Now that the Dallas dust has settled and the sound of chainsaws are are all but a distant buzz, I’d like to announce the winners of our Rue Morgue Cover contest we held at this year’s Texas Frightmare Weekend. Entries were coming faster than you can say “Dog will hunt!” all weekend and I was astounded by the amount of creativity and the diversity on display. I will say it was tough to pick three, so I’m including some honourable mentions that warmed the cockles of our cold, dead hearts. The grand prize winner took home an Uncle Creepy statue courtesy of Dark Horse Comics, a set of VIP passes to Texas Frightmare Weekend 2012 from Frightmare head honcho Loyd Cryer, and a napsack stuffed with Masters of Horror DVDs, signed by their respective directors, courtesy of Anchor Bay Entertainment. Second and third place winners won the giant napsack full of signed DVDs, a print by yours truly and a few other goodies. Thanks again to the winners and all who entered. We’re thinking of doing it again next year so sharpen those pencils, fog up those lenses and keep those creative juices flowin’!

GRAND PRIZE WINNER – James S. Cole
James actually submitted two entries, bookends alerting the media to both humans and zombies for the impending apocalypse, which we thought was quite clever. The simple, bold use of colour, clean type and those groovy little design elements really tipped his submission in the net, earning this graphically sound effort first place.

2nd Prize Winner – Chris Kutcha
Always a sucker for the classics, Chris’ Karloff portrait blew us away. The firey reds, oranges and monster greens go together like hand in skeleton hand, making this entry a thing of beauty. The original painting itself is a real stunner and we almost had the Stilt Reaper roll him for it. His witty cover copy had us grinning and he certainly made it really tough to pick a grand prize winner.

3rd Prize Winner – Robert “Robzilla” Riffey – This entirely hand-drawn piece by Robert isn’t without its charms. We saw the potential with a black and white cover, which mimics the classic horror era and the well-rendered portraits of Glenn Strange certainly helped place this entry in the winning pile.

Honourable Mentions

Wendy Leaumont – Wendy created this assembled sculpture from the ground up. She then photographed it and turned it into a cover design. (Extra points for using the Ghoulish font too!) This was definitely the most unique entry of the bunch, so kudos Wendy, for making our decision that much harder.

Mike Parenti – While it didn’t really fit the contest criteria, we thought this original painting of a three-eyed beast was way too cool to ignore.

Krystal Fancey Beck – Also known as Zombified on Etsy, Krystal’s submission is a fun little tribute to one of our favourite horror films and her entry caught the eye of a few convention goers. Grandpa would be proud.

So there you have it. Congratulations again to all who entered, Dark Horse Comics, Anchor Bay Entertainment and Loyd Cryer for making this year at Texas Frightmare a weekend we’ll never forget! A special thanks to Sandy from Ghoultown for snapping some pictures during the announcements.

Tagged: art contests, horror art, texas frightmare weekend