BLOOD, BONES AND THE LOOK ON SOMEONE’S FACE WHEN THEY SEE WHAT DID IT

Gnawed remains. Severed faces. Unearthed cadavers. Blood cults. Human sacrifice. Cannibals, catmen and wolves beneath the full moon.

Some horror whispers from behind a closed door.

Some of it has already eaten whoever opened the door first.

Brad McDevitt Stock Art – Horror Collection 5 provides 25 TIFF image files representing 18 distinct horror subjects, ready for use by publishers, writers, game designers and Games Masters.

The collection combines gore, occult ritual, supernatural predators, frightened victims, sinister characters and atmospheric material. It is particularly useful for modern horror, urban fantasy, occult investigation, splatter, crime-horror, dark fantasy and publications that do not require every corpse to remain tasteful, intact or discreetly off-page.

Several illustrations are supplied in alternate colour, black-and-white or greyscale forms, providing additional flexibility for print and digital layouts.

The artwork may be used in personal and professional projects, subject to the terms of the attached licence.

INSIDE THE COLLECTION

The 25 supplied TIFF files are:

• Gnawed Bone

• Gnawed Bone – greyscale

• The Nightmare Look – black and white

• The Nightmare Look – colour

• The Nightmare Look – greyscale

• Dark Sacrifice

• CyberBurn

• Severed Face

• Severed Face – greyscale

• Full Moon

• Full Moon – greyscale

• Stalking Wolf

• Stalking Wolf – greyscale

• Unearthed Cadaver

• Terrified Man

• Skulls

• Skulls – greyscale

• Mental Patient

• Fantasy Trade Dress

• Victorian Urban Catman

• Angel’s Pain

• Animal Sacrifice

• Beautiful Cannibal

• Blood Cult Leader

• Body Bag

That gives you physical evidence, supernatural threats, occult figures, victims, predators and several illustrations capable of making a page considerably less comfortable to look at.

Which is rather the point.

GNAWED BONES AND UNEARTHED BODIES

The Gnawed Bone, Unearthed Cadaver, Severed Face, Skulls and Body Bag illustrations provide a strong collection of grisly evidence for investigations, bestiaries and scenes where something appalling has already happened.

They can be used for:

• Murder mysteries

• Crime scenes

• Monster attacks

• Archaeological horror

• Cannibalism

• Forensic investigations

• Undead outbreaks

• Cult activity

• Chapter openings

• Player handouts

• The discovery that the missing people have not merely moved away

The Gnawed Bone is supplied in standard and greyscale versions.

It could be evidence of an animal attack, a monster’s feeding ground, ritual activity or something living beneath a settlement. The marks may identify the creature—or establish that nobody has previously encountered anything with that arrangement of teeth.

The Unearthed Cadaver can introduce grave robbery, archaeological horror, necromancy or the discovery of a body buried where no body should be.

The Severed Face, supplied in two versions, offers more graphic body-horror imagery for projects requiring something more visceral than a discreet bloodstain and a detective looking concerned.

The Body Bag can begin a crime investigation, mark the aftermath of violence or raise the obvious question:

Why is it moving?

THE NIGHTMARE LOOK

The Nightmare Look is supplied in three forms:

• Black and white

• Colour

• Greyscale

That makes it the most extensively varied illustration in the collection and allows it to fit colour interiors, traditional monochrome role-playing books and digital publications.

The image can be used for:

• Supernatural transformation

• Psychic assault

• Body horror

• Hallucination

• Possession

• Mutation

• Nightmare sequences

• Contact with something the human mind was not designed to process

The title suggests the moment when terror stops being abstract.

Someone has seen something.

Perhaps they have understood it.

Perhaps it has entered them.

Perhaps the distinction no longer matters.

Use the image as a character illustration, chapter opener or visual representation of the precise moment an investigation becomes personal.

SACRIFICE AND THE OCCULT

The collection contains several pieces suited to ritual, cult and occult horror:

• Dark Sacrifice

• Animal Sacrifice

• Blood Cult Leader

• Angel’s Pain

These illustrations can support:

• Forbidden ceremonies

• Blood magic

• Secret societies

• Demonic worship

• Occult conspiracies

• Ritual murder

• Dark fantasy religions

• Investigations into supernatural crimes

• Cults whose charitable status deserves immediate review

The Blood Cult Leader can become a ritualist, charismatic fanatic, supernatural servant or apparently respectable figure presiding over something thoroughly indecent.

The Animal Sacrifice and Dark Sacrifice images can illustrate ritual activity without imposing a single explanation. The rites may be magical, religious, fraudulent or horrifyingly effective.

Angel’s Pain can support stories involving fallen angels, divine punishment, wounded celestial beings or mortals suffering beneath powers that claim to be holy.

The existence of angels does not necessarily mean the universe is benevolent.

It merely means the management structure is larger than expected.

THE BEAUTIFUL CANNIBAL

The Beautiful Cannibal provides a character whose attractiveness and appetite appear to have reached an unfortunate accommodation.

She might be:

• A sophisticated murderer

• A supernatural predator

• A member of a secret cannibal society

• A cursed immortal

• A modern ghoul

• A charming dinner companion with extremely selective dietary requirements

• A player character in a suitably transgressive campaign

The illustration is well suited to adult horror, urban fantasy, crime-horror and stories in which monstrosity is concealed behind beauty, wealth or social confidence.

Not every predator needs claws.

Some own excellent clothes, understand table manners and know precisely which wine accompanies a former acquaintance.

THE VICTORIAN URBAN CATMAN

The Victorian Urban Catman crosses gothic horror, historical fantasy and urban fantasy.

He might represent:

• A transformed human

• A supernatural gentleman

• A member of a hidden species

• A cursed aristocrat

• A feline shapeshifter

• An occult investigator

• A creature navigating the modern world with distinctly old-fashioned manners

The image can be used in a Victorian setting, carried into the present as an immortal character or adapted for any world where human and animal qualities meet in one unsettling figure.

Perhaps he hunts monsters.

Perhaps he is one.

Perhaps he considers that distinction socially vulgar.

THE FULL MOON AND THE STALKING WOLF

Full Moon and Stalking Wolf are each supplied in standard and greyscale versions.

Together they provide ready-made atmosphere for:

• Werewolf adventures

• Wilderness horror

• Shapeshifter campaigns

• Supernatural pursuit

• Rural mysteries

• Occult calendars

• Chapter headings

• Scenes in which the characters really should have checked the date

The wolf might be an ordinary predator, a transformed human, a magical guardian or an engineered creature.

The moon may simply establish atmosphere—or mark the arrival of a recurring supernatural threat.

These pieces can be used together without requiring a conventional werewolf story. A cult may conduct its rites beneath the full moon. A hunter may follow the wolf. The wolf may be protecting the characters from something worse.

Familiar symbols remain useful because readers understand them immediately.

The trick is deciding whether to fulfil that expectation or bite it on the throat.

FEAR WITH A HUMAN FACE

The Terrified Man provides a clear image of somebody confronted by danger, revelation or both.

He can serve as:

• A witness

• A survivor

• A victim

• A suspect

• An investigator who has found the answer

• Somebody encountering the supernatural for the first time

• The last person recovered from a missing expedition

The image does not dictate what he has seen.

That makes it useful across numerous horror genres.

Perhaps he has discovered the cadaver.

Perhaps he witnessed the sacrifice.

Perhaps he knows what is inside the body bag.

Perhaps he has finally understood why the wolf has been following him.

Fear becomes more effective when readers see its effect upon somebody else.

A monster tells them what the danger looks like.

A terrified witness tells them what it feels like.

CYBERBURN

The illustration titled CyberBurn brings technological or bodily horror into the collection.

Depending upon your setting, it might be used for:

• Cybernetic injury

• Experimental technology

• Neural damage

• Body modification

• A failed augmentation

• Computer-mediated horror

• Science-fiction trauma

• The consequences of connecting human flesh to machinery

The title leaves the exact incident open, making the piece adaptable across cyberpunk, modern horror, science fiction and occult technology.

Perhaps the damage was accidental.

Perhaps it was an attack.

Perhaps the system is still connected.

Technology promises to extend human capability.

Horror asks what happens when the extension refuses to come off.

THE MENTAL PATIENT

The file titled Mental Patient provides a character image suited to institutional, psychological and investigative horror.

It might represent:

• A traumatised witness

• A survivor nobody believes

• A patient affected by supernatural events

• Somebody confined to suppress an inconvenient story

• A suspect undergoing treatment

• A person whose apparent delusions are entirely accurate

The strongest use of such a character is not simply as a caricatured threat.

A patient may be vulnerable, perceptive, manipulated or the only person who understands what is happening.

Perhaps everyone assumes the character is unreliable because the truth sounds impossible.

In horror, sanity and accuracy are not always the same thing.

TRADE DRESS AND ATMOSPHERIC LAYOUT

The file titled Fantasy Trade Dress appears intended as a decorative or layout-oriented element rather than a conventional character portrait.

It can potentially be used for:

• Page decoration

• Section framing

• Chapter openings

• Horror or fantasy branding

• Sidebars

• Handouts

• Visual separators

• Adding a consistent ornamental identity to a publication

Stock-art collections are more useful when they contain more than isolated figures.

A decorative element can help unify the page design and prevent the book from looking like a pile of unrelated illustrations dropped between paragraphs.

Even the monsters appreciate competent layout.

They simply express this appreciation badly.

FROM A SINGLE IMAGE TO A COMPLETE ADVENTURE

The collection contains enough interconnected imagery to suggest an entire investigation.

A body bag is delivered to the morgue.

The corpse inside is missing its face.

Marks upon a gnawed bone suggest an unknown animal.

A terrified witness describes a wolf moving beneath the full moon.

The trail leads to a blood cult and its beautiful cannibal patron.

An unearthed cadaver provides evidence that the killings began generations ago.

The Victorian Catman offers his assistance.

Nobody has yet established whether this is reassuring.

You do not need to use the illustrations together, but doing so can provide the foundations of a scenario, campaign chapter or complete horror supplement.

Choose an image.

Ask what happened immediately before it.

Ask what will happen immediately afterwards.

Then involve the player characters at the least convenient point between the two.

PROFESSIONAL ART FOR INDEPENDENT CREATORS

Commissioning bespoke artwork remains the best way to obtain precisely the illustration a project requires.

It is also expensive.

Independent publishers must divide limited budgets between writing, editing, layout, promotion, printing and the oddly controversial notion that creative work should eventually produce an income.

Stock art offers a practical alternative.

This collection can help you:

• Illustrate monsters, victims and occult figures

• Establish a consistent horror atmosphere

• Break up dense sections of text

• Complete adventures and sourcebooks

• Add impact to chapter openings

• Create visual clues and player handouts

• Populate bestiaries and antagonist sections

• Build a reusable library for future publications

• Reserve commissions for essential bespoke artwork

• Remove those silently judgemental boxes marked ART GOES HERE

Use a single image to finish a short scenario or spread the collection across a larger publication.

The artwork is already dead.

It will not mind being reused.

25 FILES, 18 DISTINCT SUBJECTS

The collection contains 25 TIFF image files representing 18 distinct subjects.

Alternate versions are supplied for:

• Gnawed Bone: standard and greyscale

• The Nightmare Look: black-and-white, colour and greyscale

• Severed Face: standard and greyscale

• Full Moon: standard and greyscale

• Stalking Wolf: standard and greyscale

• Skulls: standard and greyscale

The remaining files represent separate illustrations:

• Dark Sacrifice

• CyberBurn

• Unearthed Cadaver

• Terrified Man

• Mental Patient

• Fantasy Trade Dress

• Victorian Urban Catman

• Angel’s Pain

• Animal Sacrifice

• Beautiful Cannibal

• Blood Cult Leader

• Body Bag

This distinction means you receive 25 usable files without presenting alternate renderings as entirely separate pieces of artwork.

READ THE LICENCE

The artwork is supplied for personal and professional projects under the terms of the attached licence.

Read that licence before publication and ensure that your intended use, alterations and attribution comply with its requirements.

Some pieces may also appear in other Brad McDevitt collections where they suit more than one genre. Horror naturally overlaps with fantasy, modern gaming, science fiction and urban fantasy.

You can explore the complete Brad McDevitt Stock Art range.

The bones have been gnawed.

The sacrifice has begun.

The thing in the body bag has stopped pretending to be dead.

Your manuscript still needs pictures.

Solve the problem least likely to escape.