Technically James Hetfield (frontman of Metallica) is not a fictional monster like Frankenstein or Dracula, but he is a heavy-metal monster for his fans. He’s fantastic! His portrait was tattooed by American artist Javi Antunez (see image #6) who spent several hours perfecting his facial expression and scream best known as the death growl. A […]
Category: Dark Art
Note: Contains images that may be considered graphic and disturbing to some readers. The Gothic look and the Halloween season can be a great source of inspiration for fashion photographers and stylists. As the dark nights get ever darker, it is the time of year to enjoy Victorian ghost stories and trashy horror flicks to […]
Mexican illustrator Erick Gonzaga is known as The Freak. “I’m a monster guy and drawing is the way I express myself. All these creatures and illustrations are a part of me and my twisted dreams.” [1] Using thin permanent markers he makes a unique rendition of the Ouroboros (above) and a delightfully sinister image of […]
Kavan Cardoza aka “Kavan The Kid” is a music video director and photographer based in Los Angeles. His photographic work is expressive and creepy, like “Monster in the Dark” (above) of an old lady who could steal the show in horror film “Insidious.” Other images such as “God’s Outcasts,” “A Vanishing Soul” and “Burning from […]
American artist Tony Mancia sometimes spends 10 hours custom designing a tattoo for a client. It takes some thought to come up with interesting compositions such as fusing late Gothic and Renaissance cathedrals with portraits of women. His passion for architecture is apparent as he includes details like the quatrefoils (four leaf-clover frameworks) and rose windows […]
Down in the heart of the forest, you will find the dreamy images of photographer Helen Warner. Everything from fair maidens trapped in see-through bubbles to ghostly figures drifting in a cold lake, like something out of a Wilkie Collins mystery, are captured by her assured lens. They are perfect remedies of escapism for anyone stuck […]
There is darkness and beauty in Timur Lysenko’s tattoos. His work was mentioned to me through Paul O’Shea, a long-time reader and member of Illusion’s Google+ community page. This Polish-based tattooer uses gradient shading to create 3D wow-factor portraits and flowers, and then mixes into the compositions flat lines and sweater-style patterns for a contrasting […]
If you gather all the knives, axes, bugs, animal skulls and traps, you will likely have enough props for a horror movie. Some of Roman Boyko’s tattoos look like they came out of a slasher film, or just a sinister edition of an anatomy book. He uses black ink to illustrate the vertebral column and […]
Using Fractal software Mandelbulb 3D, East Londoner Graham Symmons creates epic buildings that resemble Gothic masterpieces such as the Notre-Dame Cathedral of Reims and the Monastery of Batalha. It is also clear his admiration for Swiss surrealist H. R. Giger, shown in the last image of post. Images © Graham Symmons
