FREAKY MONSTERS COVER ARTIST

Basil Gogos cover (left), Arlis cover (right)

Since my post earlier today, I've had a couple of inquiries as to the identity of the artist who does the work on the covers of Ray Ferry's retro-monster 'zine, FREAKY MONSTERS. The artist's name is "Arlis" and he has been producing covers for Ferry's magazines since Ferry started publishing FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND back in the early '90s. While the imagery can be compared to those by Gogos the Great, who paints, in reality they are most likely embellished manipulations of photographic images, such as those that can be created by Photoshop and other graphics software. I may be wrong, but that's my somewhat educated guess.

Arlis employs the familiar high contrast style and if his work were from "live" photographs they would be called "high dynamic range" prints in these days of digital photography and art.

Whether or not one finds the work derivative in a negative sense or not is anybody's prerogative, I guess. In my opinion Arlis' work is successful in the fact that evokes iconography from the earliest days of monster magazines. We know it's not up to snuff with Gogos' best (even Gogos had the occasional stinker of a cover), but I think you'll agree that they are more than enough to resonate to fans of classic horror.

NOTE: A "Meet Arlis" article is included in the FREAKY MONSTER FEARBOOK (#17). I do not have a copy of this to refer to, but anyone can still order a copy by clicking HERE.