• Inktober 2023 – Part 1

    Inktober 2023 – Part 1

    Another Inktober challenge has begun and the first ten days have already passed! My theme this year is Cryptids, Beasts and Legends! Cryptozoology is the study of animals not proven by science for example bigfoot, the loch ness monster and the Jersey devil to name a few. These creatures have always fascinated me as well as the beasts you hear about in mythology from different cultures. I thought inktober would be a great way to create a collection of different beasts and cryptids.

    I am representing each creature on one long drawing to show the size comparison between an average size human and these magical beasts! I have been wanting to do an inktober where all of my sketches are on one sheet of paper and this will be my first attempt at it. Although, this is going to get quite long so I will have to piece it together with multiple sheets of paper! This could get crazy!

    On the scale, each mark represents 1 foot. The human silhouette I have drawn for scale stands between 5-6 feet. As you can see, some of these beasts are quite intimidating with their size.

    Every year, I follow the official Inktober prompt list. I tried to stick to the prompts as best as I could! Some of them I had to stretch a little but it works! Let me give you a rundown of the beasts that stand before you…

    Click to Enlarge
    1. Dream – Baku is a creature from Japanese mythology who eats dreams. With the head of an elephant, body of a bear, paws of a tiger and the eye of a rhino, Baku will eat your nightmares when you call upon him. But use caution when summoning him, if his hunger is not satisfied them he may devour your hopes and dreams as well!
    2. Spiders – J’ba Fofi is a giant spider believed to live in the Congo. It has legs that span 3-5 ft. long.
    3. Path – I chose Ghost for this prompt because you never know when a ghost might cross your path!
    4. Dodge – Hogzilla is the name given to abnormally large wild hogs that people encounter in the wilderness. Some say they reach up to 12 ft long but so far these claims cannot be proven. If a wild hog is threatened by you, they will charge. If you do not dodge their attack, you will get gored with tusks up to 12 in. long.
    5. Map – Sasquatch is one of the most famous cryptids. One reason they are so widely known is because they have been sighted all over the map.
    6. Golden – Cigau (chee-gow) is a golden lion with a silvery mane said to inhabit Sumatra, a large island of Indonesia.
    7. Drip – The Squonk is a Pennsylvanian cryptid that has a piggy nose and excess skin covered in warts and blemishes. This poor beast is always crying because it knows how ugly it is. As it’s tears drip down, it leaves a trail you can follow to find it.
    8. Toad – The Loveland Frogman is a cryptid in Loveland, Ohio that has had sightings from 1950 until the most recent one in 2016. Witnesses report seeing a 4 ft. tall frog that walks on it’s hind legs. Not a toad but close enough.
    9. Bounce – Rubberado is a porcupine-like creature that is so rubbery, it bounces to where it needs to go. It is said to inhabit deserts in the USA and was last encountered in the early 1900’s.
    10. Fortune – It’s no secret that Leprechauns love fortune and always have some gold stashed away. Some believe these Irish fairys truly exist and travel through the forests hopping dimensions from our realm to the fairy realm.

    Which creature is your favorite so far? Do you have a tale to tell about any of the beasts listed? Share your story in the comments below! Check back next week for Inktober 2023 – Part 2! Thanks for stopping by today!

    Keep your eyes peeled, free spirits!

  • Inktober #15 – Armadillo- 2022

    The fifteenth prompt for Inktober is “armadillo”. At first, one would wonder what kind of horror movie has anything to do with armadillos!? I heard of Them! with giant ants, there’s The Giant Gila Monster, The Rats, Bats and even a movie called The Killer Shrews. Though, were there any movies with a big, bad armadillo?

    No, but there is a classic monster movie called Dracula (1931) where our armored friends make a brief appearance!

    There is a scene within Dracula’s castle where you see an assortment of critters such as bats, spiders, opossum and even armadillos. What? Why does Dracula have armadillos?

    Armadillos are always looking for an easy meal. They were commonly seen in cemeteries, scrounging around in the loose dirt near freshly dug gravesites where it is easier to find a tasty grub. Many people back in the day noticed this behavior and it started a rumor that the armadillos would dig down to the coffins in order to eat the newly rotting cadavers. Aren’t humans an imaginative bunch?

    With this idea, they decided to incorporate them into the movie for an interesting and spooky pet for the blood sucker.

    I can’t believe I found a horror movie for the prompt armadillo but I did! I am also pretty pleased with how this sketch turned out too! It is an interesting story for sure.

    Have you ever seen Dracula? What did you think of his little friends? Leave a comment below! Check back tomorrow for the next Inktober prompt, fowl.

    See ya next time, free spirits!

  • Inktober #14 – Empty – 2022

    The fourteenth prompt for Inktober is “empty”. I wasn’t sure exactly how I wanted to approach this prompt until I started thinking of all my horror favorites. The perfect one popped in my head for the word empty and it was Insidious (2010).

    At this point, I have seen so many horror and monster movies that it is really hard for one to actually scare me. When I first watched Insidious, I was definitely freaked out. The story was right up my alley as it taps into astral projection and getting lost outside of your body (which has always been something that has freaked me out). It also had some parts that literally made me jump out of my seat. The “big bad” was very creepy and something I had never seen before! It easily became one of my favorite horror movies!

    As I had mentioned, one of the main characters astral projects while he is sleeping and gets lost in the dream world, leaving his body an empty vessel. I won’t say anymore in case you have never seen the movie. I recommend giving it a watch this Halloween season if you really want to get the heebie jeebies!

    I really like how this sketch came out and it has slid to the top of my list of favorites for this project. Sometimes, the image just falls onto the paper and everything goes exactly where it is suppose to. Plus…. it’s so creeeeepy!

    Have you seen the movie, Insidious? What did you think? Leave a comment below! Check back soon for the next prompt, armadillo. Thanks for stopping by today!

    Sweet dreams, free spirits!

  • Inktober #13- Kind- 2022

    The thirteenth prompt for Inktober is “kind”. I decided to squeeze in a classic for this prompt. Have you ever heard of a movie called Misery?

    If you cringed when I mentioned the title then you indeed know what movie I am talking about. It’s more of a psychological horror that messes with your head but there is one part in particular that everyone immediately thinks of because it has been horrifically etched into our minds.

    Leave it to Stephen King to create another story that you’ll never forget. If you have seen the movie, you may be wondering why I chose it for this prompt.

    Annie Wilkes played by one of my favorite actors, Kathy Bates, comes off as a super nice and excitable character. She immediately appears to be a kind and caring person but as the story progresses, those characteristics don’t seem very accurate at all.

    I won’t say anymore in case you haven’t seen Misery (1990) but this is definitely a movie everyone should see at least once in there lifetime!

    If you have seen it, leave a comment below and let me know what you thought of it! Thanks for swinging by today! Check back tomorrow for the next prompt, empty.

    Be Kind, free spirits!

  • Inktober #12 – Forget – 2022

    The twelfth prompt for Inktober is “forget”. There were a few possible choices for this word. I decided to choose a movie that seemed to fall under the radar. It was a movie I randomly scrolled across on Netflix one day and I had never heard of it before. I was running out of “obviously good” scary movies on there that I hadn’t seen so I broadened my horizon to movies that “probably were not going to be great but I’ll give it a shot”.

    The movie is called The Bye Bye Man (2017). You can probably see from the title why I had predicted it wasn’t going to be that great. The Bye Bye Man?? The title is not great but like I said, “I’ll give it a shot”.

    By the time I had finished the movie I was actually impressed with it. It is a bit creepy, a little cliché with it’s scares but still creepy. The story was also very entertaining. I enjoyed how it started; I was instantly hooked. The ending was also good and left you yelling at the screen saying, “NO! Don’t do it!”. Everything in between was pretty good too. Nothing spectacular but far from boring. It kept you on your toes, wondering what was going to happen next. When the movie ended I was very surprised that something I came into thinking, “Okay, this is going to be bad” actually turned out to be pretty good. It’s safe to say, I liked this movie!

    Have you ever seen The Bye Bye Man? What did you think about it? Leave a comment below! Check back tomorrow for the next Inktober prompt, kind.

    Bye bye, free spirits!

  • Inktober #11- Eagle – 2022

    The eleventh prompt for Inktober is “eagle”. I was a little disappointed with this sketch. This was another prompt that I had a hard time pin pointing a horror movie to go along with. There was only two I could come up with while researching it online. The first one was Night of the Eagle (1962) which is a British horror that was renamed Burn Witch Burn when it was released in the US. I had never seen this movie though and I only wanted to do sketches of movies I have seen.

    The second movie I came across was Night at the Eagle Inn (2021). I also had never seen this movie but luckily I found it was available to watch on one of the streaming services I use. I was able to watch it before Inktober began and because of lack of inspiration, this was the movie I chose for my sketch.

    Honestly, it wasn’t a great movie. It wasn’t the worst movie I had seen but it was not the best either. The plot brings us to a large, seemingly empty hotel called, you guessed it, Eagle Inn. Two siblings are investigating the mystery behind their deceased mother and missing father. What they didn’t realize was that this was one of those hotels that you can check out anytime you like but you can never leave. ;P

    I won’t say anymore in case you are interesting in giving it a go. Although, be warned I found it a bit boring. If you want to watch a great horror based in a hotel, grab The Shining.

    Have you seen Night at the Eagle Inn? What did you think? Snooze-fest or Scare-fest? Leave a comment below! Check back soon for the next Inktober prompt, forget.

    Thanks for checking in, free spirits!