The Countess is in.

Who's ready for American Horror Story: Hotel tonight? I think the show is off to a solid start, albeit a graphic one. I'm excited to see where this show goes, but around halfway through it usually goes a way I'm not expecting and it doesn't finish well. Let's see if this is different. So far, Lady Gaga is a solid addition to the cast. She definitely has a creepiness about her. I wanted to take the creep factor away with the bright colors. Click to enlarge!

Sweet Transvestite!

Tim freaking Curry. What a GUY. I'll tell you what, if you don't love Tim Curry, I have to wonder what's wrong with you. He's so great. He was born to play Dr. Frank-N-Furter in Rocky Horror Picture Show. I couldn't even get wild and crazy with this one because I wanted it to be a tribute to him. The confidence, the outfit, the eccentricity: I love him in that role. THIS YEAR IS THE 40TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE MOVIE. I know, so much Rocky Horror in such a short amount of time, but I also did two Doug Jones characters in a row, so, whatever. Click to enlarge and let's do the time warp again!

Moon Prism Power!

Once, in third grade, I stayed home from school because I was sick and puking purple yogi bear fruit snacks out of my nose. I turned on the TV to discover what would essentially change my young life. I caught my first episode of Sailor Moon. Upon my siblings return home from school, I bombarded them at the door and told them all about this incredible cartoon and how great it was! It wasn't long before I had them all hooked. For the better part of 10 years, Sailor Moon ruled everything around us. We bought trading cards, dolls, candy, characters, we started clubs where we WERE the characters. We bought the soundtracks and would sing them as loud as we could. It was great. For Drawlloween today and MOON, I created Sailor Moon using Adobe Illustrator. For the record, I always identified with Sailor Moon and when it came to picking the characters we were, I chose her. Then again, no one tried to fight me on that because I was the oldest. I had a lot of fun making this and I really love it. Click to enlarge and remember: in the name of the moon, I will punish you!

I Put A Spell On You...

and now you're mine! I wanted to whip up a Sanderson Sister from Hocus Pocus and had to go with the most iconic: Winifred. I wanted to keep it bright. I sketched out a drawing and put that over top of the cut outs. Remember, if you want your own little piece of Hocus Pocus, you can still get one of our Halloween prints for $31! The infamous BOOOOOOK is on it! The hunt for the 13's is still active as well. Read more about that and check out the Halloween print HERE! Click to enlarge!

It's Just A Jump to the Left!

AND THEN A STEP TO THE RI I I I I GHT! Today on the main drawlloween calendar, it's alien. You know who's an alien? Riff Raff from Rocky Horror Picture Show. I drew a sketch of Riff Raff and wanted to take that into Photoshop and do a bright cut out. I think it's alright. It'll do. The amount of times Rocky Horror has been watched in the past few days is kind of alarming. It's awesome. Click to enlarge!

Don't Eat Anything.

Today's Drawlloween theme is eyeball. I had some trouble with this one. After much debate, I decided to do The Pale Man. I struggled a lot. I wanted the hands to pop. I feel like they do. The Pale Man is still one of the scariest characters ever created. Go watch Pan's Labyrinth if you haven't and pray he never meets your child. His hand-eyes are perfect for eyeball. Although this is bright and colorful, his personality definitely is not. Click to enlarge!

"No, He's A GOOD Zombie!"

Both of the calendars list ZOMBIE today! So, I had to conjure up a zombie. This was difficult because I feel like zombies all look pretty similar and I didn't want to do your generic zombie. When Matt Benyo suggested Billy from Hocus Pocus, I was SO excited! Side note: You should go check out his blog. He has been doing American Traditional style girls everyday and it has been a challenge, but kind of the best thing ever. So, I wanted to keep with this weird, bright textured them I have going on and I feel like I did that. Plus, who doesn't love a little Hocus Pocus? Click to enlarge and come little children (and buy a print)!

The Joker!

I wasn't even going to make something today because I'm just feeling super sick. I went into this with a bad attitude and didn't even care, but then things took a turn and I went nuts and channeled the joker and somehow busted this wild piece out. Today's pick on one of the lists circulating is The Joker. Another list is Haunted House, but I didn't want to do that. I was going to do Heath Ledger as the Joker because he's my favorite, but Matt Benyo suggested I try Cesar Romero because his style would better suit this wild color thing I have going on (and he was right). I used photoshop and some scanned paper textures I had to do this. I also used dots to give it that comic book vibe. This doesn't look like anything I'd create, but I'm okay with it and pretty happy with the piece itself. Click to enlarge!

The Wicked Witch.

There's three different Drawlloween lists floating around so I'm picking and choosing. I'm deviating from the one I've been doing to choose another one. Today's on that list is The Wicked Witch. I originally tried drawing her and it wasn't great. Matt said it looked like Gene Wilder as The Wicked Witch. Then I decided to give it a whirl in illustrator and came up with this. After messing with it for a really long time, I like it. It's very graphic and reminds me of a poster. I never draw witches either and what is October without a witch? Click to enlarge!

Bark At The Moon!

Today's theme is werewolf. When I looked at the list, I made a face. Werewolf? I don't care about a werewolf, but then Matt Benyo urged me to do it anyway. "Do it like David Bowie." So, I did. I hated it at first (just like David Bowie), but man... I can't even lie, I am all about this piece now. The colors rule. I made the text. I just really started to feel it after messing with it for seriously 5 hours. I did get frustrated a lot, but PERSISTENCE PAYS OFF. Matt Benyo thinks this is the one. He also thinks I'm onto something. We'll see. There's still 26 days to go. Click to enlarge!

Nosferatu!

One of my favorite vampires of all time is Nosferatu. F. W. Murnau's 1922 version of Nosferatu. Every year when it's "vampire" for Drawlloween/Inktober, I always do a Nosferatu because it's fun to see how he evolves over time. I whipped this up in Adobe Illustrator. He has funky eyebrows. I would've enjoyed spending more time on him, but MY SISTER IS GETTING MARRIED TODAY. So, I was preoccupied. Click to enlarge to check out the details on Nos!

The Goblin King.

David Bowie is The Goblin King. One of the lists going around for Drawlloween has THE GOBLIN KING ON IT. Another list has "Goblin" SO really I'm tackling two birds, one stone. Here is an extremely 80's looking David Bowie. I drew the facial features and used cut paper to do a bunch of weird stuff. It looks like if David Bowie was in an 80's hair band, but that's okay too. I loved Labyrinth and I'm sure all of you did/do as well! So, in all of his 80's glory and his beautiful colors, enjoy David Bowie as Jareth: The Goblin King. Click to enlarge!

Drawlloween 2015: Day 2!

Today is Devil day or Wednesday Addams day or whatever you want to call it, but I'm posting this beast that I've been working on for the past month. I wanted a sweet looking denim jacket so I gave my old one a make over. Additionally, I painted this entire back panel with acrylic paint of some of my favorite halloween time things. That works for devil day. I bought a slew of studs, spikes, and safety pins and Matt Benyo helped a lot with the sewing of the fabric (and giving me wings). I mean, if this is going to be an over-the-top jacket, let's make it over-the-top, amirightoramiright? Anyway, I love it. I also love that we just did this photoshoot that makes it look like it was made for tumblr. Special thanks to Matt Benyo for taking the photos! Click to enlarge to see the details!

Kickin' Off Drawlloween 2015!

WHY HELLO, BOYS AND GHOULS! My favorite time of the year has arrived: DRAWLLOWEEN! This is a challenge for all artists to draw something Halloween related for everyday in October. There's an official list to follow, but I tend to deviate from it to make other spooky things. To kick it off, Matt Benyo and I are so thrilled to present this SMORGASBOARD we created for all of you that appreciate the scarier things in life. We're doing a very limited edition run of these Halloween-time prints! There are only 30 (and 1 being the original piece; totaling 31). We are selling these for $31 (includes shipping)! If you're interested, shoot me an email (chelseakirchoff@gmail.com). We're also offering a print to a lucky participant! This smorgasboard features 13 hidden 13's. They come in various forms. If you're the first person to successfully locate each of those 13's and tell us the location of them, you win yourself a print (one entry per person). Get them before they're gone and Happy Drawlloween, friends! Click to enlarge the image!

Custom Kid Kicks!

Matt Benyo and I were fortunate enough to be asked by our friend, Elise, to create a pair of custom kicks for her son, Jonah. It was our first pair of Kids shoes and we were excited. We just finished these little suckers up. We went through about 20 sharpies and it was NUTS. We delivered them to Jonah today and he was having a fit over Foxy from Five Nights at Freddy's. Click to enlarge!

Photo cred: Matt Benyo

Custom Kicks!

It has been some time since I've made any custom shoes, but then these happened! A friend of mine and Matt's asked if we had the time to quickly bust out a pair of shoes for her brother in England. Heck yeah we do! It took us 30+ hours, but we got these suckers done. We used sharpies on gessoed Vans slip on shoes. It has been crazy and we have the posture of a question mark, but hey, it's worth it. Click to enlarge and if you're interested in a pair of your own, leave a comment or send an email! We make them completely customized to be everything you love.

Photo credit: Matt Benyo

A Nice Gentleman.

I am really late on making Matt Benyo's birthday card this year, but that's because I've been busy. I finally got around to making it and I hope he likes it. Matt LOVES Buffy. It is his favorite TV show so I thought it would be cool to make one of The Gentlemen from the episode Hush. If you haven't seen it, it's awesome. You could easily watch that episode and not wonder what was going on; it's a story in itself. This was a mixed media piece and I'm pretty excited about how it turned out. I haven't made anything since the smorgasboard and I haven't touched paint in awhile. Click the photos to enlarge. That second one isn't actually blurry.

Michigan SmorgasBOARD!

GUYS, I'M STILL HERE. Matt Benyo and I busted out a Detroit/Michigan themed smorgasboard for a friend of ours. Kari asked us to complete a piece for a silent auction for Christy's Legacy of Hope. We didn't have any ideas, but while camping, Matt suggested a smorgasboard and it took off. We finished this in about 3 days and it's a completely 50/50 collaboration. Sharpies and a few microns for the smaller sections were used. Afterwards, we had to set up a faux studio to capture it. If you are interested in a print, email me or leave a comment because we're getting a limited number of these suckers printed up! Click to enlarge!

Christmas Cats.

I wanted to do a series of cats in Christmas sweaters for December, but I've been too busy with other stuff. It was Matt Benyo's genius idea so I can't take credit. However, I decided to whip one up to see what it would look like. I'm going to make it into cards. If you want to buy one, let me know. Perhaps more to come.

Yard Sale Lyric Video!

Matt and I are both SUPER excited to announce that the lyric video for Neon Hitch's song, Yard Sale, has just debuted done by us! I drew everything in the video (minus the lyrics, which were done by Neon) and Matt colored all of my illustrations, put the video together, and animated everything. I can't state this enough: A TON OF WORK WENT INTO THIS! I am beyond thrilled I got to work on this with a talented partner, but also a talented musician. This was a rush job! We had to bust it out. Here are some stills from the video. The first one was the drawing before Matt colored it. Click to enlarge images and watch the video by clicking below!

Post Halloween!

Yesterday I was Mick Foley/Mankind/Cactus Jack ALL IN ONE. The best part about my costume? The mask. Matt Benyo single handedly made my costume amazing. This was just a thin layer of foam from Michael's and using paint and markers, Matt made this thing look like LEATHER! I did the gold rivets with a sharpie, but those are insignificant compared to the overall mask. I was in love with my costume and I won the costume contest at our friend's party! $10 gift certificate to Timmy Ho's! I tried to Mandible Claw a few people, but Mr. Socko enjoyed himself nonetheless. Matt was this cool skeleton inspired by Tate from season 1 of American Horror Story. Also, his hair is corn rowed. I did that. Click to see the details!

In honor of today's CELEBRACION of Dia de los Muertos, I whipped up a skeleton musician. His music is in memory of those that have passed and so his music speaks to the spirits. I wanted it to be fun and colorful. Matt Benyo said the word of the day is simplicity so I tried to keep that in mind. I used illustrator! Check it out!

All Hallow's Eve.

When we're growing up, October is filled with endless possibilities. Every sound we hear is a monster waiting to grab us. The shadows shift and we know it's the boogeyman. There is no other month in the year that tugs at our imagination like the month of October. Although the month has changed as I have gotten older, I still find myself catching my breath if I hear a strange noise or if the lights flicker. Maybe we never really lose being on edge because what if? It's funny to me how all of that goes out the window tomorrow though. A quick transition to a different world. However, let us take the time to really enjoy this night. The night where anything can happen because anything happens all the time. The night where we all get to be something else.

This Drawlloween has been incredible. I have watched my own abilities grow and I have produced some work I am truly proud of. I wish it was October all year round. There isn't a month that comes with more inspiration than this and seeing everyone make art for it has been a real treat.

However, I don't think anyone has improved more in this month long challenge than Matt Benyo. Matt Benyo, if you can improve this much in a month, imagine where you'll be in 3 months. Don't lose that momentum and keep making art.

I thought it appropriate to end this month with some of the iconic killers we have come to identify. This has been an amazing October. Thank you to everyone that has kept up with my endeavors. Happy Halloween, everyone!

Leatherface.

Nothing scares me more than a chainsaw. I can't handle it. Instant adrenaline and all of a sudden I'm Usain Bolt. Leatherface kind of terrifies me. It's probably because of his hulking mass and the fact that he can run super fast while wielding a chainsaw. Oh and the fact that you can't tell what he's thinking with his mask on. Here is a scary illustration that I whipped up the other day and loved, but also felt perfectly conveyed him. This is perfect for Devil's Night. Click to enlarge!

Harry Potter Forever.

Harry Potter is just as magical to me now as it was back then. I can still remember that rush I felt reading the books and seeing the movies. I will never forget how I felt actually entering Harry Potter world and being immersed in the environment OR when Matt Benyo and I snagged tickets to the studios over in England when it had been sold out months in advance and walking down the actual streets of Diagon Alley. I'm telling you, it has all been pure magic. The fact that a series can evoke this sort of wonder and enchantment, astounds me. IT IS SO POWERFUL! So, October and Halloween wouldn't be complete without an ode to everyone's favorite wizards and witches. So, I drew some of the main characters from Harry Potter and Hogwarts, of course. I love this piece a lot. I really like how the castle turned out. I used micron pens to draw everything and then edited it and gave Hogwarts the glow on Photoshop. Click to enlarge for details!

Nightmare Before Christmas.

I happen to enjoy the Nightmare Before Christmas. It's iconic, it meshes two of my favorite times of year, it's highly stylized, and it screams Tim Burton. That movie came to define a generation! Hot Topic STILL prides itself on selling merchandise from that movie! I wanted to draw something without it looking exactly the way they do in the movie. So, I looked at a photo for a few minutes and then drew it from my head and changed the background a little. I was messing around with my process on Photoshop. I'm not in love with it; probably because it looks nothing like my work usually does, but it's different. Sometimes different isn't that bad. Click to enlarge!

Bloody Face.

This is the big one. The one that inspired everything.

I finished it in September, but nope, couldn't post it then. Matt Benyo even said, "You should wait and post that in October" and so here we are. I was going to wait until Devil's Night, but the theme for today's Drawlloween is "Mask" and so this seemed too fortuitous to pass up.

Prior to AHS: Freakshow, Matt Benyo and I binge watched all 3 of the previous seasons of American Horror Story; except we watched it 2, 1, & 3. We heard terrible things about 2 so we weren't looking forward to it, but the 2nd season, Asylum, ended up being the best one.

I knew as soon as I saw Bloody Face in the first episode, I had to draw him or, in this case, paint him. Challenge accepted. However, what a challenge this turned out to be. I got 1/3 of the way done with it and wanted to throw in the towel, but I kept going. I used watercolor. I also took progress shots as I did it. When I finished it, I edited it in Photoshop and this is it, man.

Definitely one of the most intense paintings I've done. It's two sketchbook pages big. I didn't want to lose the essence of the watercolor, but at the same time, it needed to be opaque so I think I handled that balance well. Click to enlarge to see details!