The Legend Of Jack O’ Lantern

   Its been quite a while since I’ve last posted, but as always things are more than well worth the wait. I have recently finished a painting entitled “The Legend of Jack O’ Lantern”. I think it should also go to mention that this is the first painting that I have done in 16 years. I have always felt that the legend of Stingy Jack himself has never been captured before in image form. I decided to give this devil his due. The legend of Jack has been around for hundreds of years, but alas no image. I did it in the traditional way that the painting of old were done. It is 24x 36 acrylic on canvas.

Jack O’ Lantern was said to be one of the most evil men to have ever lived. The story of the Irishman Jack started on one fateful night when the devil decided to pay Jack a visit to see if he truly lived up to his evil ways. Jack and the devil spent many hours drinking in a local tavern on this evening in particular. Once the drinks by the two had been finished Jack convinced the devil to change himself into a silver coin to pay for the drinks. The devil agreed and upon changing into the coin, Jack placed the coin in his wallet next to a crucifix so that the prince of darkness could not change back. The devil begged Jack to free him from this imprisonment and Jack agreed that he would under one condition….If his soul could not be taken for ten years. The devil agreed and Jack set him free.

Ten years later Jack happened upon the devil again, who had returned for Jack’s soul. Jack knew that it was time to go to the gates, but asked one last plea of the devil. If he could have an apple from the top of a nearby tree to feed his starving belly. The devil agreed and climbed to the top of the tree to retrieve Jack’s apple. Upon doing so, Jack placed crucifixes at the bottom of the tree entrapping the devil within the limbs. The devil demanded to be set free and Jack obliged under the condition that his soul would never be taken. The devil agreed and he was once again set free.

Eventually as all living things do, Jack died the way he lived. Once reaching the gates of heaven he tried to enter and was refused because of his evil ways. Jack then tried to pass through the gates of hell but he was refused by the devil because of their agreements. Since Jack’s soul could never be taken, he had to wander the earth forever. Jack asked the devil how he would see to light his way in darkness. The devil gave him a flaming ember from the inferno of hell to light his way. Jack carved out a turnip and placed the ember inside to light his way for the rest of time.

The legend has been passed on for many years and eventually came here to the states, and that is why we call them Jack O’ Lanterns. So next time you carve a pumpkin think of Jack, stumbling around out there in the darkness.

I hope that you all enjoy “The Legend Of Jack O”Lantern” as much as I did making it! Have a great and spooky Halloween!

 

Quoth the Raven….nevermore.

The Teen Titan's Raven

See! Just for a second there, you thought I was going to do a blog on Poe! All good things come to those who wait! This will be a short blog , I promise! Just finished up Raven from DC Comic’s title, “The Teen Titans”. Raven is a half-breed daughter and an inter-dimensional demon. This is about the third or fourth time I have painted this particular character and every time just keeps getting better! The last time I finished her up I did her in her blue costume but this time my clients wanted the white costume. Each of them also chose a different color cloud, one is orange and one is blue. A very nice piece and will make a nice addition to my clients’ collections!

Mine! Bernie Wrightson’s Werewolf!

Well what can I say about “Mine!” other than it had always had been one of my favorite kits, and I had searched for this particular piece but for years was never quite lucky enough to find it. Finally back in 2008, I was finally lucky enough to snag one for my own personal collection, and there it has sat in my unbuilt collection for over three years! The snotty little werewolf holding his freshly caught kill, begs for building!

“Mine!” is based on concept art by the very talented Bernie Wrightson. For those of you not familiar with Mr. Wrightson’s work, he is the man that created Swamp Thing, did tons of artwork for Eerie, The Creephow comic book as well as designing the creatures for Stephen King’s “The Mist” feature film, and that is only a very, very small sampling of the things the man has done in long and impressive career. I got to meet Bernie Wrightson a few years ago at a convention, and the man is a true pleasure, and a fantastic person to talk to.

The sculpt itself was sculpted by Shawn Nagle who has done numerous work for toy companies and for the garage kit hobby. Shawn has put out tons of sculpts for years, and been one of the top sculptors in the hobby for quite some time. His attention to detail in this piece is amazing, from the details in the fur down to the cracks and shape of the rocks.

I finished this piece in about four hours paint wise in between the usual hustle and bustle of all of my clients pieces. Its nice to be able to get a piece done for yourself every once in a while and my unbuilt collection isn’t getting any smaller! I would first and foremost like to thank UK model builder Paul Evans for all of the advice and the bone pile, that left me totally stumped! I had searched for detailed photos of the kit through the internet, but with no avail! Paul was very helpful and sent me pictures right away of his own personal buildup, and they truly helped! He got me out of very rough spot, and Paul, if you are reading this, thanks again, it means a million!
I wanted the darker style werewolf, so I started with pure black for the hair and slightly lightened it up with grays and whites. Stonework is the usual stone work renderings, but I added bits of moss ballast and model railroaders field grass. And the final touch was all of the epoxy that would serve as slobber and lots and lots of tissue that had been ripped from the kill!

So all in all a fantastic kit, and makes a fine addition to my own private collection! I know this little beast wont be going away hungry and neither will I!

Headless Hearseman and Monstrology Models #1

Just finished up a great prototype kit for The Headless Hearseman/Monstrology Models! Fantastic kit and a great sculpt! Fritz Frising the owner of the company is always a pleasure to deal with! This is a great companion piece to the mummy kits out there or works well as a stand alone all by itself. The kit was originally released in 1999 by Supporting Castings Models and was sculpted by Terry Reynolds, and has now been picked up by The Headless Hearseman. I built and painted this piece and the photography is by Daniel Huff. The kit is of British actor George Zucco in his role as the High Priest of Karnak Andoheb. The kit comes in five pieces and is cast very cleanly and extremely easy to assemble. Also comes with the nameplate and of course a length of chain and the medallion itself! It was a lot of fun to paint, especially all of those pinstripes that gave the kit a very classic and classy feel! You can check out Fritz Frising’s website at http://www.headlesshearseman.com

The Headless Hearseman has a lot of great model kits as well as tons of nameplates for all kinds models covering  movies spanning back to the silent era of film clear up to the modern times of today! I highly suggest this kit, it is truly a great piece and is great for any fan of classic horror or for you Mummy fans out there!

Welcome to the GGM Blogspot!

Well here it is, the first official blog for GGM Studios! here I will be showing pieces as they are created for private collectors, as well as the “Antiquity Series” and “The Series of Shadows” that I will be working on with professional photgrapher Daniel Huff. Also I will be posting convention coverage on conventions that I go to with the magazine that I write for “Amazing Figure Modeler Magazine“! Also be sure to check out,  follow, friend and like the other GGM pages as well as check out the official GGM Studios Website! Lots of work to do today so I will be back soon with more fantastic updates! Thanks for reading!

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