Dracula & More art

I wasn't sure about posting the work in progress art yesterday, but I was just so excited to see it. Well, I guess I should've been more patient because Dina came through quick! No sooner had a I posted that WIP picture of Reagan than I got a message from her with this.

So cool. I had to get that out there again and give her a little shout out. Make sure you check out her work at ektetrolldom.tumblr.com/

Okay, now, it wouldn't be proper to let Halloween pass by without talking about SOMETHING spoopy, right? So, tonight I decided to revisit a classic and watch the original,  1931 Dracula starring Bela Lugosi. Loved it.

So many classic lines, so many timeless bits. I won't say that it's aged perfectly, though. The bats are... cheesy. Let's be honest. The bats are cheesy. Special effects were not really a thing back then and what the movie did, it did well. Except for those freakin' bats. 

They danced around a few other parts of the story that modern movies would've shown. You never see the marks in anyone's neck. They talk lots about the stuff Dracula has done or even is currently doing, but it's all happening off camera. Renfield gives an amazing description of Dracula appearing in a blood red mist, thousands of rats appearing from nowhere, all a promise of life to Renfield for his obedience, but... we obviously don't see it. We have to take Renfield's word for it.

Shortly after leaping out a window, one character points out "Hey, there's a big dog running across the lawn. Look at that." Van Helsing clarifies that it is a wolf and that it is clearly Dracula, but we never see it. Of course, some people would argue it's better not to see it, to let our imagination fill in the gaps. While that is often true, let's be honest here. That was not the intent of the writers of this movie. They just couldn't do that in 1931.

Regardless of all these nitpickings from a cinematic classic nearly one hundred years old, I still think the movie was great and I believe that both it and the novel it was based on can serve as fantastic inspiration for future installments in The Paladin and other stories I write. 

Happy Halloween guys. And remember, I never drink. Wine.