Tuesday, October 06, 2009

31 Days of Halloween - Day 6


















Today's collage portrait is Graf Orlok as played by Max Schreck in NOSFERATU (1922). The make-up was most likely the creation of the film's art director, Albin Grau.
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7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love Nosferatu; the costuming, makeup and acting for the character is among the greatest in all horror.

You've really captured that here.

1:32 AM
Shawn Robare said...

Still one of my most favorite vampire designs...

I really dig the way you used the encompassing shadow in this one.

5:39 AM
Shawn Robare said...

Hey John, just out of curiosity, when you're working on these so you sketch out the various shapes or do you go directly to cutting out the shapes?

11:10 AM
Stephen said...

John, these are all really terrific. I love the colors you use in them.

11:57 AM
John Rozum said...

Thanks, everyone. I apologize on not responding to many of the comments being left here these past few days. I've been so busy, I still haven't visited all of the various Countdown blogs yet.

Thank goodness I got most of my posts up before October started.

Shawn,

It really depends. Nosferatu, or the one I'm posting tomorrow , which took less than an hour to make) I just went directly to the cutting, because it was pretty easy one to figure out.

Some, where there's a lot of overlapping color gradients, like Gina from day 2, I'll sort of mark out a topography map, so I can plan the layering out, and get a better sense of how the various shapes fit together.

The toughest ones are characters like the Creeping Flesh, or the Dr. Phibes I'm slowly trying to get through, where the colors themselves are a murky indeterminate mix that could be grey, brown, or pink or any combination. With paint, I could mix the colors, working with cut paper it's much harder to find a close max, and the results aren't always what I'd hoped for.

1:34 PM
wyrmphreak said...

What a FANTASTIC Nosferatu!! I absolutely love how you've only shown parts of him and the rest of him is suggested somehow by shadow. It's not even that part of his body is hidden, but rather that the shadows are him. This is an excellent piece with a great color palette!

5:37 PM
wyrmphreak said...

John - I was reading your response to Shawn about how you do the collages and that they don't always come out the way you hoped. I realize this doesn't change how you feel, but I am just in awe of the talent and skill you have in being able to create such artistic pieces! I cannot believe you achieve what you do with cut up pieces of paper.

5:40 PM

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