This week, let’s check out some artists who’ve influenced the way we think about fantasy and horror. We’ll start with a titan: Ray Harryhausen.

I was, and remain, wild about Harryhausen films. I had a Clash of the Titans lunch box in elementary school. I watched Jason and the Argonauts with my dad whenever it was on TV. His stop motion effects are legit magical. Sure, you know they are clay and armatures, but that artifice also lends them a weight that digital effects lack – they are real objects, brought to life through painstaking physical processes. I think that comes through no matter how campy the movies may be.

Part of what makes Harryhausen’s monsters so memorable for me is that they are unusually distinct – I think you’d be hard pressed to look at a monster in most movies and guess correctly who designed it. Not so with Harryhausen. His monsters are immediately recognizable. And strange! That island cyclops is one of the oddest creatures to ever show up on film. As terrifying as the Kraken is, it is also doofy and kind of noodly in an endearing way. And I dare you to suggest a more terrifying and alien creature than his Medusa.

Harryhausen’s distinct style, I think, comes from the fact that he was an accomplished artist as well as a special effects guy. This is The Art of Ray Harryhausen (2006), the sequel to An Animated Life (2003). The earlier book delved into Harryhausen’s film process. The sequel looks more at his design and art work and digs into many projects that never made it to the screen. I was pretty gobsmacked by his concept art when I first saw it – so much of it screams of a deep appreciation of Gustave Dore in its compositions and treatment of light. Then you get to his bronze work like the Talos and the Kraken and holy crap. Dude was sublimely talented and I guarantee he’s fired up the imaginations of countless roleplayers.

Couple neat things. First, that martian sure looks like the LJN grell toy. Second, I love the fact that the skeleton warriors’ original swords have been replaced by Toledo sword cocktail picks. I have a set of those!