I started this project early in 2020, just before the…unpleasantness, but it feels like three years ago at this point. It’s been difficult for me to keep this under wraps for so long, I just wanted to burst!
I was tasked with creating the cover artwork for a holiday horror anthology to be released by Jazz House Publications.
Krampus Tales: A Killer Anthology will feature various talented authors and is scheduled for release on November 24th, so mark your calendars.
I am holding out hope that everything will turn around in October. I know that it’s the season of cold and death and decay, but it leaves me feeling quite optimistic.
Maybe everyone will stay at home and watch horror movies all month. Or they will order candy apples in the mail and have cider delivered to their door. Maybe everyone would just wear a mask for once.
Even wild men wear masks
I have two different Halloween costumes planned, even though I doubt there will be a place to wear them outside of my own living room. Maybe this year we’ll have a Zoomoween.
I’ve said it before, at least Halloween won’t be canceled in my cold, dead heart.
Like usual, I have a handful of cool projects on the horizon that I can’t share with you just yet, but believe me, they’re going to be a lot of fun. Stay tuned.
I’m preparing a short story to publish on the blog next week that I’m hoping will get the goosebumps expanding and the blood pumping faster than usual.
In the meantime, did you know that I started a YouTube channel? There are some weird, new T-shirt designs over in my store. I also hang around on Twitter sometimes, stop by and say howdy.
As you may have noticed, I went a little overboard with the Christmas spirit. You know how it goes, one mug of eggnog leads to a second, and a third, and before you know it, I’ve quit my day job and run off to become a Candy Cane Stilt-Walker.
But I digress.
It’s a new year and I have some new toys…er…tools, I mean tools. This is all very serious business.
I am now the proud owner a Wacom digital drawing tablet, something I’ve dreamed about for over a decade. And I’m having way too much fun over here.
Here’s a quick sketch of my spirit animal, a rodent in distress.
I’ve been taking some time to really learn the ins and outs of my new tablet and software. I’ve just completed my first major illustration using the Wacom. Take a look at my process video below and then head over to my portfolio page to see the artwork in full.
Jenny Greenteeth Awakes
I’ve also got some exciting new projects up ahead which I hope to share with you all very soon.
‘Twas a stressful December evening in the Gingerbread household.
In the spirit of the season, I’ve decided to create some silly holiday doodles. Hopefully they amuse you as much as they amuse me.
This is also an effort to prove to my wife that I am not a Grinch.
I’ll be the first to admit that in the past decade I have displayed some Grinchy tendencies; Complaining about Christmas music in October, avoiding being trampled on Black Fridays like the plague, insisting that Diehard is a Christmas movie, stealing all the toys and decorations and roast beast from Whoville.
But I’m working on it.
The past few years have seen our Christmas playlists expand like my waistline after feasting on a bacon-wrapped, Yuletide Turducken.
Below is my current favorite. And yes, it is a polka.
Must Be Santa by Brave Combo
My wife and I drive through suburban neighborhoods admiring the decorations whilst listening to holiday tunes and sipping hot cocoa.
I own an ironically ugly Christmas sweater. Need I say more? Yes?
Well, bah humbug!
Oh yeah, I almost forgot to mention that we visited London earlier in the year and I acquired a reproduction of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. I’m terribly excited to read it. I should probably go start that now.
I will be posting more doodles as they come to me throughout the month on here and through various other social media. Let me know what you think!
By the way, do you have a favorite Christmas song?
I’m always looking to augment and expand those playlists. I’d love some new suggestions. The weirder the better too.
Okay, talk to you later, I’m off to meet my friend Scrooge.
Forgive me followers, I have sinned, it’s been about six months since my last blog post.
I set myself some ambitious goals at the start of the year. But then I promptly forgot them, made some new goals, gave up on those, circled back to the first ones, fell into a creative slump, told myself that I need to just read more, got a second creative wind, decided to study French (pas pour la première fois), thought more about the original goals, binge-watched the second season of Mindhunter on Netflix, I had a turkey sandwich, and now I am here. Maybe just a quick nap first…
I’m not going to lie, the past six months haven’t been completely devoid of creative work, but I always feel like I should be doing more.
Sometimes I feel like I’m on the wrong path.
I’d like to share some stuff I’ve been working on recently. That hideous scene of eldritch horrors above is one of a handful of things added to my portfolio page. If anyone is in need of any Lovecraftian artwork for a book cover or to accompany any short stories, please let me know. I’d love to find some creative people to collaborate with!
I go through periods in which I focus on one medium to the detriment of all others. You could say I become obsessed. I recently decided again to work on this polymer clay maquette above, which I had started about three years ago. This is one of my latest goals, to finish this vulture goddess sculpt soon. We’ll see what happens.
A little time-lapse sneak peek.
The video above is my most recent work-in-progress, a follow up to probably my favorite piece from last year. Definitely the spiciest from last year. This is one of the last steps after the ink and watercolors have dried, the removal of the masking fluid. I should probably start the time-lapse recording a bit earlier next time, I’m just never confident enough that the piece will be successful.
Stay tuned for the finished piece and hopefully some other new weirdness.
M. R. KESSELL 