THE DEAD HAVE DRESSED FOR THE OCCASION

Dapper zombies. Modern vampires. Graveyard ghouls. Demons, cultists, haunted houses and something unpleasant crawling away from a car accident.

Horror comes in many forms.

Most of them photograph badly.

Brad McDevitt Stock Art – Horror Collection 6 provides 25 horror-themed TIFF files representing 24 distinct subjects, ready for use by publishers, writers, game designers and Games Masters.

The collection covers traditional monsters, modern horror, the undead, occult characters, unsettling locations and stranger things drawn from cosmic and folkloric horror. It includes black-and-white artwork alongside selected colour pieces, providing material for adventures, sourcebooks, fiction, ’zines and other personal or professional projects.

The artwork may be used subject to the terms of the attached licence.

INSIDE THE COLLECTION

The 25 supplied files are:

• Byakhee

• Car Accident Zombie

• Carnival Horror

• Dapper Zombie

• Demon Car

• Demon

• Derelict

• Devil

• Easter Image 2011

• Elegant Monster

• Ghostly Visitor

• Ghoul

• Goth Pearls – black and white

• Goth Pearls – colour

• Graveyard Ghoul

• Great Old Ones Cultist

• Hag

• Hardcore Priest

• Haunted House

• Zombie Headshot

• Human Sacrifice

• Immortal Lover

• Japanese Demon Cats

• Meat Cleaver

• Modern Vampire – colour

That gives you monsters, cultists, victims, investigators, supernatural characters and locations suitable for anything from a single disturbing encounter to an entire campaign of occult catastrophe.

THE WELL-DRESSED DEAD

The dead do not always rise in torn burial shrouds.

Sometimes they make an effort.

The Dapper Zombie, Elegant Monster, Modern Vampire, Immortal Lover and Goth Pearls provide horror characters with rather more poise than the average shambling corpse.

They can be used as:

• Sophisticated undead antagonists

• Supernatural socialites

• Vampire characters

• Immortal patrons

• Occult aristocrats

• Figures encountered at strange parties

• Beautiful people concealing ugly appetites

• Important NPCs whose appearance encourages precisely the wrong degree of trust

The Dapper Zombie offers a neatly presented variation upon the usual animated corpse.

The Elegant Monster might be undead, transformed, cursed or merely possessed of exceptionally sinister personal habits.

The Modern Vampire brings the creature of the night into a contemporary setting, while the Immortal Lover suggests supernatural romance, obsession or a relationship that has continued far beyond its natural lifespan.

Goth Pearls is supplied in both black-and-white and colour versions, allowing the image to suit different layouts and publication requirements.

Horror does not require every monster to look monstrous.

Sometimes the attractive ones get closer.

ZOMBIES, GHOULS AND DAMAGED CORPSES

The collection includes several forms of animated or corpse-related horror:

• Car Accident Zombie

• Dapper Zombie

• Ghoul

• Graveyard Ghoul

• Zombie Headshot

The Car Accident Zombie provides an immediately recognisable image of modern disaster followed by supernatural complication.

It might illustrate:

• The beginning of an outbreak

• A roadside encounter

• A corpse rising from a wreck

• A victim whose death has not taken properly

• Evidence that the infection spreads faster than expected

• The unfortunate result of stopping to offer assistance

The Ghoul and Graveyard Ghoul offer creatures for cemeteries, crypts, tunnels and places where the dead are stored in quantities sufficient to attract predators.

The Zombie Headshot can serve as a monster portrait, chapter illustration, player handout or evidence that somebody’s attempt to destroy the creature was only partially successful.

Zombies are familiar.

That merely allows you to introduce them without wasting time on explanations before the screaming begins.

DEMONS AND DEVILS

The Demon, Devil and Demon Car provide several routes into infernal and supernatural horror.

The Demon and Devil can be used for:

• Summoned creatures

• Occult adversaries

• Infernal patrons

• Possession

• Fantasy horror

• Demonic cults

• Creatures encountered during rituals that have gone predictably wrong

The Demon Car brings horror into a more modern and mobile form.

The filename leaves its precise nature open. It might be a cursed vehicle, an infernal machine, a car associated with a demonic driver or simply an ominous piece of artwork for a scenario involving road horror.

A haunted house waits for the characters to enter.

A demonic car can come looking for them.

COSMIC HORROR

The Byakhee and Great Old Ones Cultist provide ready-made material for cosmic horror and games influenced by the strange fiction tradition.

The Byakhee can serve as:

• An alien creature

• A summoned servant

• A winged monster

• A messenger from beyond

• A guardian of forbidden places

• Something encountered during an expedition that has gone far beyond the limits of responsible scholarship

The Great Old Ones Cultist can become a ritualist, scholar, fanatic or apparently ordinary person who has discovered something vast and responded by worshipping it.

Cosmic horror does not require every threat to be understood.

In fact, understanding is frequently where the real trouble begins.

Use these illustrations for cults, forbidden texts, impossible creatures and investigations in which discovering the truth is not necessarily a victory.

HAUNTINGS AND HORRIBLE PLACES

The Ghostly Visitor and Haunted House provide supernatural characters and locations for more traditional ghost stories.

The Ghostly Visitor might be:

• A recurring apparition

• A dead relative

• A supernatural messenger

• A warning

• The former occupant of a house

• A spirit that has followed somebody home

• Something pretending to be a familiar ghost

The Haunted House can become:

• The centre of a complete adventure

• A family home with an unpleasant history

• An abandoned property

• A crime scene

• The headquarters of a cult

• A building that appears upon no current map

• Somewhere whose former inhabitants have not entirely left

A haunted house remains effective because it corrupts somewhere intended to provide shelter.

The doors lock.

The walls keep the danger inside.

And the characters have usually agreed to spend the night before anyone notices.

HAGS, CATS AND FOLKLORIC HORROR

The Hag and Japanese Demon Cats offer material for folklore, supernatural fantasy and horror drawn from older traditions.

The Hag might be:

• A witch

• A curse-giver

• A monster living beyond the settlement

• A spirit

• A shape-changing predator

• A keeper of dangerous knowledge

• An apparently helpful old woman who charges more than money

The Japanese Demon Cats can support adventures involving supernatural animals, transformed spirits, curses or creatures whose harmless appearance should not be taken at face value.

They may be companions, antagonists, omens or the first indication that something is wrong with the household.

Cats are already capable of staring at empty corners for several minutes at a time.

The supernatural explanation is hardly less reassuring than the ordinary one.

CULTS, SACRIFICE AND RELIGIOUS HORROR

The Great Old Ones Cultist, Human Sacrifice, Hardcore Priest and Easter Image 2011 provide material for religious, ritual and occult horror.

These images can accompany:

• Forbidden ceremonies

• Cult activity

• Exorcism

• Supernatural investigations

• Religious conspiracies

• Sacrificial rites

• Monster hunting

• Apocalyptic scenarios

• Stories involving faith under extremely practical pressure

The Hardcore Priest can represent an exorcist, militant clergyman, monster hunter or member of a religious order prepared to supplement prayer with direct action.

The Human Sacrifice offers a complete scene of occult danger and can serve as an adventure opening, chapter illustration or the moment when the investigators finally discover what the missing people were being used for.

Easter Image 2011 provides religiously themed horror imagery that can be adapted according to the tone and needs of the project without imposing a single interpretation.

Faith may be a defence against evil.

It may also be the excuse evil uses.

CARNIVALS AND PUBLIC HORROR

The Carnival Horror brings the grotesque into a public, theatrical setting.

Carnivals make useful horror locations because they already depend upon disguise, spectacle and the deliberate confusion of the ordinary with the strange.

The illustration could support:

• A haunted carnival

• A sinister performer

• A travelling freak show

• A cursed attraction

• A supernatural celebration

• A public event concealing ritual activity

• A troupe whose members are not entirely human

The crowds provide witnesses.

The costumes provide camouflage.

The music ensures nobody hears the first scream clearly enough to react.

HUMAN HORROR

The collection also contains images whose menace need not be supernatural.

The Derelict, Meat Cleaver and some of the more ambiguous character pieces can support crime, slasher fiction, psychological horror and investigations involving ordinary human cruelty.

The Derelict is a character portrait rather than a ruined building and can be used for:

• A homeless or displaced character

• A witness

• A survivor

• A suspect

• An informant

• Someone overlooked by the authorities

• A person who has seen exactly what prowls the streets after dark

The Meat Cleaver provides an immediate image of physical threat, domestic horror or violence conducted with unpleasant proximity.

It might accompany a killer, butcher, frightened survivor or somebody who has armed themselves with whatever was available.

The image establishes danger.

The writer decides who deserves to be afraid.

ART THAT CREATES ADVENTURES

Useful stock art does more than occupy space.

It asks questions.

What emerged from the car wreck?

Who invited the Dapper Zombie?

Why is the haunted house still maintained?

What does the cultist expect to awaken?

Who is the Immortal Lover waiting for?

Why is the graveyard ghoul leaving the cemetery?

What is wrong with the carnival?

Who performed the human sacrifice?

Why is the priest armed?

What followed the Ghostly Visitor through the door?

Choose an illustration.

Decide what its subject wants.

Place something inconvenient in the way.

Connect the resulting trouble to the player characters.

That is often enough to begin an encounter, investigation or complete adventure.

PROFESSIONAL ART FOR INDEPENDENT CREATORS

Commissioning original artwork remains the best way to obtain precisely the image a project requires.

It is also expensive.

Independent publishers must generally divide limited budgets between writing, editing, layout, printing, promotion and the unfashionable ambition of being paid for their work.

Stock art provides a practical alternative.

This collection can help you:

• Illustrate monsters and characters

• Break up dense sections of text

• Establish a consistent horror atmosphere

• Complete adventures and sourcebooks

• Add impact to chapter openings

• Create handouts and visual clues

• Populate bestiaries and antagonist sections

• Build a reusable library for future projects

• Reserve commission funds for essential bespoke pieces

• Replace those accusing boxes marked ART GOES HERE

Use one illustration to complete a short scenario or draw upon the entire collection across a larger publication.

A good illustration fills a space.

A better illustration gives you something new to write.

25 FILES, 24 DISTINCT SUBJECTS

The collection contains 25 TIFF files representing 24 distinct subjects.

One illustration is supplied in two versions:

• Goth Pearls: black-and-white and colour

The remaining 23 files are separate illustrations covering:

• Zombies and ghouls

• Vampires and immortals

• Demons and devils

• Cosmic horror

• Ghosts and haunted locations

• Folkloric creatures

• Cults and ritual horror

• Human villains and victims

• Modern and gothic horror

This distinction means you receive 25 usable files without falsely presenting the alternate version as a completely different subject.

READ THE LICENCE

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

Read the 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, science fiction, modern gaming and urban fantasy.

You can explore the complete Brad McDevitt Stock Art range.

The cultist has begun chanting.

The car has started by itself.

The visitor at the door died several years ago.

Your manuscript still needs pictures.

Deal with the manageable problem first.