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Long Lost Friend Studio is my self-publishing imprint, the studio space where we work, and a YouTube channel featuring videos about art and creativity. This blog covers everything happening with me and Long Lost Friend Studio.
There's A Bad Moon On The Rise
David recuperates in a British hospital, barely ever conscious, and dreaming of very dark things. One of those dreams involves seeing himself in a hospital bed, being cared for by a nurse, and suddenly turning into a pale-faced, bloody-fanged monster with red-rimmed eyes and a taste for flesh.
A God Incarnate, In Digital Inks
Michelle and I finally saw Shin Godzilla this month. It’s been out for a decade, but we don’t like to rush things. The movie was just the inspiration I needed to try out a few more of the new digital brushes I purchased for Affinity.
Draculove Meets Thankenstein
I didn’t want my social media feed to seem like an abandoned cemetery. So I took a run at a couple of classic monsters to fill in the open graves.
As Cold As Ice
In my continuing effort to turn a negative into a positive, I thought I could turn this brutal winter around by challenging Michelle to another monster sculpt-off throw down showdown. The theme? Winter Monsters.
Getting Our Grinch On
Michelle and I had a few last minute tasks to complete around the workshop before Christmas Day. One of those tasks was inking and painting some extremely-last-minute holiday cards for our friends featuring Dr. Seuss’s version of Scrooge, The Grinch.
I’ve an Affinity for Free Art Software
Could you turn a buck with a free app? That’s the question we pose in this week’s video. That is, can a reasonably skilled illustrator, using only the new, completely free Affinity app, create a piece of art they would happily hand in to an art director or client? Let’s find out.
Return to the Mini Dark Universe
It took some time, but we finally clawed our way back up Feltenfoam Mountain and entered the gates of our miniature Dark Universe to add four more classic Universal monsters to our growing horde.
It’s A Dark Universe, But Also Fuzzy
Michelle and I thought it’d be fun to create a miniature version of Universal Orlando’s Dark Universe Theme Park. Some of the impetus behind that was naked envy of anyone who got to go to the grand opening of that park while we toiled, vacationless, in our dimly-lit workshop. But mostly we did it as a fun way to sharpen our skills and make some monsters.
Hot Horror in the Summertime
It’s a hot, sticky summer. And the only thing hotter and stickier (?!) is the Long Lost Friend Studio Summer Horror Challenge! This week we uploaded our video featuring our own summer-themed horror diorama, as well as the entries in our semi-regular art challenge. So put on your sunscreen, grab a cold drink, and let’s see what monsters showed up to the cookout.
We Made A Thing
The Fantastic Four movie hits theatres this week. If you’ve seen the trailer, maybe you’ve noticed the scene where some middle-school kids are out and about wearing Ben Grimm Thing masks. They’re modeled after the vintage masks Ben Cooper, Inc. put out in the 1960s. When we saw that movie clip, Michelle and I knew we’d have to try to make our own version of the mask.
Carving Out Monsters In The Laboratory
Recently I conducted a new, frightening experiment: Releasing a monster from a dead tree using electricity and a handheld grindstone. Did it twice, in fact. And the experience truly sunk its teeth into me.
The Inking of the Review of the Revenge of the Creature
If your idea of romance involves two marine biologists engaged in an unending liplock while the fish-monster they unleashed upon the world mounts a bloody campaign of mayhem and murder up and down the Florida seacoast, then I’ve got the movie for you.
Three Bags Full
Michelle’s needle felted figures have been part of our diorama builds for a while. Wool is a great material for depicting creatures who are furry, fuzzy, or felted like monsters or Muppets.
Quickie Mickey (Times Two)
April 17th is a lot of things. National Haiku Poetry Day. National Crawfish Day. And, of course, as everyone knows, National Yellow Pig Day. But it’s also Quickie Mickey Day and this year I doubled my output.
Dipping A Toe In The Inkwell
Having never used a dip pen, I headed into this experiment assuming it would be expensive, messy, and mildly annoying. But I assume that about a lot of things, so I pressed on hoping for the best.
The Plumber, Triumphant
Michelle and I put together a piece for Gallery1988’s latest show, Back To 1985. In a show that celebrates notable pop culture events and media from 1985, there’s a lot to choose from: Breakfast Club, Back to the Future, Return to Oz, Teen Wolf. All iconic. But we went with the US release of Super Mario Bros on the Nintendo game system.
A Needle For Doctor Bunny: Essential Tools for Needle Felting
I recently worked on this simple needle felted figure, and I thought it was a good opportunity to do a rundown of my go-to tools, materials, and techniques. Vince and I put together an accompanying video (bottom of the post) and I’m dropping a list of my supplies here with links for anyone interested in trying needle felting.
Cursed Objects and Comic Art
I had to handle this decades-old used paperback as if I were suspending a cat’s cradle made from a spider’s web between my fingers, but I managed to thumb through the short story, The Monkey, very gingerly, and hacked out a partial script for a horror comic.
If These Walls Could Talk, They’d Scream ‘Meddling Kids!”
Once again we creep through the cobweb-covered secret passageways in the old mansion, emerging in the hidden, haunted art studio to work on four more Scooby Doo monster paintings for our client.