Frankenstein

I've been a bit obsessed with Frankenstein since Hallowe'en. As a kid I always loved gothic monsters in grave yards etc, but my fave was Dracula. I think as I'm getting older my tastes are changing. Maturing.

When I read the full unabridged Dracula novel by Bram Stoker a few years ago (after only ever reading my beloved Ladybird Horror Classic edition as a kid) I was struck by how revolted I was by Dracula the character. However, I felt quite the opposite to the titular character's creature when I read the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley not too long after it.

My usual tradition is to watch James Whale's Universal classics at Hallowe'en but this year I went in a different direction and watched Hammer's Frankenstein movies. One after the other.

They were crappy, saved only by Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, but got me into the mood to not only re-read the source novel, but to do my own image and version of the 'Monster'.

I doodled on a phone bill envelope which turned into the above pen drawing. It's not finished yet. It will be full colour with Mont Blanc (hence being covered in frost and ice) and Frankenstein himself in the distance and in book cover format.

My take on the creature is closer to Shelly's description and devoid of the usual scars and stitches.

I interpreted the vaguely described process in the novel to be that, although 'materials' from corpses were used in the creation of the creature, it was more 'grown' than stitched together like a rag doll. The parts would be decomposed and useless anyway. I imagined bones and tissue being brought together, assembled in a basic frame in which living organs could be grafted and then the surrounding skin and muscle grown at a cellular level. Almost like a plant crossed with a skin graft.

But I could shake the image of Karloff's amazing face. I used it as inspiration, but not exact. Anyway.

Keep your eyes peeled for the final image on here some time soon.