• Inktober #3- Bat – 2022

    The third prompt for Inktober is bat. Again, this was another easy one considering bats are a popular go to when it comes to horror. I wanted to do something a little different than your typical bat though. I decided to draw a “Vesp” from the movie, The Silence.

    The Silence is a Netflix original and in my opinion was a good movie. The bat like creatures called vesps were different and terrifyingly vicious. They relied on sound to find their prey so society had learned to become completely silent so as not to become victims to swarms of these ravenous little monsters. This is a similar concept to the more popular movie, A Quiet Place, which was released a year earlier in 2018. Although, other than the creatures being drawn to sound, that is the only similarity these movies share. Therefore, I think they are both deserving of a watch.

    Have you ever watched The Silence? What did you think? Share your comments below. Check back tomorrow for the next Inktober prompt, scallop.

    Thanks for stopping by, free spirits!

  • Inktober #2 – Scurry – 2022

    The second Inktober prompt is “scurry”. This was an easy prompt to come up with a horror movie. Several movies came to mind of eerie little critters scurrying around. Gremlins, Critters, They, Graveyard Shift… the list goes on. The one I settled on for my sketch was “Don’t be Afraid of the Dark”.

    There is the original from 1973 that I had watched as a child and the remake from 2010 that I watched as an adult. They had few similarities but were both great movies. For some reason little monsters have always creeped me out more than big monsters. I don’t really know why. Maybe it’s the fact that you can find a small space to hide from the big ones and they can’t get you but the little monsters are the ones hiding in the small spaces and will get you wherever you go!

    For my sketch, I drew both versions of the creatures. In the 2010 version, they are called Homunculi or tooth fairies. I’m not quite sure if they had a name in the 1973 version other than humanoid creatures but as you can see they are quite different from each other yet equally menacing.

    I will say that the remake is a more “hardcore” horror than the original so if you are looking for something a little easier to watch, I would go for the original. If you are a calloused horror fan then the remake is a lot more gruesome of a movie.

    Have you seen these movies? Which one was your favorite? What did you think of the remake? Share your opinion in the comments below. Check back tomorrow for the next Inktober prompt, bat.

    Thanks for stopping by free spirits! Now scurry along!

  • Inktober #1 – Gargoyle- 2022

    Another year has passed and another inktober series is at hand. I decided to do another horror movie series to prepare us for Halloween. I am a huge horror fan. I enjoy trying to pair movies I’ve seen with the different prompts. Sometimes it can be very difficult but this year I have successfully paired a movie with each prompt.

    So let’s start with our first prompt, Gargoyle. There are not too many gargoyle horror movies out there… well, good ones at least. There is a movie with the title “Gargoyles” from 1972 which within the first fifteen minutes seemed as though it was going to be a very entertaining movie and then gradually changed into something that was laughable (and not in a good way). I almost couldn’t finish it but I did and it was so bad. And that’s all I have to say about that.

    Then I remembered “Tales from the Darkside” which originally was a TV show but a movie was made with the same name in 1990. I watched it quite a while ago but I do remember being entertained and enjoying it. It was about a young boy captured by an evil old woman that was going to cook him up for dinner. To distract the woman, the boy told her different stories to prolong her meal preparation. One of the stories was about a gargoyle which is all I will say as to not spoil the movie. So I decided that this would be the gargoyle I would choose for my sketch.

    So one down, thirty more to go! Let the horror/monster fest begin!

    Have you ever seen the movie, Tales from the Darkside? What did you think? Leave your thoughts in the comments below! Check back tomorrow for Inktober prompt #2, scurry.

    Take care Free Spirits…or should I say, Freaky Spirits!

  • Inktober 2021 #28 – Crispy

    I drew a perch for this prompt because one of the things I’m going to miss is my dad’s fish fry! You may have read in a previous Inktober post that my family and I would often take my dad’s boat out on Lake Erie. We would spend all day in the sun, fishing for perch. Whatever we caught, we would bring back home and fry them up for one of my favorite meals of all time. My dad would take care of the fish and my mom made this home made tarter sauce. Together, it was sooooo goood. I never even remember what the sides were because I was so focused on the fish.

    I know I can have a fish fry anywhere but it’s not the same if my dad doesn’t make it. I always enjoyed his cooking. Some of the things he would make became my favorite meals. When I try to remake them though, it’s just not as good. I guess I’ll just have to keep practicing.

    Thanks for stopping by. I have one more Inktober sketch to do for my collection. I will not be doing #30 or #31. The prompts don’t bring up any memories for me. Plus it’s Halloween so I will be having fun with my son that weekend! Check back soon for the final sketch!

    Fry it up, free spirits!

  • Inktober 2021 #27 – Spark

    My dad was a metal worker by trade. He was a welder at Jeep for over 40 years. He worked on various parts of the jeeps over the years. We are a huge jeep family, always have been. I always thought it was cool to see them on the road or even driving our own and I would think, Yea, my dad made that. He obviously only welded one part of the vehicle but I gave him all the credit.

    He would also work on projects at home. He had his own welder so he did repairs for various things and every once and a while he would do fun projects like a coat rack made from horseshoes and stuff like that. He would show me what he had done once he was finished. He told me about the different types of welds you can do. He was very talented and his work always came out clean and perfect. At least it looked perfect to me.

    The number one rule when my dad was welding was to not look at the light. He always made me turn my back or go somewhere else for the moment. I was always tempted to look but it was so incredibly bright I never actually did. Okay, maybe from a distance I glimpsed for a split second one time but I immediately looked away and never did it again. My dad always wore the welding helmet and the gloves for protection. Although, he usually had a t-shirt on with little holes all over from the burn marks. I always wondered how it didn’t hurt when the sparks would hit his arms and shirt but it didn’t seem to bother him.

    My dad was a jack of all trades and a master of a few. I think metal working was definitely on the mastered list. I’ve always wanted to get into it artistically and make sculptures or something but I have yet to do so. One day.

    Thanks for reading! I’ll be posting #28 later today so check back soon!

    Master your craft, free spirits!

  • Inktober 2021 #24 – Extinct

    There was only one memory that came to mind when I saw the word extinct. I was fortunate enough to see Jurassic Park in theaters when it first came out. I went with my mom, dad and brother. I was only about five years old but I remember how amazing it was to see on the big screen. I was blown away by the dinosaurs themselves, unbelievable. I also remember being really scared but excited when the raptors were in the kitchen hunting the kids. It was an awesome experience and I’m glad my parents let me go even though I was so young. It was such a rush. This must have been where my love for movies and theater first started. I still to this day feel that rush from watching a great movie in the theaters. When it’s done well, you feel like you are really there. Plus the lighting and the sound, I don’t know, it just gets me excited!! What about you?

    I only have a few more sketches left for my Inktober project. I hope you have enjoyed my sketches so far. It’s really helped me a lot to do this project related to my dad and I know a lot of these were his favorite memories as well. Plus this will be a nice collection to go back and flip through when I need some help thinking of the good ol’ days with my dad.

    Thanks for reading. Check back soon for the last few sketches!

    Feel the rush, free spirits!

  • Inktober 2021 #26 – Connect

    I’ve been wanting to do a sketch related to my dad and my grandmother(his mother) for a while. Their relationship always stood out to me. My grandmother was around a lot. She would always come with us on vacations and trips and she would come camping with us at the fair when I would show my horse. My dad would always invite her to come to things and pick her up because she didn’t know how to drive. I always thought it was nice of him to always pick her up.

    He was always very respectful and never said a bad word about her. He cared for her and genuinely wanted to spend his time with her. He would go out of his way to do anything for her. I learned a lot by watching him. I try to treat my own mother the way that he treated his. They had a strong bond that anyone could see. He took it really hard when she passed and my heart always broke to see how sad he would get. He said sometimes at night it felt like someone would sit on the bed beside him and stroke his hair when he was sleeping. When he would open his eyes there was no one there. He believed it was my grandma visiting him.

    Right before my dad passed, when he was very sick, he wanted the blanket my grandma had made him to keep him warm. It was a tiny, old afghan that barely reached to his knees. I laid it on his chest so he could feel it and covered him up with a quilt on top so he could get warm. Although, I think the love from that holey afghan did most of the warming.

    I miss both of them dearly but they both inspire me everyday.

  • Inktober 2021 #25 – Splat

    I had a hard time thinking of something to do for this prompt but I have already skipped a couple prompts for lack of inspiration and I don’t want to skip too many. So, with that being said, this was the best I could come up with for the word splat!

    My parents property had a creek that ran right along side it. It traveled through the fields and was a pretty long stretch of water. My dad would walk down the creek and go duck hunting with one of his dogs every once and a while. One of the days, I wanted to go with him. I didn’t care much about hunting but I was always up for an adventure outdoors.

    We walked for a while and didn’t see much until finally we saw some ducks in the water. They started to fly up and my dad shot one before it could get too far. His dog retrieved it, like a good hunting dog does. My dad handed the duck to me and told me to hold it by the neck, so I did. I carried it for a few minutes like this.

    It seemed pretty large when it was up close and I held my arm out so it didn’t knock up against my body. It’s body started to sway back and forth from the weight and then before I realized what even happened, the duck’s head popped off and it’s body fell to the ground. I stopped and stood there for a second, just staring at this now severed duck head I was holding in my hand. There wasn’t a bunch of blood or anything. I don’t remember any blood at all to be honest. Just a duck head…in my hand. My dad was ahead of me and didn’t see what had happened until I finally said, “Uuuuummm, daaaaaaaaad!?” I was so shocked at that moment that I didn’t even know what to do. I wasn’t scared of it but just totally shocked by what had happened. I don’t know how else to explain it. So I just stood there, holding this head and staring at it. My dad carried the duck the rest of the way home but I don’t really remember what happened other than that. I just remember being completely paralyzed by the headless duck…or rather a bodyless duck. I also remember that I never went hunting with my dad again. 😆

    So…yea…that’s my “splat” story! Sorry, I know I have a lot of animal lovers that follow me but then again it is Halloween time, right? Just a spooky story about the headless duck…bodyless duck…something like that! 😛

    Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed my sketch. It was nice to do an animal again after drawing so many people portraits. I am not good at drawing people nor do I really enjoy it but that’s the point of Inktober right? To practice something we’re not good at so we can get better. I feel like I have improved, or at least see where I can improve. Plus, I just like having this collection of sketches that I can go back to and remember good times with my dad. …Or traumatizing times! 🤣 Sorry Mr. Duck.

    Don’t lose your heads, free spirits!