The Present of Horror!

Who could do such a thing to such an innocent gift?

The Gift of Terror!

Just a reminder folks, a real human being wrapped this present (me!).

Terrifying indeed.

Coming Up

Hey folks, there will be no monsters this week (monsters celebrate the holidays too) but I’ve got something even more horrifying coming your way.

I’m pretty awful at wrapping presents so for three days next week you’ll get to see some truly badly wrapped gifts. Stuff so bad you’ll think a monster wrapped it!

Have a happy holiday,
Ryan

Skraak

Monster #: 4,566

What Is It: An insane monster.

What Does It Want: To just be itself.

And Itself Is...: Insane.

Oh, Right: Yep.

I Don't Like This Guy: Don't worry, he doesn't like you either.

Vortryck

Monster #: 3,445

What Is It: A nasty, winged creature that only comes out at night.

What Does It Want: To scare anyone that gets in its way.

Why: He likes it.

This Guy Needs to Get A New Hobby: Tell us about it!

Slyther

 

Monster #: 9, 456

What is It: A very large, very hungry snake.

What Does It Want: To hide. For now.

What Happens When It's Now: That's when it eats.

What Does It Eat: Whatever it wants.

Ghosts #374

Monster #: 1,212

What Are They: Another in an endless series of classifications of ghosts.

What Are They Doing: They appear to be engaged in some sort of mating dance.

How Can A Ghost Wear a Bow: I don't know, maybe the bow's dead.

How Can a Bow be Dead: How come you can't shut up?

JimJimp

Monster #: 5,454

What Is It: Unknown at this time. This profile shot is the only photo we have of it.

What Does It Want: Unknown at this time.

It Photographs Well: Yeah, we think this is his good side.

What Does His Bad Side Look Like: Don't get cute.

Chalkstuff

Monster #: 3,454

What Is It: A chalk monster that lives in school chalkboards.

What Does It Want: To not be erased every night.

Likes: Chalk, chalkboards.

Dislikes: Erasers, getting erased.

(Seriously though, this dude's not deep.)

Eyvind Eel

Monster #: 1,752

What Is It: A very big eel that likes to eat very little fish.

Why: Because it's big enough that no one argues with it.

What Does It Want: To eat, eat and eat.

Why Is It Smiling: Eyvind also likes the taste of people...

The All-Seeing Eye

Monster #: 1,232

What Is It: As the name would imply, it is an All-Seeing Eye.

What Can It See: Seriously? Everything. It's All-Seeing.

What Everything: Yes! Everything!

Even When I'm In the Bathroom: What!!? God, you're gross. Yes.

Mip

Monster #: 1,302

What Is It: A big-headed, cheerful little guy.

What Does It Want: Who knows.

What Do You Mean: This thing's expression is the blankest of the blank. There's nothing there.

That's Too Bad: Yeah, but it's happy, so it all works out.

Krakdarr

Monster #: 459

What Is It: Some creepy, giant beast from a distant planet.

What Does It Want: Who knows? I certainly don't want to know!

How Can I Avoid: Stay away from the planet Krakdaan.

Oh, So We're Good: Nah, Krakdaan's on a collision course with Earth within the next five years. So get used to it!

The Face

Monster #: 897

What Is It: The face that haunts you wherever you may go.

What Does It Want: We don't know.

Why Is It Smiling: We don't want to know.

How Can I Avoid It: We wish we knew.

Grobson

Monster #: 614

What Is It: A fat, repulsive, ugly rich monster.

What Does It Want: Tax cuts baby!

Why: Fat, repulsive, ugly rich monsters deserve them, that's why!

How Can I Avoid It: You can't! They're everywhere!

The Tentacles

Monster #: 560

What Are They: Creepy, weird tentacles from another dimension.

What Do They Want: Who knows. They don't have brains.

What Happens If I See One: They'll probably try to suck your face off.

How Can I Avoid Them: Stay away from sea food restaurants. (Except Ivar's. They're all right.)

The Happy Bear

Monster #: 311

What Is It: A cheerful and ever-smiling bear.

What Does It Want: To wave "hi" to everyone it meets and just be a happy dude.

Wow, He Sounds Pretty Cool: Yeah, The Happy Bear is pretty cool.

How Can I Meet The Happy Bear: But don't you see, The Happy Bear was inside you all along.

The Viewer

Monster #: 987

What Is It: A cruel spirit that watches our every move.

What Does It Want: To judge us.

Why: Because it enjoys judging lesser beings.

Hey, I'm Not a Lesser Being: Yeah, try telling him that. He's a real dick about it.

Krelp

Monster #: 345

What Is It: A monster with a very, very, very long neck.

What Does It Want: To see whatever is off-screen to the left.

Why Is His Neck So Long: Bad genes.

How Does He Keep It Up: Good neck muscles, maybe?

Tiki Toki

Monster #: 459

What Is It: A creepy Tiki statue.

What Does It Want: To cause bad luck.

Is It the Tiki Idol From That "Brady Bunch" Episode: No.

Oh: Tiki Toki is that idol's brother.

The Slinger

Monster #: 467

What Is It: Some kind of outlaw-type that lives on a distant planet.

What Does It Want: To be left alone so it can do its thing.

What Is Its "Thing": Robbery, murder, arson, etc.

But It Shouldn't Be Left Alone To Do Those Things: Well, you and it are just going to have to agree to disagree.

Gip

Name: Gip

Monster #: 67

What Is It: He's just a little baby monster.

What Does He Want: To grow up and be a big ol' monster!

He's Got a Big Head: He sure does!

Is that Healthy: Probably not. But it makes him look so cute!

Mr. Bones

Monster #: 671

What Is It: Your friendly neighborhood creepy skeleton.

What Does It Want: To scare you, of course.

Why: Not much else skeletons can contribute to society unfortunately.

What About as a Skeleton in a Science Classroom: That’s a tough gig to get. Not all skeletons are that privileged.

The Eyap

Monster #: 761

What Is It: A goofy little critter that wants you to take its survey.

Why: The Eyap's make all of their decisions based on surveys.

What, Really: Yes, really.

That's Amazingly Inefficient: Make sure to mark that on their next survey.

Skrumpf

Monster #: 545

What Is It: Some real ugly lookin' thing.

What Does It Want: I don't know. To not be so ugly?

Where Is It: Some sorta alternate-dimension maybe?

How Can I Avoid It: Who knows!

Cool Dude

Monster #: 552

What Is It: One cool monster.

What Does It Want: To be cool.

He Doesn't Look That Cool To Me: You kidding? He's wearing sunglasses!

Sunglasses Don't Automatically Make People Cool: Yes they do, it's a scientific fact. You're just not cool enough to understand it.

Yeah... You're Right: Of course I am.

Aylyn

Monster #: 341

What Is It: A cute little monster who's always frightened.

What's It Frightened Of: Everything.

That's Too Bad: Yeah, it makes for a difficult life.

Can I Pet Him: No, he's scared of you too. Sorry!

Ayup

Monster #932

What Is It: A sweet little monster that also tastes delicious.

How Delicious: So delicious people try to catch Ayups all the time.

That's Terrible: Hey, don't judge until you've tried them.

What the Hell is Wrong With You: Ugh, stop shaming me.

Loose-Limbed Lucy

Monster #: 451

What Is She: A spirit who takes the form of a human so she can have fun.

What Does She Want: To have fun. Didn't you read the above?


Can She Ever Have Too Much Fun: No. Never.

How Can I Meet: The spirit only comes out once a decade. Sorry!

The Krypten

Monster #: 300

What Is It: A monster that's the keeper of the secret.

Wait, "The Secret": No, an actual secret.

What Does It Want: To show everyone the secret.

What Happens When You Discover the Secret: Your life is never the same again.

In a Good Way or a Bad Way: That's for you to find out.

Ghosts #1

Monster #: 12

What Are They: Spirits of the deceased.

What Do They Want: Who knows.

What's Going On With These Ghosts: The green one appears to be proposing a plan to the reddish-brown one.

What Do You Think It's a Plan About: I dunno. The reddish-brown one doesn't look too thrilled about it though.

The Billyjohn

Monster #: 714

What Is It: A cheerful little creature that sits on your shoulder.

What Does It Want: To provide fresh, optimistic new perspective on your troubles.

Sounds Annoying: Oh yes, indeed it is.

How Can I Avoid It: Always make the right decision.

...So I Can't Avoid It Then: No.

One Year of Monsters

Hey folks, earlier this month was the one-year anniversary of "Many, Many Monsters," and I thought it might be appropriate to talk a little bit about this blog and how it's changed over time.

The very original reason for the site was to teach me how to use Adobe Photoshop. I had just received the program earlier in 2011 and I wanted to get up to speed, fast, and I figured I needed something that would force me to constantly produce material. This collided with an earlier idea I had to make a website that hosted monster drawings. From there came the origins of "Many, Many Monsters."

I decided when producing the artwork that I wanted to work as fast as possible: no pre-planning, just  drawing. I like to think that by working this fast the drawings come straight from my subconscious, which makes them weirder and more entertaining. Even the drawings I'm not wild about I include because sometimes the flaws make them more interesting than the mild successes.

The early days of the blog were pretty interesting as I worried I wouldn't be able to continually produce material three times a week, but as time went by I really fell in love with the process. There's something fascinating and interesting about running out of ideas and then breaking through to find even more.

Here's the first week of monsters:

Trok

Strictor

Eckt

A few months ago I started getting tired of how flat the colors were. I'm always in constant fear of stagnation, so I started experimenting with digital painting techniques. I did some painting in college so I wasn't a complete neophyte, but it's been an interesting learning experience.

Dooley

Gepp

The Tropical Worm

The Forest Beast

You can see a lot of experimentation with line-weight, gradients and digital paint. How successful any of this is is of course up to the viewer, but I think I'm on a good path. At the very least, I'm having fun, and that's the most important part.

Here's to another year of monsters.

Best wishes,
Ryan

Elura

Monster #: 453

What Is She: A woman with ties to the other side.

Is the "Other Side" the Side I'm Thinking Of: Yes, that's the one.

How Was She Connected to the Other Side: She asked. That's all you need to do.

What Does She Want: That's for her to know and you to find out.

Skipson

Monster #: 312

What Is It: A cheerful monster that likes to run around and pretend to fly.

What Does It Want: To have a good time. Nothing more, nothing less.

Hey, He Kinda Looks Like Gumby: No he doesn't-- Oh, he kinda does.

Except Without the Thing On His Head: Yeah, yeah.

I'm Not Sure What That Means: Beats us.

Kreldren

Monster #: 82

What Is It: A nasty beast that stalks you at night.

What, Another One: Yes, another one.

Damnit, How Many of These Are There: I don't know! A lot!

Why Are You Yelling At Me!: What Are You Yelling At Me!

Hedreg

Monster #: 400

What Is It: A big, blue monster that lives in Egypt.

What Does It Want: To figure out how those crazy pyramids work.

Yeah, There's Something Off About Them: Perspective's kinda wonky.

Are These the Ones Aliens Made: Oh my God, I think you're on to something.

Goliyon

Monster #: 885

What Is It: A very cheerful monster that wants to cheer you up!

How: By providing an ever-smiling face and upbeat personality.

Does It Work: Nope. He's more annoying than helpful.

How Can I Avoid Him: You can't.

The Rectangles

Monster #: 343

What Are They: Weird, rectangle-shaped monsters ruled by a single emotion.

What Do They Want: To do things bases on their emotional status (i.e. the happy one wants to be happy, the sad one wants to be sad, the angry one wants to be angry).

Where Are They: Somewhere beyond our realm of comprehension.

That Doesn't Sound Comforting: Most of the stuff on this blog doesn't.