We Deserve Better Monsters
Lucy in Shadows
We are beyond delighted to announce the third incredible illustration commissioned to celebrate Coil’s monstrous realization of Lucy in Dracula at the Human Race Theatre.
We are suckers for the shadowy worlds of Gustave Doré and Edward Gorey, and couldn’t think of a more capable artist than Lee Guentert to render our favorite vampire in romantically engraved style.
There is something deeply uncanny about chiaroscuro born of finely drafted lines. Their inky allure beckons your gaze to follow as they twist perspective in ways that only feel natural to casual inspection. They demand you peer closer and closer, to see how animate form is rendered from geometry. It is far too late by the time you discover that art may stare back.
Today one can smear a bunch of crosshatches across an illustration with the touch of a keyboard, and apply beautiful lettering simply by purchasing a license.
But where is the magic in that?
One does not birth a monster with “adaptive infill.” Well. Not this sort.
Conjuration requires an artist to make an offering of weeping eyes, aching knuckles, and spasming back. Only then do the lines come alive, only then does the darkness stare back in hunger.
And this midnight-stained page is so very very hungry.
This is a work of magic as well as art, a product of incredible labor not done justice by the parsimonious pixels of social media. We have seen the (many) drafts, and each alone is worthy of a frame.
The world needs more art, and better monsters.
We are suckers for the shadowy worlds of Gustave Doré and Edward Gorey, and couldn’t think of a more capable artist than Lee Guentert to render our favorite vampire in romantically engraved style.
There is something deeply uncanny about chiaroscuro born of finely drafted lines. Their inky allure beckons your gaze to follow as they twist perspective in ways that only feel natural to casual inspection. They demand you peer closer and closer, to see how animate form is rendered from geometry. It is far too late by the time you discover that art may stare back.
Today one can smear a bunch of crosshatches across an illustration with the touch of a keyboard, and apply beautiful lettering simply by purchasing a license.
But where is the magic in that?
One does not birth a monster with “adaptive infill.” Well. Not this sort.
Conjuration requires an artist to make an offering of weeping eyes, aching knuckles, and spasming back. Only then do the lines come alive, only then does the darkness stare back in hunger.
And this midnight-stained page is so very very hungry.
This is a work of magic as well as art, a product of incredible labor not done justice by the parsimonious pixels of social media. We have seen the (many) drafts, and each alone is worthy of a frame.
The world needs more art, and better monsters.
Also, we know that Westenra is misspelled as Westerna. That is 100% our fault. There was a typo in an early communication that was propagated and we never spotted. We apologize to the Westenra family.
