Winnie Jean Howard

Winnie’s Wonders: Drusilla from Buffy the Vampire Slayer in the Style of Patrick Nagel

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Time for another Lady of Horror, this time a Patrick Nagel-inspired portrait of Drusilla from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Drusilla is one of the most iconic characters in Buffy—a gothic, ethereal, and completely unhinged character who remains one of my all time favorite vampires. Introduced in Season 2 as the lover and partner-in-crime of Spike, her tragic backstory makes her one of the most interesting figures in the Buffyverse.

Even better, you gotta love that she was driven to insanity before being turned into a vampire by Angel. Her childlike demeanor, eerie visions, and violent tendencies make her one of the most unpredictable and chilling villains in the show. She’s part femme fatale, part tragic monster, always existing between beauty and madness.

I chose an image of her in vampire form to show off her haunting beauty in Nagel’s stark white skin and black hair style. Bringing Drusilla into this art style was a challenge. When I finish one of these pieces I’m ultra critical of how they turn out because the style sometimes takes away some of the terror that the characters bring to the screen, but maybe that’s also what I love about them too.

Yes, I’m continuing this series with a new lady of horror a month this year. If you would like to see one of your favorites in this style, let me know and I’ll add her to the list.

Why Image Generators Need Much Work

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I’m not feeling threatened by AI image generators this week because I totally stumped Adobe Firefly with this strange ask below:

demon; eating tacos; in taco bell in a booth; horns on head; evil look; masculine; wearing a red t shirt

I also added ‘bulls head’ to the ask because I couldn’t get a demon look without adding an animal to the mix. Every search resulted in a human look including women with the masculine ask. Before I added ‘wearing a red t-shirt’ they were all wearing suits.

The image to the right is pretty similar to most of the results with different art styles as I changed the query. So AI thinks humans are demons, which of course is correct.

If you wanna see more of the results, check out my @meanwinniejean Instagram account.

I watched The Pope’s Exorcist this week. Was kinda in a mood for demons after trying to get the image generator to create demons eating tacos. The movie starts with this, which I loved. Fun going in knowing that the story is based on a real priest, but the movie was way beyond reality.

“When we jeer at the Devil and tell ourselves that he does not exist, that is when he is happiest.”

Father Gabriele Amorth
Chief Exorcist of the Vatican 1986-2016

Obviously a high-budget horror flick, so I appreciated the dark, dreary settings and quality acting. While a priest who performs exorcists is thrown out of his position, a family moves into an old, broken down abbey. Nice set up! But the Pope has to pull Russel Crowe back into the mix when a demon possesses a kid in the family. I loved the plot or demon’s intention in the storyline, which I won’t spoil.

Russel Crowe and the possessed kid were good, with all the other characters way too minor in the story. I appreciated that they jumped into the action right away. I wasn’t bored at any point while I watched, so no checking my email while watching. But the cringe and squirm in your seat wasn’t there for this horror freak. The movie is worth watching, especially if you prefer light horror.

That sums up my week. Did you watch any new horror films, good or bad?