“I’m not much of a horror fan—in fact, I once had to sleep with all the lights on in the house after watching a particularly scary film one night. So I would just like to thank everyone involved in planning the theme for this session; I am going to have to edit these photos in a bright, sunlit room while listening to some really happy fucking music . . . followed by several hours of Disney-Channel viewing.” —Jeff Schock, official photographer of Dr. Sketchy’s Baltimore
Viola Van Wilde was bombtastic, folks—hands down, this is the most work that has ever gone into a Dr. Sketchy’s Baltimore session. All those prosthetics took hours to apply—there’s gluing, then painting, then applying blood, then re-gluing when it falls off, then painting on latex, blending the latex, layering more blood and makeup, etc., etc..
Telling ya, we might as well been shooting a movie or something.
Viola started off looking a bit battered and bruised, but still alive.
Hmmm, things are definitely not looking good for Viola.
By the way, we played the “level start” sound for the zombie co-op levels of Call of Duty: World at War at the beginning of the one-minute poses and not a single person caught it. [sigh] Total geek fail. Probably should have gone with Left 4 Dead anyway. Oh well.
The five-minute poses started with that old standby, the opposite-hand contest, where if you’re right-handed you draw with your left and if you’re left-handed you draw with your right and if you think you’re ambidextrous, you’re probably already drunk. The two winners got a mystery shot from Holly behind the bar—don’t know what it was, but looked tasty. Viola was probably thinking the same thing, while she was eyeing the audience.
Yup, she’s definitely looking a bit . . . bitey. Hope everyone in the front row has had their shots.
With the ten-minute poses came the second contest of the evening, “random celebrity”, where members of the audience call out random celebrities until Alexis hears one amusing enough to incorporate. The winner this time around was John Waters—appropriate, considering. Strangely, no one called out Patrick Stewart—we’ll catch them, though; it’s only a matter of time.
The prize was a Bristol drawing pad for each of the two winners from Artist & Craftsman Supply, right across the street at the corner of Howard & North.
And then, Viola got our host. Apparently Alexis should’ve done more cardio.
After a short bathroom/smoke/drink break, it was time for the 20-minute poses. First up was a contest for the best incorporation of Twin Peaks and The Walking Dead—you’d THINK that was too obscure, but apparently it wasn’t for a couple folks.
Why Twin Peaks, anyway? Because Viola’s last session was a tribute to that cult TV classic, which ended with her dead, wrapped in plastic. Yes, we noticed this is becoming a trend with Viola.
The winner received from Atomic Books Volume One of The Walking Dead—which, honestly, has to be one of the better comic books ever written. Also, If you didn’t catch the premiere Halloween night of the AMC show based on the same series, you need to get cracking.
Last pose of the evening was ye old random noun/verb contest with the crowd shouting out “big whiskey bottle/shrivel”, which, surprisingly, generated some good sketches. Baby Tattoo Books, who also runs the LA Dr. Sketchy’s, provided the prize, Unkle Pigor’s Cryptic Art by Eric Pigors, for the lucky winner.
With that, our frankly disturbing evening of intestines and drawing had come to a close—fortunately with everyone’s brains and other vital organs still intact. Well, almost everyone’s.
The living room floor the next morning was covered with dismembered limbs, bones, and plastic shot gun shells. After a brief hangover-induced panic, this was deemed a good thing.
We’d like to thank Viola Van Wilde for an astounding night—she put a crazy amount of work into this, and is probably still washing spirit gum and fake blood out of her hair. Many thanks go to Holly, our super-duper bartender of the evening, and to Russell, who rushed over to the Windup when his band finished recording to help out with the music for that last 20-minute pose. A multitude of thanks are owed Jeff Schock, whose quote opened up this blog and whose strong stomach provided the photos you see above. Thank you to Alexis for not only manning the beach head, but also for offering herself up for some intestinal munching. And last, but not least, thanks to all of you who joined us for this special session—you’re all awesome.
Whew! Need a unicorn chaser after all that? Well you’re in luck! Next Dr. Sketchy’s is this Monday, November 8, at the Windup Space with Elle Devene of Gilded Lily Burlesque!
(Thanks again to Cheryl Fair for letting us use her gorgeous photo of Elle for the flyer!)
Doors at 6, start at 7! Want a sneak peek at Elle’s last session?
This will be the only session in November because of that chicken holiday thing, so don’t be late!
P.S. – Anyone who came to the zombie session in costume got a dollar off their door price. This was easily the best costume (certainly better than my handlebar mustache).