“The Night Begins” by David Hartman
Welcome to our ongoing series spotlighting original horror creations. This time we have is an illustration titled “The Night Begins” by Director and Illustrator David Hartman, also known as SideshowMonkey on DeviantArt. Be sure to read out exclusive interview with the artist as well.
What was your inspiration for “The Night Begins”?
I really love doing groups of monsters reminiscent of the old horror magazine covers seen on “Witches Tales,” “VooDoo” and others like them. This piece also has a bit of influence from the old Hammer films with the seductive female vampire surrounded by her horde. I really like the classic monsters and tend to draw them frequently.
What sort of tools did you use for the piece?
This piece was done completely digital on the iPad Pro using the Procreate app. I also did a time-lapse video on the creation of this piece which can be seen on my youtube channel.
Do you have any projects you are working on?
I always have too many going on. I have a comic series called “the adventures of Rite” that is available on Amazon that is a mix of horror, comedy and adventure. I also have a project with Rob Zombie going on as well as currently directing for a Netflix animated series that really delves into horror and the supernatural.
Do you have any particular horror themes you like to explore in your art?
I tend to go to the malformed, the Frankenstein monster and other man-made creatures as well as humanoid monsters. I like the creatures that are considered evil and horrible but actually have a sympathetic side to them. I also do a lot of damsel in distress type art but where the damsel has a weapon or some other device to actually have a strong chance of fighting back.
Do you have any particular horror films/books/movies you particularly love?
Tons and tons! As far as movies I love Jaws, The Shining, Hammer films and ALL 1980’s horror films good or bad. For books, I tend to read a lot of non-fiction cryptozoology books on creatures living among us as well as most of H.P. Lovecraft’s many stories. I also go back a lot to Clive Barker’s Books of Blood and King’s Night Shift collection. Two of my favorites.
Have you ever experienced something supernatural? Anything you would like to experience?
I’ve had the “shadow figure out of the corner of your eye” and the “strange object in the sky” that a lot of people have experienced but one memory really stands out. Not sure if this is considered supernatural or not but it definitely influenced my path into horror and the strange.
I was probably about 7 or 8 years old and my parents took me to the Ohio State fair. This was right before they got rid of all the freakshows and strange animal exhibits seen at fairs. We were walking through the midway surrounded by banners for two-faced goats and gorilla women when I saw a trailer with a painting on the side showing a bigfoot frozen in ice. I had to see this! I asked my parents for some quarters to go to the arcade while they watched a show. Instead, I snuck to the trailer to see the weirdness inside.
I paid my fifty-cents to get in and walked into the trailer. It was freezing, and I was standing before a block of ice with a bigfoot inside it. I later found out this was the “Minnesota ice-man” that traveled from fair to fair. ( if you are into bigfoot and weird stories you should definitely look this one up.) That day I was instantly hooked on the supernatural and finding out more about bigfoot and other creatures supposedly living amongst us.
I think this is one of the moments that hooked me onto drawing monsters. When I drew the story “Carnival Kill Ride” for the “Devil’s Rejects” comic book for Rob Zombie I put myself as a kid in the background seeing that trailer for the first time.
Did you enjoy David’s illustration and our interview with him? Please check him out on the web. You can learn all about projects he has worked on on IMDB and you can also follow him on social media such as Twitter and DeviantArt. You can also watch Phantasm: Ravager on Amazon.
If you have an original creation you would like us to spotlight here on Haunted MTL please let us know!
So, as you may have noticed, we have a special fondness for spiders here on Nightmarish Nature. Well, they are kind of the spokes-critters for horrifying animalia, perhaps because they are so freakishly different from us. Or maybe it’s because I find them a little disconcerting for all that I try to take the “you mind your business, I’ll mind mine” approach, at least if they stay outdoors. Or just because I really like to draw spiders for all that I prefer not to find them sharing my home (though I’ll gladly take spiders over other bugs or mice or larger critters who didn’t get an invite).
Anyway, this segment is devoted to the largest Giants Among Spiders, as if you didn’t have enough to worry about already. And the top place is contested based upon body mass or leg length. Most of these are tarantulas, which globally take top place among the large arachnids.
Goliath Birdeater Tarantula
The Goliath Birdeater Tarantula of South America is the biggest brute of spiderdom, weighing in at over 6 ounces. They build funnel burrows and are known to eat birds (although rarely), mice, lizards, frogs, and snakes, but largely any big insects including other species of spiders. They have urticating barbed hairs that they fling at would-be attackers as an irritant to escape. And people even eat them after they singe the bristles off. Here’s a National Geographic video showing this spider in action, in case you wanted to see a giant spider take out a mouse.
Giant Huntsman Spider
And with the longest legs, we have the Giant Huntsman Spider of Laos, with a leg-span of 12 inches. Their legs have twisted joints and they move in a crab-like manner, which furthers their impressive appearance. ‘Cause they’ve got legs, and know how to use ’em. They prefer to live in underbrush and cave entrances. These are like the big relatives of their Australian cousins, which we’ve all seen online and developed a healthy aversion to.
Brazilian Salmon Pink Birdeater & Brazilian Giant Tawny Red Tarantulas
Next we have two more South American species: the Brazilian Salmon Pink Birdeater, which boasts one-inch fangs, and the Brazilian Giant Tawny Red, believed to be the longest-lived spider with a lifespan of up to thirty years. Both are in the tarantula family and have urticating hairs, a word you probably never read much before today unless you are in the hobby. So apparently South America is not the best travel destination for you if you struggle with arachnophobia, though I suspect you’d figured that out already. (I wouldn’t recommend Australia or Southeast Asia either.)
Face Size Tarantula
And finally the Face Size Tarantula, which has a very terror-inducing name reminiscent of the Face Huggers of Alien-glory. Anyway, these spiders have an 8-inch leg-span and live in India and Sri Lanka. They look kind of like big hairy wolf spiders with stripey legs, sometimes with pink and daffodil coloring.
If you enjoyed this eight-legged segment of Nightmarish Nature on Giants Among Spiders and their larger than life kin, please check out past segments:
So here is our last installment of our AI journey exploring the idea of Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad wolf being one and the same. All of these are based upon the AI generated art and prompts using NightCafe and then created as posters in Canva. Feel free to check out Part 1 and Part 2 of this exploration if you missed them.
A non sequitur I know, but I couldn’t resist. If you picked up where we left off you’ll get it.
Seriously?! Again with the cropped off head cop out…
Finally! That was a journey. And not even worth the result, in my opinion.
Anyway, here is a bonus montage I made out of a bunch of additional Red Riding Hood prompts for an article that never happened…
Prompts for Montage:
1.) What if Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf were one and the same being?
2.) Her wolf face peering out of her red cloak, fangs dripping with the blood of another victim, lost in the forest and never found.
3.) Little Red Riding Hood closes in for the kill, lunging from her red cloak, her wolf fangs dripping with blood.
4.) I am Little Red Riding Hood. I am the Big Bad Wolf. I am coming for you.
5.) Howling within, the rage sears forth from the red cloak, discarded in the deep woods. Red Riding Hood succumbs to the lycanthropy.
6.) Heaving breaths. Dripping blood. Red Riding Hood is not what she appears. She is a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
7.) Her red cloak masks the fangs hidden below the surface.
8.) It starts with a long sighing breath. Waiting. The wolf within stirs.
9.) Red Riding Hood trembles. She succumbs to the lycanthropy.
10.) The wolf bursts forth from within. It takes over Little Red Riding Hood’s mind, her body, her being.
11.) Red Riding Hood howls. She is ravenous with hunger for blood. The wolf within has taken over. Mind, spirit, body. She feasts on the blood of the moon.
12.) Big Bad Wolf Red Riding Hood ravenous blood moon feast
13.) Blood moon beckons. I. Little Red Big Bad Riding Hood Wolf. Freedom howling night curse.
14.) Beware. Bewolf. BeRedRidingHood. Betwixt. Beyond.
15.) I pad quietly as the forest dissolves around me. Red Riding Hood and Wolf, one and the same.
16.) Wolf within howling dark recesses of the mind, Red Riding Hood lost
17.) Red Riding Hood HOWL wolf bane true existence polymorph within-and-without.
18.) Red howl Riding Wolf dark existence brooding within
So thank you for joining us on another AI art journey. You can still catch the last AI art journey on Haunted MTL here. To see more such devolutions into AI generated art, check out the Will the Real Jennifer Weigel Please Stand Up? blog.
Continuing our AI journey from last time exploring Little Red Riding Hood herself as the Big Bad Wolf… All of these are based upon the AI generated art and prompts using NightCafe and then created as posters in Canva.
How very… Phantom of the Opera predatory… this is definitely not what I had in mind. Maybe something more cutesy?
Ugh. Maybe not.
Wow, that seems like such a cop out, cropping off the head so you don’t have to depict it. And I don’t want to lose the Little Red Riding Hood reference completely.
So no surprise there, I knew that was too many references to work.
And we continued to devolve, join us again next week for the final installment to see how this ended… And again, if you want to catch the last AI art journey, you can find it on Haunted MTL here. To see more such devolutions into AI generated art, check out the Will the Real Jennifer Weigel Please Stand Up? blog.
