
The RHEDOSAURUS, a fictional dinosaur-hybrid, was one of Ray Harryhausen's most memorable creations, and it left a vivd impression on me growing up. I remember being particularly affected by the final scene where the BEAST meets it's end in an amusement park inferno...
my good friends IAIN McCAIG and PAUL TOPOLOS have a show coming up at the ARLUDIK GALLERY on the Ile Saint Louis in Paris starting September 9th. If you're in the area, make sure and stop by to see the show...afterwards you can get some delicious Berthillon Ice Cream, which I still dream about...mmmmm.
I love this cool image from a Viewmaster set from 1971 called THE LITTLE YELLOW DINOSAUR...besides being awesome, it gets bonus pointsfor showcasing the elusive Albino Pterodactyl!
a TEASER is up for the remake of DON'T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK, a 1973 TV movie that traumatized me as a kid...the footage screened at Comic Con was apparently very intense and scary.
while i'm normally dubious about remakes, this looks like it could be well done...we'll find out in January when it opens...
Just wanted to post an alert that I will NOT be @ SDCC this year...I'll have more updates regarding my upcoming Convention schedule and DEREKMONSTER 2010 in the not too distant future!
Meanwhile, please enjoy this drawing of SLEESTAKS!
Congratulations to Charles Santos from Australia...He is the winner of the GODZILLA contest! I really dug his piece in terms of Design, Execution and Old-School flavor... You can see all of the other entries HERE, along with the FULL interview.
Thanks to Bobby Chiu for putting it all together and thanks to everyone who participated and tuned in!
This coming Wednesday, June 30th, I'll be doing a live interview with designer Bobby Chiu via SKETCHAHOLIC. He'll be asking me questions about my art and career, and we'll be announcing the winner of the online contest live during the interview. The Topic is GODZILLA and the winner gets an original GODZILLA drawing by yours truly...
Roxan Carle, the Teacher at the "Bellecour école d'Art" school in France who gave the 'DerekMonster' assignment, has passed along more examples of 3D interpretations of my monsters by students there...it's so fun to see the designs living and breathing in a new way!
Thanks to Gwendolyn Garan, Frederique Barbant, Sarah Ennaime, Ludovic Gavillet, Tom Gouill, Mickael Lelievre, Yann Moriaud and Yann Trioulayre for your hard work!
This is a 3D version of one of my monsters from French student Jules Pinhede, who, along with a class from the 'Bellecour école d'Art' school there, have gotten an assignment to interpret different monsters of mine in the computer...cool!
DRAWN has posted a nice interview with the mighty Graham Annable, aka GRICKLE...I'm a big fan of his work and it's great to get a glimpse into his creative process...in the interview, he talks about his art, his films ( including my fave, THE HIDDEN PEOPLE ), game work, and his new BOOK OF GRICKLE ...
I finally saw this amazing documentary over the weekend and I have to say it's one of the most exciting films i've seen in a while. A film by the mysterious and infamous artist Banksy, EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP offers a glimpse inside the hidden world of Street Art, but goes well beyond it, examining the role of art on the fringe of culture... and like some of my favorite documentaries, the film mutates into something quite different than what it sets out to be at the outset....A MUST SEE!
When I was young my Mom took a course on European Children's Literature, and one of the books she gave me from the course to read was Tove Jasson's FINN FAMILY MOOMINTROLL. I loved it, reading it many times over, and I've always had a warm spot in my heart for the characters and for the beautiful illustrations...
I was delighted to discover that DRAWN has posted a link to JANSSON'S illustrations for THE HOBBIT, which I was previously unaware of....ENJOY!
/Film has posted what MIGHT be the new design for the upcoming American GODZILLA film... I think it looks pretty cool and honors the traditional design history, but it's missing something...'character' maybe? That said, Godzilla should be fearsome, unsettling and primal, so maybe stripping the personality is the way to go for the reboot..