Kerry Gammill - ProfilesArchive

About Me

Hey, monster lovers and fans of great art! Don't miss this book on the art of the greatest monster painter of all time, BASIL GOGOS! As most monster fans know, Gogos was the most popular cover artist of the premier monster magazine of the '60s and '70s, Famous Monsters of Filmland.

It was my privilege to work with Gogos and J. David Spurlock of Vanguard Productions to create this monstrous collection called THE FAMOUS MONSTER MOVIE ART OF BASIL GOGOS. Over two years of searching for the best materials have resulted in this once-in-a-lifetime publication.

In addition to his well-known cover art for Famous Monsters and Monsterscene, the book also features more recent works in full color as well as many unpublished charcoal drawings. Also included are many of Gogos' rarely-seen illustrations for various men's adventure magazines of the '60s. The book also features an introduction by rock star, horror film director and Gogos fan Rob Zombie!

"Basil Gogos finally receives long overdue recognition for his artistic mastery. This is a SUPERB tribute to his talent and legacy. Any fan of the classic FAMOUS MONSTERS of FILMLAND magazine MUST have this book."
– Amazon.com

Famous Monster Movie Art of Basil Gogos is 160 pages and contains almost a hundred full color illustrations and over forty black and white drawings, many never before published. It is available in both hardcover and softcover editions and can be ordered from my website, MonsterKid.com

RONDO AWARDS

The Gogos book has not only been named best art book of 2006 by Rue Morgue magazine, but it also won the RONDO AWARD as best book of the year. My sincere thanks to everyone who voted. I am very proud that the book, which was a labor of love for me, received the award, but of course, it is the incredible art of Basil Gogos which is really being honored and I couldn't be happier about that.

My own cover art for Monster Bash Magazine #5 featuring The Bride of Frankenstein received a nomination for best cover of the year but came in second to the excellent cover of Monsters from the Vault #21 by Joe Schovitz. Congratulations to Joe and MFTV.

The Rondos, an annual award named after '40s horror star Rondo Hatton, are voted on by fans of classic horror, sci-fi and fantasy films. They are given to recognize the year's best horror-oriented movies, TV, DVDs, books, CDs, magazines, websites, collectibles and more. To see all of this year's winners check the Rondo Website. RondoAwards.com

My Interests

I got hooked on monster movies from watching Nightmare Theater on Saturday nights when I was a kid. I love all of the classic movie monsters and everything related to them. You can see my website devoted to vintage movie monsters art monsterkid.com I also love comics of the 1960s and 70s. The great silver-age Marvel comics drawn by Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko and written by Stan Lee grabbed my imagination and never let go. As a kid I drew all the time.
I later became a professional comics artist for Marvel and DC Comics. During my 18 years in the business I illustrated comics like Powerman & Iron Fist, Marvel Team-up (starring Spider-Man), and Superman. After leaving comics I became a special effects concept artist designing creatures for such movies and TV shows as Virus, Species II, Phantoms, The Outer Limits, and Tremors ( the TV series). I've also done storyboards and designed characters for the gaming industry and concept art for kid's promotions agencies. My website, kerrygammill.com , has examples of my work in all these fields.

Vanguard Productions published a book of my drawings a few years ago called Kerry Gammill's Drawing Monsters and Heroes for Comics and Film. It contains art from the various areas I've worked in during my checkered career including comics, kids' promotions and creature design for movies and TV. To tell you the truth, I hate that title and the "how-to" spin the publisher insisted on, but it does contain a lot of art I'm proud of, especially my concept art for film creatures and aliens.

For more info or to order a signed copy, check the book page on my website .

I recently completed another book for Vanguard on the art of Basil Gogos (seen here with me). Gogos' art made a big impact on me and many others of my generation. Check elswhere on this page for more info about the book.

I'd like to meet:

I'd like to meet other monster and horror film fans, and people who enjoyed any of the comics I drew back in the day.

Music:

I've been a die-hard Beatles fan since they first invaded America when I was about 10 years old. I still love thier music and the feeling it creates. More recent favorites are Sheryl Crow, Gwen Steffani and Nora Jones. I also like film score music, especially from classic horror movies like THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, THE WOLF MAN and KING KONG.

Movies:

As you may have guessed, I love classic horror films and stars like Boris Karlof, Bela Lugosi, Lon Chaney, Jr. Lionel Atwill, Peter Lorre and Vincent Price. But I love all the movies from the golden age of Hollywood too. I never get tired of watching Laurel and Hardy, Buster Keaton, Abbott and Costello, W. C. Fields, The Marx Brothers, Hope and Crosby, The Three Stooges and other classic movie comics.

The great Warner Brothers movies with Cagney, Bogart, Edward G. Robinson, Errol Flynn, Betty Davis, etc. are also among my favorites. As for more recent movies that I enjoyed, I liked 40 YEAR OLD VIRGIN, SIDEWAYS, 50 FIRST DATES (Yeah, I know. But I'm a sucker for Drew Barrymore), THE INCREDIBLES, ANCHORMAN and, of course, Peter Jackson's KING KONG.

Television:

I tend to stick to the old movie channels like TCM or re-runs of classic shows like THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW or THE TWILIGHT ZONE. But I do enjoy a few new shows like CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM, 24, BONES, SCRUBS, MY NAME IS EARL and THE OFFICE. I also like off-the-wall sketch comedy shows like ANDY MILONAKIS and THE WHITEST KIDS I KNOW.

Heroes:

My heroes, professionally speaking, are the artists who fired up my imagination when I was young. Frank Frazetta, Basil Gogos, John Busema, Jack Kirby, Gene Colan, Steve Ditko, Neal Adams, Bernie Wrightson, Al Williamson, Alex Toth and other giants of the comics and horror art field during the '60s and '70s all inspired me and got my creative juices going.