Mel's Inktober 18 - Jack Skellington

Jack Skellington has become a bit of a staple in my Inktober stuff nowadays. 

It helps that he's relatively easy to draw and my FanX pins with his face on them were the biggest seller by a long shot.

I liked him okay as a kid, but I learned to really love him as I grew up. Next to Batman and Snape, he's had the greatest influence on my Beowulf. 

Beowulf is the unofficial Werewolf King because he's the longest-living and most famous werewolf of them all (he's pretty much the only one to die a peaceful death at a ripe old age) and he's very quick and slick, moving with perfect ease between the manners of a monster and a gentleman. I always have a ball writing his dialogue, too.

He may not have a love interest; he did fall in love at least once and he let her go because he couldn't bear to give her such a hellish life. She deserved a lot better than him, but she didn't shun him even after seeing him up close and they never forgot each other long after they parted ways. But he warms up to the Lactantiuses and Windwillows (Reid and Malachi in particular) more and more, deeming them his official family. 

"My dearest friend, if you don't mind,
I'd like to join you by your side
Where we can gaze into the stars
And sit together,
Now and forever,
For it is plain as anyone can see
We're simply meant to be."

2023 Inktober 22 - Jack and Sally

My dearest friend,
If you don't mind,
I'd like to join you by your side
Where we can gaze into the stars

And sit together
Now and forever
For it is plain
As anyone can see,
We're simply meant to be

The best Tim Burton couple out there, no questions asked. They don't make couples like this anymore.

Provided it's done correctly, I have no problem with lovers starting out as childhood friends, and then their relationship gets "upgraded." For that matter, your spouse should be your best friend as well. Dad always called Mom his best friend, and vice versa.

I used Jack and Sally's relationship as the basis for the romantic relationship between some of my own characters, like Romulus and Kyla, Reid and Lara, Oliver and Angela, and especially Kaylee and Troy. In the beginning, each considered the other "the best friend I could ever ask for." Then they take it a few steps further, and nothing really changes after all, except for the better.

When all's said and done, they're "simply meant to be."

2023 Inktober 9 - Beowulf and Jack

Beowulf got the lion's share of his charisma and skill from none other than Jack Skellington. It was Severus Snape and Darth Vader that convinced me to make Beowulf a more sympathetic character, but Jack helped me make Beowulf more fun.

 

 

I always have so much fun writing Beowulf's dialogue. You never know what's going to come out of his mouth, he's the King of Sarcasm, and he's got a wicked sense of humor. At the same time, he can be a perfect gentleman, even when he's on all fours. He's quite the acrobat, too.

 

And if there's any song out there that could serve as Beowulf's theme, "Jack's Lament" would be it. All you really have to do is swap a word here and a word there: 

 

There are few who'd deny at what I do, I am the best 

For my talents are renowned far and wide 

When it comes to surprises in the moonlit night,

 I excel without ever even trying 

 

With the slightest little effort of my beast-like charms, 

I have seen grown men give out a shriek 

With a flash of my fangs and a well-placed growl, 

I have swept the very bravest off their feet

 

Yet year after year, it's the same routine 

And I grow so weary of the sound of screams

 And I, Beowulf, the Werewolf King,

 Have grown so tired of the same old thing

 

Oh, somewhere deep inside of these bones 

An emptiness began to grow 

There's something out there, far from my home 

A longing that I've never known

 

I'm the master of fright, and a demon of light
And I'll scare you right out of your pants
To that poor, foolish ducky, I'm Master Unlucky

I shall seize them before they see their chance

And if they end up dead, I can take off their head
To recite Shakespearean quotations
No animal nor man can scream like I can
With the fury of my recitations

But who here would ever understand
That the Werewolf King with the glistening grin
Would tire of his crown? If they only understood
He'd give it all up if he only could

Oh, there's an empty place in my bones
That calls out for something unknown
The fame and blame, come year after year,
Does nothing for these empty tears

So, should Beowulf's path ever cross with Jack's path, the two would get along beautifully. One legend to another. One master of fright to another. 

 

My Inktober 2022 - 14 - The Pumpkin King

The nice thing about Jack Skellington is that he's very easy to draw, and yet the public positively eats him up. I've heard a couple of people who don't like his movie sing praises about his character.  

And my Jack pins were the biggest hit by far.