Spooky Influences

As a child i was completely obsessed with spooky things. It probably stemmed from my fear of the dark, fear of the unseen, fear of supernatural things, witches, demons, werewolves, vampires, zombies - you name it! I had seen too many films before i was at an age i was able to process them properly.

I loved to draw all of the time and i started to draw demons and people being tortured. It was my way of expressing the things that i had seen in horror and supernatural films. It worried my mother a lot! I was fine though.

I had seen Evil Dead 2 and it affected me quite a lot. It’s one of my favorite films. I was scared to sleep because of Freddy Krueger. I loved Ghostbusters but the thought of ghosts and supernatural beings really freaked me out. Poltergeist too! Too many to name.

My mother had the Meat Loaf album “Bat out of Hell” on vinyl. I would stare at the artwork completely amazed by how atmospheric it was and wished i could create pictures like it.

I remember it coming up to Halloween and i got a book from the school library. It stayed with me for about 6 months at least. It showed you many techniques to draw and paint many spooky scenes and creatures. I was so obsessed with it.

I was always so excited when it came to the end of summer as i knew Halloween would be coming soon and i would be able to dress up. Even now i feel inspired by nature when Autumn comes around.

As i got into my teens i loved watching films like From Dusk Till Dawn, The Crow, Dracula, Poltergeist, Interview with a Vampire, Evil Dead, The Lost Boys and many others including Zombie films!

Musically i loved characters that had masks, face paint or styles along these lines of Rob Zombie, Marilyn Manson, Coal Chamber, Insane Clown Posse, Slipknot, Mushroomhead, Mudvayne, Alice Cooper, Ozzy Osbourne, and Kiss. I love others that don’t too, although i like the entertainment and creativity value a lot.

All of these influences are all things that have stayed with me to this day!