Last month, I had the opportunity to try my hand at trying to get my art into a book based on the 1982 film The Thing. Now, if you’ve known me at all over the years, you know that John Carpenter’s version of The Thing is one of my very favorite films, so getting the chance to do art was a wonderful chance to bring my work to something I love.

Ultimately, my bid failed, I won’t have art in the book. But I am happy with the way that the piece came out, and I hope others like it as well. The piece itself is titled after the film’s location, Antarctic base U.S. Outpost #31, and features my take on events of the film. The character, of course, is Kurt Russell’s MacReady, and the other creatures you’ll have to figure out on your own. If you haven’t seen The Thing, well, I don’t know what to say to that.

The art is on 12″ x 18″ clayboard, and I used a combination of ink and scratchboard effects on it. The blue is actually a vibrant pearlescent ink, which is hard to see in the photos below. I also used acrylic for effects, mostly in red. Below are closeups as well, to see the ink and scratchboard details a bit better.

While it is unfortunate that the piece did not make it into the book, I’m still happy with it. I’m happy if anyone is interested in buying it as well. Without further ado, here is my mixed media piece, U.S. Outpost #31.

U.S. Outpost 31 art by russell dickerson

 


Russell Dickerson

Russell Dickerson has been a lot of things over many years. Author, artist, designer, winner of awards and recognition, pursuer of the truth, leader of the earth after armageddon.