OK, here's a kindertrauma that's a bit different than most. In the ‘80s there was a poster that I saw in a couple of Deck the Walls shops that freaked me the hell out. I believe the artwork was also showcased in Omni magazine (RIP) as well.
The painting was of a horned, green, lizard-like creature wearing a human mask and (if memory serves me right) reading a storybook to some unsuspecting children. It was painted in a hyper-real, neo-surrealistic style very close to Michael Parkes' style. In fact, it may be a Michael Parkes since many of his paintings were being sold as posters at that time. Unfortunately, after weeks of searching I've been unable to locate this masterpiece of lurking terror.
Anyone remember this painting/poster?
Thanks,
— bdwilcox
Ah! I swear I've seen this one at the library where I work on the cover of a children's book. However, I can't remember what book and it might have long since been discarded. I do know it would've been in the 398s, however, which are fairy tales. It's also where you'd find books on urban myths and ones like Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark.
Any chance it could be this?
http://www.pre-cert.co.uk/cgi-bin/cms/Film/72327
I also seem to remember there was a poster or VHS cover for Deadtime Stories that was similar but have had no luck finding it, could be remembering it wrong.
stevil1981,
Though the picture you linked to is pretty cool, it's not the one I was looking for. Your pic is dark and foreboding, while the one I'm looking for is rather light and ethereal, with an almost tempura palette. It was that quality that made it even creepier since at first appearance it looked like a typical fantasy/sci-fi painting. But upon closer inspection it had a definite horror undertone that you would miss without close inspection, much like the unsuspecting children in the painting.
JJR,
It very well could have been on a book cover as it's a very disturbing and eye-catching image. I believe it may have been on the cover of Omni magazine at one time and I'm currently browsing through all their covers to see if I can find it. So far, no dice. 🙁
OK, it wasn't on the cover of Omni, but may very well have been an illustration within an issue.
I guess you could say the monster in the human mask was a dragon, but not a huge dragon like most people think of. More like a hippo sized dragon who wears a creepy human mask and reads stories to little children…
Yeah, the more you describe it the more I swear it sounds like a book cover. Or something that was painted for something else and eventually used as a book cover.