SLENDERMAN DISASSEMBLED

This is an idea I had: Take a cool concept/character/location/object from fiction and dissect it to find out exactly why it is just SO COOL! It's sort of a short literary analysis, only without a thesis. Some of these observations are obvious, but I'm going to list them because I'm going to try and tear apart the concept into its most fundamental ingredients:

drawing by me

SLENDERMAN

The core essence of what makes him amazing:

1. His story is unknown
It's weird how a mind can create its own narrative when there isn't one immediately apparent.

2. He's partially/vaguely human
I think the most terrifying monsters have human traits because humans are afraid of what they might become if they went down the worst of life's roads.

3. He lives in the woods, but wears a freaking suit jacket
Why the suit? A forest is a terrible place to wear a suit, however the suit does make him, in a sense, more welcoming. You don't expect a professional to also be a monster. I can't really think of too many other suit-wearing creatures, can you?

4. He follows
Just the fact that he's always right behind you is frightening. He doesn't come straight at you; he waits until you're not looking.

5. He only makes the kill after he primers you with fear. The fear, to him, is like a flavor
Slender Man stories always start with a few sightings of the creature before the kill. It's like the Slender wants to be seen, like the fear builds something desirable.


6. He is slender like the trees he walks between
The forest is filled with slender life: trees. He's just the right shape to hide amongst the trunks.

7. He disappears and reappears
Teleportation is creepy because it is an unknown. It's easier to be bold against your fears when you know where they are. It's not so easy to combat fear when it can move all around you.

8. Although his limbs are long, he generally attacks with the tentacles on his back
The arms don't move much. They sway a bit, which gives Slendy an eerie effect.

9. He can cause visual distortion
Along with the fact that he can teleport away and not be seen, Slendy can also take away your visual ability. Blindness is frightening, because it causes the world to become a great unknown.

10. He can cause memory loss
Forgetting is one way to renew fear. Without your field of experiences to draw upon, the old scares from before will be fresh the next time around.

11. He inspires paranoia
Even when he's not in view, Slender Man continually makes you look over your shoulder.

12. He is often seen stalking children on a playground
Harming children is the worst kind of crime imaginable, so any monster that goes specifically for them is the worst kind.


Follow me @Oxyborb and check out my website at http://www.harrisonaye.com Thanks for reading!

Paint and Me

I’ve never taken a painting class. I would probably learn a lot from one, though. I’ve always enjoyed painting. I would say I like it as much as straight up drawing, but I do it less because painting requires more set up and expensive stuff. Drawing is quick and not messy.

This is one of the first paintings I’ve ever done. I was in high school, and I had asked my mother for a set of paints for Christmas. She got me five tubs of house paint. Stuff meant for painting on wood siding outside. Well, I made the best of it. This one is untitled because I never had the notion to title painting at the time. I’ve always liked blending colors, so I made this by scattering paint with my hands until it formed some coherent shapes, at which the story of it took over.

 

Kind of looks like an arm reaching out for a horse or something. I like to call my style of visual art… organic. I don’t do well with instruction/outlines/predetermined ideas/planning. 

This next photo was at a point where I tried to take art more “seriously,” and you can see the effect of it. I painted the Arch, still in high school, but I was going for something more “artistic” rather than organic. That’s why I hate it, but I’ll post it here anyway.

Not really very interesting, is it? I had too much of a plan for my own right. During this time, I had asked my mother if I could paint the walls of my room, and for some weird reason she let me. I had people come over and we basically made a huge mural of random shit all over my walls. I tried to dig something up, but I don’t think I ever had taken a picture of it, sadly. It had giant waves crashing into a rock, a wall of eyeballs, creatures of odd proportions, and pyramids. It was cool. During that time I started painting other random things. I painted my furniture a red/purple mix. I painted a street cone. I painted a puppet that I made out of foam.

 

I was uncontrollable. Hah! I tried once again to do something “proper” and nice looking. I wanted to give my mother something for her birthday, so I made this.

It’s actually sort of a combination of digital and paint. The background birds are reprinted four times, only slightly changed. The white-ish birds are cut out from a splash painting I did (splash painting is probably not a technical term, lol, I never took a paint class). I thought it came out really well, actually. The border is just black paint.

This one was something I made for my friend for Christmas. We had been talking about duality, and I decided to make him something that represents that struggle. I’ve always loved 3D art, so I wanted this to pop out of the frame. I made the monsters separately. I regret that massive signature. Also, if my friend is reading this, I do not expect you to keep this forever, haha. It’s not something I would want hanging around my house at this point in my life, so I wouldn’t blame you if it “got lost.”

This next one is the first one on a real, wooden frame canvas. I bought the canvas because I had been going to art exhibits and I wanted to do something a little higher classed. It is interesting to note that I painted this before I realized that I made creepy artwork. This was waaaay before I realized that I loved Halloween and horror. Also, it’s my first painting that I really gave a title to. It’s called,  “It’s Scary Outside.”

 Here’s a close look at the spider and the repeated pattern:

It, like most of my art, is about examining for the monster within one’s self, as opposed to the world around you. I have a few extra secrets hidden within this one. The obvious one are the raccoons outside the window. The not-so obvious one I won’t tell you. It’s kind of terrifying once you notice it, in my opinion. If you have a guess, throw it in the comments. 

 

That brings us to today. I haven’t painted much in years. I’ve been too busy writing a novel and blogging about it. Hah. But, now that my novel is in the editing phase, I’ve been trying to play with some of my other favorite types of art (which is all types). This one is going to be called “Nine Levels” and it will be about my own Dante-esk version of the varying levels of the afterlife. Each level is its own “sin” personified. I’ve only just started on the foreground, so it’s still have a LOOONG way to go. It’s going to be very complex. I've been told by several people that I have a natural talent for mixing colors. If only I could also have a talent for brush control... I'm working on it!

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