PsychoTronic Pale Label
PsychoTronic Pale
Psychotronic pale is now available at Gigantic Brewing and Movie Madness (Portland). For this design, I borrowed ideas from movies like Planet of the Vampires, Argoman, The Devil’s Rain (but didn’t EVERY movie the 60s have robed cult members?) and any movie that tried to ride Star Wars’ coattails.
The thing about making a fake movie poster is, you do have to have some idea of what the movie would be! So my concept is, What if an average Earth guy ended up on another planet, where his migraine pain manifested into telekinetic energy?
(See the rough sketch)
Special thanks to Amanda Walker-Storey for modeling without actually knowing she was in this. And to the zombie-cult of course.
-Ben
Super rough sketch
Shadowplay Brush Pack 2 - Ink & Wax is Here!
My second brush pack for Clip Studio is up! Ink and Wax is all about inking. Each brush is made to look like my mixed media style of traditional drawing.
Get it HERE
Anyone Can Draw Goth Boys and Girls With Shadowplay Brushes By Cheap Chills
The first set of Shadowplay brushes is NOW AVAILABLE! Set 1 is Gothic Effects, So it’s spider-webs, flying bats, and other “effects” that help you draw dark, spooky stuff.
What’s next? I’m excited to demo for the first time, a set of digital brushes that will allow anyone to "draw" goths. OK maybe that's not the best word for what we're doing. After all, users of our upcoming Shadowplay digital tool set will be able to design Death Rockers, Industrial Goths, Trad goths and Fetish goths. What about Celtic Goths? Sure, probably!
Oh, and that word, "draw". Is it drawing? Sort of, but more like playing with paper dolls or fashion plates. Of course, you can use these bits of artwork as a starting point and go nuts drawing from there. Or you can assemble your character, print it out in light blue and ink it (We'll got over all this stuff in future videos).
This is a preview of a set of "art assets", brushes and bits of artwork that users can use to design alternative-dressed characters. They will initially be released for Clip Studio Paint, with more apps to follow. Don't have Clip Studio Paint? Not to worry, it's an amazing drawing and painting program that's VERY INEXPENSIVE! There's even a 30 day free trial.
And hey, by clicking through to the affiliate link below, you can send some support this way, at not extra expense to you.
Thanks, talk at you soon
Ben
Continuing to Stay Up Late and draw Goths (etc.)
This weekend was Goth night once again at Ribald Bbrewing in Nevada City. Good Times we had by all! Here are a few of the attendees who had their pictures made. I also acknowledge that I need to get better at taking pictures of people in the dark. Any tips?
Check out my new and improved Live drawing set up! I made a new drawing board with a proper level of fanciness. I ditched the clunky, wooden easel and replaced it with a sleek, portable easel called LederEasel. you can find these on Etsy
My Merch table has also seen some improvements. People can Venmo me by scanning the code on a skull or there’s the analog-style tipping skull which now has glowing, violet eyes and a velvet lining (because I want it to feel good to pay me).
Whew to next? I’m up for drawing at more ventures in Northern California. Or feel free to fly me to where.
See you next time!
Drawing Live at the Edwardian Ball
This weekend was my 4th time drawing live portraits at The Edwardian Ball, San Francisco. After a few years off to have a kid and a pandemic it was great to be back!
Live Black Light Drawing
I mixed things up this weekend by drawing Live Caricatures with black-light reactive markers. I really like how it makes the artwork pop in a dark and moody club. I just hope people aren’t too disappointed by the drawings when they see it in the morning light. Maybe it’s a good life lesson; be careful what you bring home from darkened nightclubs.
More to come! This time I’ll try to post BEFORE my next event. What a concept.
Drawing Live at an Alternative Club Near You
(or Not Near Depending on Your Location)
Last night was my second time drawing Live for Goth Night at Nevada City’s Ribald Brewing. It’s so fun to get out there again, not just for the drawing but to talk to new, creative types and for all the musics!!
Anyone who picked up a copy of one of my books, Let’s Draw Goths or Costume & Mask: a Halloween Memories coloring book got a free portrait!
This is definitely something I will be doing more of. Anyone with suggestions of where else I could do this?
photo by DJ Willow
Let's Draw Some Live Goths
With the pandemic mostly behind us and society basically opened up again, I’m thinking it’s time to get out and draw Live at some events, this time as part of my Let’s Draw Goths project. I also have some thoughts on how it could be turned into a podcast but that’s not fully gelled in my brain yet.
I’d like to see about drawing at some goth-type clubs, making some portraits and hearing people’s stories. So when that happens, I’ll post them here!
In the meantime, here are some images from the years I’ve drawn live at Edwardian Ball, San Francisco.
Let's Draw Goths Coloring Book has a New Cover!
The first edition of Let’s Draw Goths coloring book has an updated cover for 2022. This cover features Paris Reilley and their cat.
This will have to be a reminder to myself to get more copies in stock in time for the Holidays. For now they’re available here on Amazon (This is an Affiliate Link, OK?)
Jennifur Brandt and friend
2020 Release of Let’s Draw goths coloring book
Drawing an Internet Famous Couple and When I Felt Too Old to Goth
Here’s a story about a time I was at a goth club in San Francisco and suddenly felt old. Are there way older people goth-dancing it up? Yes. Will I be back? Of course. Just an exploration of where I was at, at the time. And we’ll be seeing a time-lapse of my digital drawing of a couple who shows up at the top of any search for “80s prom” 80s goth prom, etc etc. It’s Russel Gandy and his date. Russel and I are Internet friends now thanks to this drawing and video so payment has been received in full. Enjoy.
My First Time at a "Goth" Club and The Height of Goth 1984 (no relation)
This is a short time-lapse drawing of a goth girl from Club Xclusive (UK early 80s) and a story about my first time at an “alternative” all ages club in the mid 80s.
If you have an hour and a half and want to see something amazing check out this video I was referencing for the drawing. The Height of Goth is a documentary(???) about Club Xclusive and the alternative, goth, bat-caver culture in a small suburban town in the UK. Clearly, there is nothing on the film-maker’s cutting room floor. Everything that was shot for this was included in the release, which makes it the truest form of documentary, perhaps?
Stephen Root as a Goth and How YOU can be a Rock / Art God
What is the Let’s Draw Goths web series? I wish I had nailed that down earlier but basically it’s me talking about whatever I feel needs talking about while drawing a goth (or similar post-punk type). Sometimes I would tell a story from back in my youth, or about a goth I knew. Sometimes it was drawing and art career advice.
Anyway, I think this video was particularly successful as I discuss the idea of hero worship, fantasy verses reality and how, once you fully realize that even your Rock Gods take poops and make pancakes, you too will be free to make fantastic art.
All while drawing Stephen Root as a goth.
Introduction to the Let's Draw Goths Blog
Well if you follow my work at all you may already know that I enjoy drawing goths. It's some thing that I especially drilled down into during the Covid lockdowns of 2020, which led to a YouTube series called Let's Draw Goths, then the Let's Draw Goths coloring book and of course, the fledgling Instagram page. The project is on haitus while I plug through some other projects but there is an upcoming ideration that I’m really excited about and so I want to make sure that Let's Draw Goths has the home-base on the Internet.
So this is the Let's Draw Goths blog. It's gonna be start as back-cataloged stuff that I've done so far. I'm not quite ready to announce the new LDG project but it's gonna be a whole new aspect of drawing goths which I hope will be more inclusive to everyone interested in drawing the bat-cavers, death rockers, post-punk darkwavers, trad-goths and beyond.
Talk soon,
Ben