Guess Who?

We’re going to take a quick detour into the world of fan-fiction today (…or fanny fiction, as I sometimes call it, because I’m childish.) It’s something I tend to avoid, partly because I’m not great at getting people’s likenesses down when I try to draw famous actors/actresses. Partly because I don’t want to get caught up in the tricky barb-wire that is copy-right laws. I like to see other people’s take on famous characters, but I don’t join in that much, myself.

However, after reading the first two Anno Dracula books recently, and Dracula The Un-dead, I’ve been harbouring some pretty strong desires to have a crack at drawing a certain famous villain. Considering he’s only second to Sherlock Holmes in being adapted in popular culture, I can’t really think of a book, comic or movie where they’ve really get the character’s look right, for me (probably because everybody sees famous characters a little differently.) So I just wanted to put down on paper what I see when people mention the name Dracula. Try and get his look sorted out in my own head. It’s just a small doodle in my sketchpad, but I think it came out pretty well. Maybe even a little better than I thought it was going to. I think it sums up really well how I see Dracula in my mind’s eye. Not really knowing any other Dracula fans, I could be well off-base with my take on this character, but I stand by it. I always see Dracula as sex-pest and bastard, rather than misunderstood, or tragic. An old man with bad breath, who moves faster then a young man in his prime. Not romantic, young with slick-backed hair, and a black and red cape.

It feels good to finally have my own visual take on the character. Don’t know if it syncs up with other peoples, however. I may, at some point, try and work this sketch up into something a bit more substantial (and by “may” I mean I’ve already have started mocking something up, but it’s too early to tell if it’s something I want to pursue.) Now I’ve got the design down, it would nice to do something with it.

Sticking with vampires: When I was getting out of bed to take a shower the other day, I noticed a few tiny blood smears on the bed-sheet. I quickly realized this recent hot weather had started to wake and bring out some nasty creepy-crawlies. The type you only see in the summer time, one of which must of bit me during the night. It put me in a bad mood, and reminded why I prefer the winter. Nobody likes to wake up to bite-marks. It’s creepy.