NIGHTMARE IN RED (1981)
Acrylic over pastels - 25 ½” x 20”

TALES FROM THE NIGHTSIDE is a collection of macabre stories by Charles L. Grant.

I accepted a commission to do the cover art in the gloomy winter of 1980-81. There had been recent deaths in my family and among friends; the weather was bleak; John Lennon had been shot, and so on. 1/3

#horror #horrorart #illustration #charleslgrant #arkhamhouse #sepultura #roadrunnerrecords

Closing my eyes, all I could visualize was a spot of red on a deep, dark velvety black. The first materials that came to hand were pastels, so I drew the art directly onto black pastel paper. Unfortunately, black pastel paper looks dark gray under photo lights, so the reproduction wouldn’t have been faithful to my idea. 2/3

The absolute velvety blackness was essential. In the end, I repainted the whole thing in acrylics, over the pastel rendering.

The art was later used for the cover for BENEATH THE REMAINS by the band Sepultura. 3/3

https://www.michaelwhelan.com/galleries/orbis-scientiarum/

@MichaelWhelan instantly recognised the art from that album cover. I had it hanging on my wall for years.

@slaine @MichaelWhelan

I can't select text to copy and paste anything in IronFox and it's driving me crazy. I'd like to find some of these books in LibraryThing and Indiebound without having to type, mistype, backspace, and repeat. Especially on mobile, I mean.

Otherwise, cool to know where the Sepultura album cover came from. I grew up on that album and always enjoyed the artwork.