I am Dracula-Enter freely ...(updated 8.18.16)

I have always loved the character of Count Dracula-in books,movies,toys,etc.-so needless to say,as an aspiring artist I've been drawing this guy since i could first draw.

Thanks in part to the literary stuff i recently shared and a brand new project I'm doing with best pal writer Bob Tinnell , which will feature the vampire lord (that's all i can tell you for now-but suffice to say,if you dug THE BLACK FOREST you'll dig this ;o) i thought it would be fun to showcase all the various versions of Dracula I've drawn since that 1st illo from 1980 (in actual fact,i've drawn him before that but have little in the way of copies of that early work)

So here's some of the many Counts that have emerged from my fevered brow in the last 30 odd years (including a few i forgot when i first did this post) ...beginning with those that i did based on the film and comic versions...


1st we have a commission which featured the major Universal Studios versions: Lugosi, Chaney Jr., Carradine and Langella (i was asked to do it in pencil for the fella to ink himself-i hope to do an inked version soon myself):




The next is the very 1st art i ever had published-it was 1976 and i sent in a "fan drawing" to a horror film fanzine called CHILDREN OF THE NIGHT-they put it in their 3rd issue-I was in heaven-i also sent in artwork to several other zines and fan club newsletters (mainly for Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing's clubs) a humble beginning but an important one...





Next we have a true rarity-a painting (i did maybe 2 or 3 paintings like this in my lifetime-not counting a couple murals) i did of Christopher Lee as the Stoker's novel describes the Count-well,at least the mustache is from Stoker anyway...





Then another film related piece, DRACULA'S GREAT LOVE-this was of Paul Naschy, better known as the werewolf star of a series of Spanish horror classics (the art was in the fanzine VIDEOOZE, published by another good friend, Bob Sargent):

The cover for a independent comic company's adaptation of the novel-i didn't get to do the interiors tho i begged to-it's based on the story's visual of the character:





I am a huge fan of Marvel's TOMB OF DRACULA series with Gene Colan doing the art chores-classic storytelling at it's best-and when i found some copies of his pencils of the Count i took it upon myself to do an inkwash from it-this is the result-i felt i captured his ethereal style rather well...he humbly brags...




And here's another take on the Marvel Drac-a fan gets artists to do "minute later" drawings-usually what happens right after a scene on a cover-in this case a TOMB OF DRACULA cover costarring the WEREWOLF BY NIGHT:






Now this next batch of Counts are all the many variations I've come up with thru the years for single illos or stories I've done both before and after becoming a pro-my versions of Dracula-usually based on the novel or inspired by the films.

This is another from the era of those literary pieces-1980-mainly done with marker,it looks like:




this was a "promo" i did for one of MANY stories i drew in the old amateur days-i drew lotsa comic stories back then-usually monster rallies (i got to do a real comic book years later that brought me full circle: THE BLACK FOREST) starring all my favorites (this piece also showed Van Helsing,a werewolf and a mummy) ,but ALWAYS featuring Dracula:





Below is a panel from my early pro days at Comico Comics-my 1st story ever was published in their new talent showcase, PRIMER- soon after i plotted a short tale that would begin a proposed series that was basically a variation on my pre pro days' work (and own design of Drac stayed the same) -i drew it and GRENDAL creator Matt Wagner did the dialog and inks.

To show you how "clever" i was the title of the story was AND ETERNITY SHALL BECKON...

...if the laughter has died down we can continue...

Ultimately the story never saw print-maybe one day-when I'm feeling rather masochistic-I'll publish it here...maybe... (see update below ...:o)

It starred a bounty hunter i created named Josef Talon Falconer-he tracks down a group of men who get taken by a cult who wants to raise Drac from the dead-a kind of sequel to the novel.

Years later i incorporated Falconer into my EAGLE series-never let a good character die:





The next place my version of Drac appeared was in a series called BLOOD OF DRACULA-this was a series i began with writers Mark Wheatley and Ricky Shanklin- i pencilled the 1st 6 issues with Mark's inks-i then laid out the next 6 with a young up and coming artist on finishes: Adam Hughes.

The greatest treat for me was that i got to design the Count-and yes i used the version i had been using for the last few years in my own amateur stories- it wasn't credited to me until many issues later when i put up a stink about it-hey,after all those crappy comics i drew-mainly for my own amusement-i wanted the world to know i did this-lol

This is also the only cover i did for the series-actually i penciled it and another artist did a painting based on the pencils:






Then there was FRIGHT NIGHT!

I was asked by Now Comics to do SPEED RACER-mainly because of my time on ROBOTECH a few years before-which i really had no interest in drawing- i finally agreed to do one issue if they would allow me to do the new FRIGHT NIGHT comic,based on the film-a favorite of mine-it turned out to be a mixed blessing for many reasons but at least i got it outta my system.

A few issues before i quit the book (for those aforementioned reasons) i was able to convince the powers that be to let me do a Dracula story-instead of using the actual Count we composed a tale (i actually got a co-plotted by credit for the 1st time-not always granted in this biz,i'm sad to say) about an actor well known for playing the role on screen, Boris Christopher (whom i based on Christopher Lee the way they based Fright Night host Peter Vincent on Peter Cushing)

The twist would be that he gets attacked by Evil Ed and becomes ,in effect,Count Dracula-at least in his delusional,recently vampirized mind anyway-it was a fun story and my virtual swan song to a series i had high hopes for.

So allow me to add this version of Dracula to my LONG list:




This you may recognize as the Dracula i designed for my aborted VAMPIRELLA comic (see archives):



I was then asked to follow Jose Gonzalez' Drac for the book- this here is a layout page from the series-as far as i got before being dumped (it was done on graph paper-thus the lines):





This is the cover to one of my three X rated Draculas...yup...X rated-hey, I'm all for a little naughty fun on the comics page-this actually only used Drac in a cameo role-the "star" character was a rather nude young vamp who was modeled on Spanish Eurotrash star Lina Romay:





...this next one was an adaptation of the novel, but with much naughtiness added-i only got to do the opening chapter of the series, tho-sad to say-because i thought-even given the erotic take on the novel-i did some of my best artwork for this-below is a direct scene from the novel:



There was a third comic i did starring Dracula but it was a story about how he became a vampire-basically an X rated version of Vlad Tepes before the fangs-it was called DRACULA IN HELL and I'd rather not share the art here-it was a touch TOO extreme for me...;o)


This is yet another redesign of him for another series i was going to do with my characters from the old Primer comic story-it never got beyond this one piece:




Here's another variation done for a commission:





Here is the character of Graf Orlok from my BLACK FOREST book-i included him because he was, at least originally in the silent film NOSFERATU our Dracula- but under another name:





Another take on the Count for a "chapbook" cover, which to date hasn't appeared-but i like the piece and felt it needed to be seen:





a more recent design-not used-for a comic i was going to do with Bob called ONLY AT NIGHT-we didn't do it-it's a long story I'll tell someday (and who knows,i may still get around to drawing it-no,it's not the mysterious Dracula comic i referred to at the beginning):






The most recent attempt at a comic starring my favorite vamp was going to be a dual feature with BARON FRANKENSTEIN, done by Bob and Adrian Salmon-the conceit was a comic "adaptation" of two of director Terry Sharp's most famous classic films (he of course was a fictional character created by Bob and Ade for their book TERRY SHARP-he was a horror film director by day and an adventurer by night-great book-look for it) -we still plan on doing this someday...time will tell...





Our last-and certainly not least-i hope-design is for the new project we're working on called FLESH & BLOOD-it is based on the wonderful Hammer Films movies Bob and I love- we took their approach at the classic horror monsters and built our own story from there-their films are kind of our inspiration,more than source material-I'm hoping to finish the 4th ish...someday....

Then there are the many commissions I've done featuring Dracula...

 And how about the numerous illos I've done for my buddy Richard Klemensen's mag Little Shoppe Of Horrors...

I've recently done a new version of my old unpublished Comico Primer Falconer story for a new book called Dark Tales From The Vokesverse bringing the Count into the Eagle universe...

...which brings us to the most recent Dracula drawing-a cover image from a young readers novel which features Dracula battling a...uhm...I can't say yet...you'll see...soon...;o)

                                                                 DRACULA

An obsession of mine that has produced some very cool work (and some not so cool,i guess) thru the last 32 years...

...and i suspect for the next 32...assuming i can still hold a pencil...;o)


That's All,Vokes!

Bits n Pieces: Literary monsters...

Tho I'm a huge fan of the silver screen,i was also raised on books (and both interests did crossover into each other) -my dad always had lotsa books in the house and encouraged my bro and i to read- i was a fan of the more fantastic stuff: horror, sci fi, etc.-but also the classics-as long as there were great villains-Richard the 3rd was my introduction to Shakespeare (an interest my wifey doesn't share but my daughter is learning an appreciation for ) and the memorable Captain Ahab of MOBY DICK is another fave (tho the book is a tough read.)

Which leads us to our entry today.

When i was still in the learning stages of my drawing (actually i still AM learning ;o) i drew LOTS of stuff-mainly story related-but i also got on a literary kick for awhile.

These pieces below represent a short series i had planned of drawing each of my favorite characters in those novels i read growing up.

They aren't particularly good but i thought it might be interesting to see what my older work looked like in comparison-for those who cared...;o)

These were all done from around 1979 to '80-well before my pro career started.

They were primarily done with ball point pen in a kind of cross hatch style-well,the approximation of the style- i didn't know what to do (and not to do) yet (the irony is i now use a ball point pen in a lot of my inkline work-i guess I've come full circle)

I find the process of the learning curve fascinating (and hoped you might) so here ya go...






As you can see lettering would never be a career choice-lol





This one is supposed to be the creature from FRANKENSTEIN but i guess i never added the quotes.




Obviously my dislike of lettering (the world no doubt is grateful ;o) kept me from using quotes on this one either...




I hope you enjoyed that little side trip into literature by way of my past work...;o)

This just in...

Newest commissions finished...

1st up we have the Man With No Name-or Clint Eastwood, as we all know him better.

Westerns are a big love of mine so this was no chore whatsoever...




Then we have a piece that follows a theme for the gent who requested it-Golden Age DC heroes vs Spidey villains-in this case Sandman vs the Vulture-OK, not your usual commission but it proved to be a lot of fun to do.

Here's the thumbnail-one of several-but the one that eventually evolved into the finished piece...




then after a few clean ups and redraws i did the pencils-i haven't finished the backgrounds yet,tho- this scan actually shows me starting on the inkline as well...





here it is with the finished inkline-at this point i usually do the inkwash-then i fill in the blacks...





...until it looks something like this...




There are several other steps in between here and there-most of them include me cursing under my breath-but that's basically the process...;o)

Vampi we hardly knew ye...

My buddy Davey Z asked me to show the Vampirella samples i did way back in '92 for a proposed series i was to do with Kurt Busiek.

Curt Purcell ( http://groovyageofhorror.blogspot.com/ ) has done a very nice entry on Vampirella in his blog so Davey and he were interested in seeing my take.

Here's all i have from then-forgive the quality of the scans but these were copied way back before i ever had my own computer and scanner.

I was introduced to Harris Comics, who had the license to Vampi back then- my agent had shown them my most current work and they were interested in having me draw their upcoming DRACULA WAR storyline-this was to be a sequel of sorts to the old stories at Warren when Vampi fought the infamous Count.

it was to be written by the then pre MARVELS Kurt Busiek-he hadn't yet made his name in the industry and he and i eventually became good friends (i also became friends with their editor at the time,Richard Howell) Both Richard and Kurt were happy with the idea of me drawing the series and i started by doing some designs-a sort of audition.

The first was my own take on Dracula- unfortunately-for me- they wanted it to more closely follow the version done by Jose Gonzalez (i hope to use this take on Drac-one of many i've done thru the years-very soon)





So then i did their Dracula,with Vampi...



I also drew a few shots of our heroine to get used to the character-so far so good...




I then started on the story-i did about 15 pages of layouts-very loose storytelling-and finished pencils on the 2 page title/credits spread-it was inked and lettered (rather quickly i recall) and i continued my layouts...




...then the worm turned- i was informed thru Richard and Kurt that Harris decided my stuff was "too cartoony" for what they had in mind- not the 1st time this has happened-they wanted more of Jose Gonzalez in the style- this was of course AFTER they had approved my work (I've always felt that the inks had "transformed" my style into something different-which does happen-a different inker may have brought about a whole other result)
- Kurt and Richard were rather pissed about this decision and fought for me-to no avail-i was let go and someone else did the artwork.

Looking back on the experience i made two very close friends for life and got a chance to work on a cool iconic character-for a little while anyway- no regrets...;o)

More New Stuff!

As i mentioned in the blog about Shane's artwork we're doing some pieces for Dick Klemensen's LSOH mag-a tribute to Hammer's CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN.

The 1st scan here is of some of the various "1st thoughts" i jotted down while thinking about the subject-in this case the aforementioned COF film,a pic of actor Shane Briant and something on director Peter Sasdy's work.

i eventually dropped the Sasdy piece (which i was gonna do as a montage-see last scan in this entry) as overkill (there will be so much art in the ish by other cool artists,my 4 were perhaps too much already ;o)





I'm sure after seeing part of the sketches i did on Sasdy's COUNTESS DRACULA some of you may be disappointed tho-lol

Well the next series of pix are the two major steps of each of the final four i chose to do.

First we have Baron Frankenstein preparing to restore life to the creature he made...







Then a pic of actor Shane Briant as a young medical fan of the infamous Baron from FRANKENSTEIN AND THE MONSTER FROM HELL...








Here is a portrait of the late Hazel Court as Elizabeth, fiancee to the Baron from COF...








Then the Baron has a close encounter with his newborn creature that nearly cuts his monster making career short...







Lastly is the Sasdy montage i spoke of- i got as far as the pencils before i decided to shelve it for another day- the subjects were TASTE THE BLOOD OF DRACULA, HAND OF THE RIPPER, COUNTESS DRACULA and DOOMWATCH...



Until next we chat...That's All, Vokes!

Shane Oakley

Shane Oakley has a blog you should check out-if only to see his artwork-my Brit bro Adrian Salmon and i have been fans since stumbling over his blog when we saw his Oliver Reed werewolf piece:



I'm very happy to say that he's also going to be in the next ish of my buddy Dick Klemensen's lovingly produced Hammer Films magazine, Little Shoppe of Horrors which is going to be devoted to Hammer's CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN:


Please go over there and see the cool art and more!

New Stuff!

The 1st is a cover sketch of THE SKULL ('65-Amicus Films) for the PETER CUSHING ASSOCIATION JOURNAL's 2nd ish.

The fanzine is put out by Chris Gullo, old friend and author of the very cool book, IN ALL SINCERITY, PETER CUSHING (which has some nice little illos by some Volks guy ;o)





The 2nd is for the back cover of the VAN HELSING JOURNAL (formerly THE CUSHING CONFIDENTIAL - once published by Mr. Gullo) published by Harry Long (also one of the fellas behind the new mag SCARLET -formerly SCARLET STREET-which i am also doing a few pieces for)

yup-mine is a small world...;o)

Phil Lasorda R.I.P.

My first email of the day-July 4th 2008-was word from an old friend, Bill Cucinotta, that our other old friend and Comico publisher, Phil Lasorda died.

I then found this at Heidi MacDonald's blog:

"We’ve received word that former Comico publisher, Phil Lasorda, passed away yesterday. In addition to running the company which published such titles as MAGE and THE ELEMENTALS, Lasorda was a creator himself, with the book AZ. No further details are available at this time."

I'm very sad to hear this news-the few of you who read this blog know of my professional past at Comico Comics-Phil was a very important part of my professional life in comics- if not for him taking a chance on my still amateurish work back in '83 I may never have gotten into this biz-a job which has become a huge part of my life these past 25 years-I can never thank him enough.

Phil and I never became close friends but we did work together on 3 issues of his book AZ-they were changing their books over from B & W to color and Phil chose myself and my partner Rich Rankin to draw his series-those three 30 page issues never saw the light of day (thank goodness ;o) but they were a great training ground for me-i needed that time to hone my art and learn the discipline of monthly comic books-that time with Phil led to our doing the ROBOTECH MASTERS series for Comico.

I will never ever forget his generosity to a guy who just wanted to draw comics.

Farewell, Phil.

Mike Wieringo-tribute sketch

This happy fella is Mike Wieringo-last year fate took Mike away from us,leaving the comic art world-for that matter,the world as a whole- a sadder place.

In honor of his memory a bunch of his peers and friends-which i'm proud to say i was one-are compiling a sketchbook of art-led by his close pal,Todd Dezago-for sale at the Heroes Comic Con in No. Carolina this year (in a couple weeks) the proceeds are to go to Mike's personal favorite charity, the ASPCA.

The reason i brought this up is that i was asked last year to donate a piece for a planned book of art in Mike's memory-i did a series of sketches for the project-some of which you can see below...




the 1st was an idea someone suggested to pit Mike's characters from his book, TELLOS,against my BLACK FOREST characters-i quickly dropped that concept when it felt too much like self promotion and not enough about Mike.




I realized that it needed to be something that honored him AND what we'll remember him best for: his work-so i combined a group of comic book characters he'd become most associated with thru his short career with a caricature of him at his table-a tried and true image of the artist at work (i recall a great shot of Kirby at his table with all the characters coming out of it-so this idea goes way back ;o)




So i concentrated on a select group of characters,including Impulse,Spidey,the FF and the TELLOS crew.

My buddy Bob Tinnell suggested some kind of Mount Rushmore like shot of Ringo (as we affectionately called him) instead of the drawing board- so after many more development sketches i arrived at the image below in pencil.




Then time passed and we were slowly approaching the 2008 con season and no book was getting done-i suspect it was becoming a huge chore to organize as i knew of at LEAST 150 artists who wanted to contribute art to the project-so my pencilled piece sat on the shelf.

Then in Seattle this year i bumped into Todd Dezago at the Emerald City Con and showed him a copy of the piece-he seemed happy with it and-i think-it helped rekindle the spark of getting something out in Mike's memory in time for the Heroes con this year-so i went ahead and inked it and added a grey tone/wash finish and sent it along to Todd-the result is below:




I only wish Mike was still here to see how much he was loved and respected by friends and fans alike.

Best wishes in that studio in the sky,buddy!

Vokes & Zuzelo together again...for the 1st time!

COMING SOON!


"The Tastiest Snack...About to Kick Some Zombie Ass!"


OK-in point of fact the above image (on a promotional teaser postcard you'll be seeing soon at my upcoming shows) isn't SPECIFICALLY from my new project with Mr. David Zuzelo-it's actually a commission i did for a fan at the Pittsburgh Comic Con this year (it's based on an old pulp novel's contents page illo) and i added the little blurb at the bottom for the cards.

However, it DOES represent a certain tone-atmosphere-style-that WILL be in our book-and i promise you that a variation of the scene itself will most certainly be used in some capacity within the stories we're working on-I just dig the vibe,man...;o)


The young lady above is one of our main characters- I don't wish to get into any specifics yet-i wanna keep some mystery-but I WILL be showcasing various character designs,layouts,etc in here as we progress-such as this:



What's this book about?

Good question!

It's kinda hard to describe in one of those Hollywood high concept ways that are so common nowadays-we wanted it to have a mix of elements we both enjoy in films and comics.

How about an adventure/fantasy/horror...and other stuff series that has bits and pieces of ROAD WARRIOR, YOR, HERCULES UNCHAINED, PLANET OF THE APES, THUNDARR THE BARBARIAN, THE NEW GODS (among other Jack Kirby influences) and-we hope-enough original stuff of our own as well.

Who's publishing this tome?

Good question!

We don't know for sure yet-We're of the mind to self publish-which in this day and age is a little easier than it used to be-but having a company logo on the cover is not out of the realm of possibility,either-we'll see...;o)

When will this book be out?

Great question!

Our best guess is the summer of '09.

We are still in the early stages of design,story and so on-We CAN tell you that we are having a lot of fun with this.

We want to put out an entertaining "adventure/fantasy/horror/and other stuff" series that knocks your socks off (who really needs socks on while reading a comic?) and if you can catch just a little of the passion we have for this from reading it,then we've succeeded.

To Be Continued...

Seattle/ETP trip: Emerald City Con

The other reason i was in Seattle was for the annual Emerald City Comic Convention- it was my 1st time there as a guest of the show and i had a wonderful time.



I got to spend a few precious moments with old friends like writer Kurt Busiek whom I see far too little of...



The bonus for me was that my birthday also fell on that weekend-this meant i got to spend it with both my ETP friends and my comic book buddies.

My lil bro, Mike Oeming (see Mikey with his cuter half, Taki below) even threw me a surprise birthday party at a local public house.



As you can see I was pleasantly surprised.




I got to hang with a roomful of writers and artists who were all young enough to be my kids-lol-but it was a great night filled with drinking,laughter and more drinking...yeesh...I ain't as young as I used to be...;o)

I hope to return someday to the show-and Seattle-it was a gas!