Some Dave Dorman Horror Artwork: Too Scary for Busch Gardens!

Dear Friends,

This story is in my new book ROLLING THUNDER THE ART OF DAVE DORMAN, but I wanted to share this art with you in honor of October, my birthday month and everyone’s favorite month for horror.

A few years back, my business partner Stephen D. Smith, formerly the Editor-in-Chief of the well respected MonsterScene magazine and an authority on haunted and theme park attractions, was asked to come up with a cool haunt idea for Florida’s Busch Gardens. We talked it over and knowing they had an asylum aspect to their haunt, we came up with this really fun character named DEMENTIA. Unfortunately Busch Gardens’ focus groups deemed our character– and her back story of being physically and emotionally destroyed by an uprising in the asylum– way too scary. So without further adieu, I introduce you to our beloved DEMENTIA. If there are any producers out there reading this, we have a wonderful story and we would love to see this in film one day from someone like Ghost House Pictures, whom we know does horror right.

 

Dave Dorman's Dementia Pencil Illustration

 

And here she is below, fully rendered. I was so passionate about this piece, I completed it in just 24 hours. There’s nothing I love doing more than creature, character and costume design. The backwards 13 in her forehead is the result of DEMENTIA getting her head smashed into the door of inmate room #13.

 

Dave Dorman's Dementia Painting

 

In other pop culture news, I picked up American Vampire yesterday at the comic book store in Schaumburg, IL. Denise and I are fighting over who reads it first. Only one of the two stories is actually Stephen King writing, which I think is confusing to many who think they are buying a solely Stephen King graphic novel. Still, it looks to be a lot of fun. Speaking of fun, I saw Resident Evil Afterlife in 3D the other day – have you all seen it? If so, share with me here what you thought of it.

If you get a chance, please check out my passion project, Project 52 – http://www.indiegogo.com/Project-52. I’m working towards my goal of $52,000 to make this happen for USACares.org. If you can give even $5, that guarantees you or the person you designate is mentioned in my new book. I would love to see you in there. My thanks to all who have already generous contributed and gotten us to the $2710 mark in just a few days!

Thanks for reading,

Dave.

Judge Dredd: Dave Dorman-Style

Dear Friends,

As promised, here is my oil painting of Judge Dredd, which doesn’t appear in the new book, so you will only see it here.  I did this piece in the early ’90s as a graphic novel cover. It was a lot of fun for me to do, as I’ve been a fan of the Judge Dredd series for a long time.

Judge Dredd by Dave Dorman, Cover Art from Early '90s

Now I’m going to tell an embarrassing tale on my wife. When Denise and I first started dating, my post-divorce home was pretty much bachelor pad decor, so this very painting hung in my breakfast nook. Denise, who had never even heard of Judge Dredd, glanced over at the painting one morning and said, “Why is that muscle-bound guy in front of a sign for ‘Hee Haw’?” I rolled my eyes so far into the back of my head, I feared I was permanently blinded. Once my baby blues refocused, I patiently explained, “It says ‘The Law’.,” “Oh.” was all she said in return, not even mildly embarrassed. Needless to say, Denise has had a masters degree-level schooling from me in licensed properties since that day. Now she even knows the difference between Little Nemo and Captain Nemo, and that a true representation of Captain Nemo is of an East Indian man, as it was in the really fun 2003 film “League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.” Her gaffe was very nearly a deal breaker, but we trudged ahead, and here we are today, married 7 years on August 9th and blessed with a beautiful son.

I guess for my fellow pop culture authorities, the parable is that if you date someone who is new to the geekier side of things, have enduring patience with them. If they love you, they’ll eventually find it as interesting as you do. And let’s face it, your significant other has to love it to have the high level of energy required to enjoy the convention scene.

Well, thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy the art. Let me know, okay? I’m about to close down the survey on LinkedIn regarding whether you enjoy more doing traditional art, digital art or a combo platter of both. If you want to take the survey, you will need a LinkedIn profile (and be sure to link with me if you have one), and here’s the link: http://polls.linkedin.com/p/91557/nthen

For those who have ordered my new book directly through me, I’m finishing up World of Warcraft artwork and plan to do the personalized sketches & ship the books out at the end of this week, just so you know my schedule.

Thanks for reading,

Dave.