Giving Monsters A Bad Name
The ghosts and monsters in the early seasons of Scooby Doo sent chills up my childhood spine. They still do if I’m being completely honest. Who could listen to the maniacal laughter of the Space Kook without tensing up? But those ghouls, as creepy as they could be, were infinitely more endearing — and enduring — than the criminal goons inside those spooky costumes.
Ghosts don’t know how to use levels.
So yeah, spoilers: There weren’t any actual ghosts or monsters in the early seasons of Scooby Doo. A majority of the hauntings were perpetrated by wealthy businessmen looking for ways to get more wealthy, even if it meant dressing up like a ghost and scaring competitors away from a potential fortune.
The portraits started with pencil sketches.
I was commissioned to do four watercolor paintings of classic Scooby Doo villains for a client that wants to start a Scooby Doo Rogues Gallery. It’s a dream project for someone who grew up watching Scooby Doo and still surrounds himself with pop culture horror.
Some images were lined in watercolor, then glazed over.
As I was working on the watercolors of these vintage spooks, I realized that I connected with them more as monsters than villains in costumes. There’s a purity of purpose about the monsters. The crooks under the masks? They’re just sniveling, entitled bullies who demand more than they deserve. Honestly, they make monsters look bad.
There’s something very early-’70s about these monsters.
The Ghost of Elias Kingston? That’s just Uncle Stewart, hoping to scare his brother into handing over the family fortune. They never detail how much money’s at stake, but whatever it was, I guess it was worth traumatizing his niece over.
I used gouache to line some of the images.
Redbeard the Pirate? That was just Mr. Magnus. Literally the owner of the shipping line Redbeard was hijacking to make money off the stolen goods. Magnus already lived in a penthouse and employed a manservant to bring him his home-cooked meals every night. How deep is the black pit of greed in Magnus’ soul that he needed more?
The way pigment rests uneasily on hot press works great for these.
The Ghost of Captain Cutler was none other than the still-living Captain Cutler, a local boat owner who dressed up in a glow-in-the-dark diving suit to hijack pricey yachts for resale. Seems to me, owning your own house, boat, and business, and living in a quaint seaside town with your wife, and making a living at doing what you love would be the dream. How greedy are these people? Was it the barnacle scraping? Did it drive him mad?
Not only a werewolf, but a ghost and thief as well. Triple threat.
The Werewolf’s Ghost is the worst of all. Sheep rustler. Literally a thief in wolf’s clothing, stealing livestock and peddling it on the black market. Part of the scam was stuffing sheep into barrels and floating them down the river where they’d be shorn, shipped, and sold. So I guess you could add animal cruelty to the list of charges.
Shaggy knows iconic portraiture when he sees it.
If Scooby Doo taught me anything, it was to have a healthy distrust of corporate types and businessmen in general. But it was also instrumental in shoring up an already healthy appreciation of monsters. Which is why this commission was so much fun. And why, for the video reveal, Michelle and I went the extra mile and built a miniature haunted hall in which the monster portraits hang.
If he’s not careful, it’ll be the last thing he sees. Zoinks!
That’s who deserves a place of pride on the walls of this haunted rogues gallery. The ghosts. The ghouls. The monsters. Not greedy old Mr. Magnus or sneaky Uncle Stewart. Those crooks can fade into obscurity just like their failed criminal schemes.