I finished another exclusive monsterpiece for this year’s Monster Market. This is my 2nd wooden panel coffin painting, and it’s a Count Von Count portrait drawn on with acrylic paint markers.
It was painted on a I found the wood panels online from Trekell. I loved the coffin panels so I bought a few different ones (this one is 6,5″x12″). They have a pre-drilled hole on the back for hanging. You can gesso and paint on them with other mediums such as oils and acrylics. Check out their Facebook page for some demos.
I recently did another one of Nosferatu on a 6″x12″ panel. Both are going to be Monster Market exclusives in October. “Two, two coffin paintings! Ah, ah, ah..!”
I didn’t prime this panel, but I did lightly sand the sides of the panel to knock down a few rough spots I felt. I then started off coloring the inside routed area with an acrylic black Sharpie Creative marker, and the outer sides with a wide black Sharpie oil based marker. I recently picked up some Golden primer/sealer while I was out at Casey’s Art Box and will experiment with it on a future panel.
For this one I painted the “frame” area with a gold IVSUN acrylic marker. I was kinda happy with the antique look the gold metallic marker created.
I traced the shape of the coffin onto a piece of tracing paper, and then I taped that piece of paper onto my laptop and scaled the image of the Count to fit the coffin shape. I then traced that onto the paper, keeping the drawing simple and getting down just the outline and a couple details.
I then flipped the paper over, scribbled some lead from a yellow #2 pencil. I turned the paper over, taped it to the coffin panel, and transferred the drawing onto it.
I removed the paper and then tightened up the pencil sketch, adding the details and designating dark areas. I then filled in the background color with an acrylic orange/melon Sharpie acrylic paint marker.
I then started to fill in the green cape and purple flesh/fleece.
I then filled in the hair, eyebrows, and suit in with an acrylic carbon black IVSUN marker.
Next was adding in the white and lighter grey areas like his shirt, bow tie, and buttons.
I then used a dark grey on his lapels, and a red marker on his sash.
After I painted his tooth and trimmed the sash with yellow, and started shaping up the hands and face with purple.
I did a bit of stippling with another shade of violet, adding shadows with black, and tightening up the suit coat with the carbon black.
I started adding highlights with a white IVSUN marker, and inking the outlines and details with a black Pigma Micron pen.
I added a bit more stipple to the background with a slightly lighter orange. I was going to leave it just flat/solid orange or add some bats, but thought it might work better with just a slight effect like the stipple. I then went over the highlights with a white Prismacolor pencil.
I was nervous as heck to add the metallic silver ring around the monocle..! Thankfully it went okay and I didn’t have to do any repair work. I finished off the monocle with a bit more white colored pencil.
The last thing I did was add a bit of shading on the eyes, shirt, tie, and tooth with my #2 pencil. Once I was finished with the painting I took it outside and sprayed a few light coats of Krylon Workable Fixative. I use it on all of my marker illustrations. It’s best to do light overlapping coats than a heavy one, and is best to spray in a well ventilated area.
I’ll have these two coffin pieces and several other art items including prints, sketchcovers, sketchcards, and stickers for sale October 10-16 at the Memphis Monster Market. There will be tons of other great Halloween, horror, and sci-fi items for sale as well at this holiday pop-up shop downtown. Hope to scare ya there!
Monster Market 2025
October 10-16, 2025
The Medicine Factory
85 Virginia Ave W
Memphis, Tennessee (downtown)
Opening Night Party
Friday, October 10, 2025
5:00PM-10:00PM
Oh, and don’t forget about the Memphis Comic Expo/MCX on September 13 & 14 at the Memphis Sports & Event Center. I’ll be set up there all weekend…DonnieConROCKS!
Lin