Making a Book Cover Illustration

If you're curious about what I'm up to when I'm not making films, then here's a little video about one of my illustration jobs.

My First Book Video

A few years ago I self-published this book: "The Girl Who Married A Werewolf, and Other Creepy Folktales From Sweden." I decided to create a book trailer for it, since that seems popular, and here it is. Enjoy (or not) :)

The Lone Animator Is Also On DeviantArt

I can't remember if I've mentioned my DeviantArt gallery before, but I'd like to direct your attention to it, for it represents my other big passion besides puppets and film making -illustration.

I fill my gallery with monster movie fan art, illustrations of classic and pulp horror literature, and also some neat photos of my puppets and sculptures.
Some examples:

Romana encounters the wood beast in the Doctor Who serial "Androids of Tara."

Fishhead from the story of the same name by Irvin S Cobb.

 IT, vs Robot Monster; two b-movie legends slug it out!

Edgar Allan Poe's "Murders In the Rue Morgue."

Gamera vs Barugon at Lake Biwa.

Monster shenanigans in the crazy Mexican movie "Ship of Monsters."

So do stop by and have a peek at what I do when I'm not building rubber monsters:

http://loneanimator.deviantart.com/gallery/

An Art Book of Frightful Fiends

This post will be very different from the usual stuff I'm talking about on my blog. This time I'll be plugging a self-published book, something I usually do on other blogs, Facebook, etc. But, since my drawings ARE such a big part of my creative self, I think I should mention it here as well. This is the bok in question: "The Spectres of M R James."

Since last fall I've been re-reading the works of British scholar and author M R James (1862-1936), and entertaining myself with drawing images of the very imaginative ghosts, demons and monsters, who usually make their appearance during the part of the story where the "Jamesian Wallop" (so named by Will Ross and Mike Taylor of the M R James Podcast) occurs. This is the "booo" moment of the tale, and it's always a very effective one.

So, a good question is: Doesn't this book, then, ruin the whole story if you haven't already read it? It might, yes. On the other hand, the images and the quotes, which accompany each illustration, might also arouse your curiosity and prod you into finding and reading the whole thing.

At any rate, I made this book simply to entertain myself in the hopes that my enthusiasm may be infectious to those who are M R James newbies. It's a labour of love, and I enjoyed the work immensely.

The book is published through Lulu.com, and is 59 pages long, A5 paper size. I've made three earlier books via Lulu, and I'm generally very happy with the publishing arrangements. You upload your own book file, and set the price yourself. Depending on what paper size you choose, your book may or may not be eligible for distribution on Amazon and other venues. This book was entirely created in an A5 Word document, saved as a PDF file and uploaded in Lulu's online book-making machinery. All images are RGB JPGs in 300 DPI resolution. If all this reads like Swahili, Mandarin or Klingon to you, drop me a message, and I'll explain the process in more detail, and in simple English.

Now, if you after reading this blog post find that you can't possibly go on living without owning this little book, you can find it on Lulu right HERE.

And if you're wondering about if I've considered adapting any James story for a film, the answer is yes. I'm preparing the first one to be made this fall, with a short filmed poem almost completed.