Nightmares On One Street: The Horror Art Of Graham Humphries (book review).

Upon reviewing Graham Humphries’ work in his book ‘Hung, Drawn, and Quartered’, it’s not surprising that Korero Press has recently released ‘Nightmares on One Street: The Horror Art of Graham Humphries’. Humphries primarily completed the work for this book during the COVID epidemic, working from home instead of his art studio. Given that a significant portion of his work involves creating new covers for re-issued films on DVD and Blu-ray within our genre, this should pique your interest. More importantly, he demonstrates the process of creating each painting. A four-year period of work shows he’s a busy commercial artist.

When creating actor likenesses and scenes, one must always rely on photographs, watch the films, and follow the wishes of the paying client. What makes Humphries stand out to my mind is his colour choices, often depending on a single or couple colours rather than the full spectrum of colours. He explains that during a period when he was working for magazines, he could only work in black and white, but he needed to make it look impressive, so he applied this technique to his colour work.

From my personal experience, I have found that it’s preferable to make any color scheme in a painting look realistic, to demonstrate that you can match real life. This is hardly surprising when painting from real life, as you need a decent natural light painting. Establishing a distinct color scheme presents a significant challenge. Since Humphries always works from a photo-reference, it’s easy to avoid this, making it a valuable lesson for any of you who are learning from this book.

Often, he commissions headshots as they serve as a key selling point for posters and covers. I could sense his excitement when he incorporated an unusual building or car into the picture.

Each picture includes text, akin to a small book in its own right, offering commentary on each image. This really is a tour de force of his work, and it might even inspire you to go after the actual films, which isn’t always a bad idea.

GF Willmetts

November 2024

(pub: Korero Press, 2023. 175 page illustrated large hardback. Price: £26.99 (UK) (UK). ISBN: 978-1-91271-023-9)

check out website: www.koreropress.com