{"id":40558,"date":"2023-05-10T01:57:16","date_gmt":"2023-05-10T05:57:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/?p=40558"},"modified":"2023-05-10T07:45:31","modified_gmt":"2023-05-10T11:45:31","slug":"the-creatures-that-haunt-my-sketchbooks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2023\/05\/10\/the-creatures-that-haunt-my-sketchbooks\/","title":{"rendered":"The Creatures That Haunt My Sketchbooks"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"I continue hacking away at the cheap sketchbook made for the shelves of Philadelphia-based discounter Five Below<\/em>. I am forging ahead trying to put this crappy little pad out of my misery. If I were sensible, I would just put it aside and move ahead with another sketchbook, but I can’t have dessert until I’ve finished my dinner. Besides, I am superstitious. If I defy the sketchbook gods, I may be cursed with a dry spell or whatever the doodler’s version of writer’s block is called. Nope. I’m about halfway through this book, and I have to tough out the other half. The only way out is through, and it will be a relief when I am through with this book.<\/p>\n

\"\"I continue to draw monsters because I could never get enough of them as a kid. During my formative years, I couldn’t wait for Saturdays and the UHF broadcast of Mad Theater<\/em> and Horror Theater<\/em> — 3 hours of horror movies hosted by Dr. Shock<\/em><\/a>. I always hoped he would run the Universal classics such as Dracula<\/em> (1931) or Frankenstein<\/em> (1931) which occasionally he did, but, more often than not, the station would run turkeys such as The Flying Serpent<\/em> (1946) or The Astounding She-Monster<\/em> (1957). They were probably a lot cheaper to rent than the classics and were about an hour long leaving plenty of space for Dr. Shock’s bits and the many commercials for local advertisers such as Big Marty’s<\/em><\/a>, Jimmie’s Used Auto Parts<\/em><\/a> and City of Mirrors<\/em><\/a>. It didn’t matter to me because I was glad that it was a weekend free from school and I was in the company of the good doctor who was going to provide the prescription for my horror movie jones. That is unless the show was preempted by a baseball game which happened all too often. Swing and a miss. Swing and a miss. Hot dogs. Sauerkraut. Shots of fans squinting into the sun waiting for something to happen. Ads for the local Chrysler dealership. Swing and a miss. Hours<\/em> of this stultifying nonsense. Besides from being boring, preempting Dr. Shock<\/em> was an unpardonable sin which probably explains my antipathy for the sport.<\/p>\n

So a few decades have passed, and I still love monsters. They continue to haunt me as a good ghost or goblin should and figure largely in my doodles. They always have.<\/p>\n

Some things never seem to change.<\/p>\n

\"Yet <\/a>
Yet Another Werewolf Doodle <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Great-great <\/a>
Great-great grand niece of Dr. Frankenstein meets the monster <\/div> <\/div>
\"The <\/a>
The niece’s meeting does not go well <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I continue hacking away at the cheap sketchbook made for the shelves of Philadelphia-based discounter Five Below. I am forging ahead trying to put this crappy little pad out of my misery. If I were sensible, I would just put … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[49],"tags":[233,792,9,310,898,76,5622,3661,5,23,472,3663,25,480,903],"class_list":["post-40558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-it-came-from-the-sketchbook","tag-1970s","tag-baseball","tag-comics","tag-doodle","tag-dr-shock","tag-horror","tag-horror-movies","tag-illustration","tag-joe-williams","tag-monster","tag-schlock-horror-movies","tag-sketch","tag-sketchbook","tag-usa","tag-wphl"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1ed1x-aya","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":40462,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2023\/04\/18\/hacking-away-at-a-cheap-sketchbook\/","url_meta":{"origin":40558,"position":0},"title":"Hacking Away at a Cheap Sketchbook","author":"Joe","date":"April 18, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"I continue to throw graphite at the unwilling little sketchbook of which I have written about lately. I've had no evidence of anything close to supernatural brilliance bubbling up from the pad's cheap little pages, but I continue to make a go of it. I'm using it as a sketchbook\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Doodle Tuesday"","block_context":{"text":"Doodle Tuesday","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/it-came-from-the-sketchbook\/doodle-tuesday\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Get-the-point.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Get-the-point.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Get-the-point.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":39711,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2022\/12\/20\/when-werewolves-attack\/","url_meta":{"origin":40558,"position":1},"title":"When Werewolves Attack…","author":"Joe","date":"December 20, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"...fight like hell! I continue working out the plot of a supernatural adventure story through drawings in a cheap sketchbook I got for Christmas 5 years ago but only opened recently. This idea has been languishing in notebooks and on index cards for years and not really going anywhere. I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Doodle Tuesday"","block_context":{"text":"Doodle Tuesday","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/it-came-from-the-sketchbook\/doodle-tuesday\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Fistful-of-werewolf.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Fistful-of-werewolf.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Fistful-of-werewolf.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":39466,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2022\/11\/15\/werewolf-interrupted\/","url_meta":{"origin":40558,"position":2},"title":"Werewolf Interrupted","author":"Joe","date":"November 15, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm not yet ready to declare the juvenile sketchbook I wrote about recently as the NEW Sketchbook from Heaven, but I do usually keep it close at hand, and I am busily filling its cheap pages with scribbles. It may be that I'm on a streak, but I think the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Doodle Tuesday"","block_context":{"text":"Doodle Tuesday","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/it-came-from-the-sketchbook\/doodle-tuesday\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/werewolf-interrupted.jpg?fit=800%2C575&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/werewolf-interrupted.jpg?fit=800%2C575&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/werewolf-interrupted.jpg?fit=800%2C575&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/werewolf-interrupted.jpg?fit=800%2C575&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":48256,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2026\/08\/27\/teenage-beast-the-home-stretch\/","url_meta":{"origin":40558,"position":3},"title":"Teenage Beast: The Home Stretch","author":"Joe_Williams","date":"August 27, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"This morning I finished the main body of the first draft of my horror novel, Teenage Beast. Tomorrow, I will start the epilogue, which will hopefully tie the story up in a nice little bow. Then I will start polishing this thing with another draft or three. I will probably\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "It Came From the Sketchbook"","block_context":{"text":"It Came From the Sketchbook","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/it-came-from-the-sketchbook\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/In-the-tall-grass-det.jpg?fit=640%2C349&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/In-the-tall-grass-det.jpg?fit=640%2C349&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/In-the-tall-grass-det.jpg?fit=640%2C349&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":39669,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2022\/12\/13\/more-monsters-in-a-cheap-sketchbook\/","url_meta":{"origin":40558,"position":4},"title":"More Monsters in a Cheap Sketchbook","author":"Joe","date":"December 13, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"I've been drawing monsters in front of the TV set for as long as I can remember, and it seems the trend continues as of late as I finish my evenings watching trash television and doodling in a cheap sketchbook.","rel":"","context":"In "Doodle Tuesday"","block_context":{"text":"Doodle Tuesday","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/it-came-from-the-sketchbook\/doodle-tuesday\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/BANG.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/BANG.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/BANG.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":24636,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2018\/11\/09\/a-teenage-werewolf-in-a-juvenile-sketchbook\/","url_meta":{"origin":40558,"position":5},"title":"A Teenage Werewolf in a Juvenile Sketchbook","author":"Joe_Williams","date":"November 9, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"A couple of doodles in the cheap sketchbook. The paper bleeds like crazy with ink and does not work to well with the water soluble pencils, but is real happy with my red leads and Blackwing 602 pencil.","rel":"","context":"In "It Came From the Sketchbook"","block_context":{"text":"It Came From the Sketchbook","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/it-came-from-the-sketchbook\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Cthulhu.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Cthulhu.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Cthulhu.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40558"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40558\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}