Rotten Barnaby
Death was only his opening act.
Dragged from unhallowed ground to pull the carnival wagons, Barnaby’s unblinking, hollow eyes still remember every life he left behind.
The Inspiration
I love creating nightmarish images using pyrography. There’s something seemingly fitting about burning dark lines to form dark images of dark subjects on wood.
Rotten Barnaby is a classic horror movie staple, the most numerous of the undead – a zombie with rotting flesh and a taste for brains. I really wanted to try give an impression of tattered flesh and ripped skin on an angry cadaver that refuses to acknowledge its own death.
The Craft
The orientation of the plywood on which Barnaby is burned is deliberately chosen to ‘hug’ his head. The grain was very forgiving on this particular board, meaning that the strokes of the wire nib were strong and dark.
Lighter shading has been used sparingly to suggest dirt and encrusted blood with heavy line work being used show the depths and jaggedness of the holes in his face.
