Tag Archives: 90s

“I Am The Magics” a Tribute to Willow Rosenberg by Artist Living Dead Girl Nicole

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Earlier this year, I decided to rewatch the entire series of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I hadn’t seen it since high school, back when I was a real-life graduate of the class of ’99, just like the “Scooby Gang.” It was fun revisiting the show for nostalgic reasons, but my main focus was to be engulfed in the “Buffyverse” once again so I could finally check Alyson Hannigan as Willow Rosenberg off my art bucket list.

Willow was always my favorite character on the show. Despite being framed as the sidekick or best friend, I was always drawn to her more than Buffy. Maybe it was our shared 90’s fashion sense, her ability to research every monster-fighting scenario Buffy was faced with, or watching her grow into her powers, but I always saw her as the true emotional core of the series and the character I related to most. She always felt less like a fictional character and more like someone I would want to genuinely hang out with.

I really wanted to encapsulate Willow’s character growth from the beginning to the end of the series. An artistic reminder that we all have the battle of good and evil inside of us and that it is ultimately up to us to choose which path we take. With that in mind, I knew this had to be one of my signature split face portraits. One half representing the sweet, quirky and shy Willow, with the other side reflecting cold, broken hearted, “I’m the Slayer now” lethal Dark Willow. A part in the series that even though she becomes consumed by her overuse of power, she finally finds the courage to express so much of what Willow fans had always wanted her to say out loud, unfortunately pushing her toward nearly destroying the world with dark forces.

In the end, however, she recognizes the darkness she is heading toward and learns to control her powers. By doing so, she evolves into her true strength as a white witch, bringing light back into the world by activating all potential Slayers and saving humanity. The underdog ultimately becoming the true hero of the series in the show’s finale.

A storyline worth picking up the drawing pencils for, I completed the piece last week and am excited to share it with my art collectors. Done in pencil and chalk pastels, I call it “I Am The Magics”….

For my art collectors who never underestimate the “side-kick”, “I have made-to-order* prints and wearable art t-shirts listed in my Etsy shop. Apply coupon code BUCKLEUPRUPERT to manifest a spell that will magically take 10% off your order! ✨

Giclee and canvas prints are currently in production with my printer for my art collectors to see in person and purchase at a discounted price* at Closet Collectibles (in Crete, IL.) as well as at the upcoming Unruly Art Market on May 31st.

New to my work? Be sure to check out the other portraits I have masterminded on the Spitting Image page of my portfolio website!

Stay Strange & Magical ✨
LDG Nicole

*Read more about my “never mass produced” creative process and in store discounted art prices here

Daria “I Hate It” Wood Bookmark Makes For A Memorable Handmade Gift

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So now that the surprise is over I can finally share another art project I have been working on. This is a handmade wood bookmark I made as a contribution to a group gift for my dear friends Heather’s 40th Birthday….

Heather loves to read and she was totally bummed about having to cancel her milestone birthday party due to the COVID crisis, so her husband Mike reached our to her friends and family asking if we would each make her a special bookmark.

Since she is the Daria Morgendorffer to my Jane Lane I knew right away where I was headed theme wise. Especially since one of the things Heather and Daria have in common is their love of books and reading. Plus who better than her Jane to paint it!

My husband Frank took me to the hobby store to find the right wood. I sketched out the shape so he could cut it out with his saw and sand it. I painted, clear coated and added the tassel.

Mike collected them all and presented them all to her in a book he made with special pages made for each of them. We may not have been able to physically celebrate with her this year but Mike found a fun and creative way to make it happen! Major hubby points for sure and this was so much fun to make and be a part of!

Dig this? Make sure to check out this bookmark and other misc. creations on the Remains page of my portfolio website!

Stay Spooky & Magical,
LDG Nicole

“Nothing Is Trivial” a Tribute to Eric Draven by Artist Living Dead Girl Nicole

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Having a compromised immune system has kept me indoors for weeks now due to COVID, but the positive side to this is that it has gotten me inspired to use this time indoors to create! I started a new “magical” line of products that I can not wait to show you. However I find that the best way to photograph and showcase these items will be outdoors. So once I am able to keep social distancing at bay and the weather stays nice enough to give me the opportunity to photograph them I will get them posted. Stay tuned!

In the meantime, I do have something I want to share that I just completed this weekend. It is a new Spitting Image portrait that I was able to tick off my art bucket list. As someone who still wishes it was the 90s, had a huge Brandon Lee Rapid Fire poster on her bedroom wall (in high school), and has been in complete awe of the movie The Crow all these years…this was a long time coming.

I was inspired and named this art piece after one of my favorite lines that Eric Draven says to Sgt. Albrecht when he is describing his wife Shelly to him. There are many lines in the movie The Crow that I love but like Shelly, I too tend to notice and appreciate the “little things” in life that most people tend to overlook. Eric tells Sgt. Albrecht how trivial he thought her concept of those things were until it was too late. It’s something you can tell he realizes that he appreciated and loved about her but most importantly how right she was. It also makes you as the viewer realize how precious life is and the turmoil of emotions and pain he is going through. The same realization we all felt when Brandon himself died unexpectedly when filming the movie. To me it really encapsulates everything the movie is to me. So I titled it… “Nothing Is Trivial”….

I decided to do this one in my Split Face portrait style as I wanted to capture Eric before his death and after he was resurrected as “The Crow” not only with his face but also with the use of color. I used pencil, charcoal and chalk pastels to bring my vision to life. I am glad I waited all these years to draw this one. I hope as the 27th anniversary of his passing approaches that this reminds people of Brandon Lee’s legacy, the incredible gift of his talents and how precious life really is.

To see more of my portrait work visit the Spitting Image page of my Portfolio site. If you are interested in purchasing prints or t-shirts of this piece you can do so by visiting my Amazon Shop! Please also note that once Closet Collectibles is re-opened after the Government Shutdown I will drop prints off there so that they are available to purchase in person as well.

Stay Spooky & Safe!
LDG Nicole