Slasher Sale: Elvira is Queen!

In celebration of my idol’s birthday…….
Please enjoy 10% off all Elvira inspired creations in my Etsy shop today!
Discount will already be applied to items that qualify. No coupon code needed!

And for fun, here is a collage of some of my own personal and favorite Elvira moments from over the years! Including me dressed up like her for Halloween when I was little. Yes, I really have loved her for as long as I can remember.  And when you see my quote “when other little girls wanted to be ballerinas, I wanted to be Elvira” it really is true. It still is! Much love to Cassandra Peterson on her special day!

Living Dead Girl Nicole’s “Yours Cruelly” portrait featured on Elvira’s Instagram Page

Stay Spooky!
LDG Nicole

Spitting Image: Mommy Weirdest

Time to check another vision off of my artist bucket list. This time it’s my all time 2 favorite TV Sitcom Moms.  They are beautiful, mysterious, sexy, cookey macabre moms that goth girls want to be like and goth boys wants to be with. They not only adorn the walls of our home but also adorn my arm as a part of my tattoo sleeve. And when they were not in character these 2 actresses were still drop dead GOREgeous!

That’s right I did a split face portrait of Yvonne DeCarlo as Lily Munster (The Munsters) and Carolyn Jones as Morticia Addams (The Addams Family).

I call this one “Mommy Weirdest”……

Are you as obsessed and in awe of these 2 BOOtiful woman like I am? Then go get a print or t-shirt of this art piece in my Etsy Shop! Want to see more of my portrait pieces? Visit the Spitting Image page of my Portfolio Website and don’t forget to contact me for commission work!

Stay Spooky!
LDG Nicole

Happy Beautiful Freaks Fest!

Today marks the beginning of Beautiful Freaks Fest! An online celebration of all the beautiful freaky people out there and the things that they love. It probably comes at no surprise to most of you that I would take part in this. In the words of Lydia Deetz “I myself am strange and unusual”. Which is why I decided to use this opportunity to give you a little background on myself and my art.

I have been doing art since I was a young batling. The minute I was able to pick up a crayon I knew this was what I was meant to do. CREATE! When I wasn’t religiously watching Labyrinth  I was using markers to make my Barbie’s look “different” and entering coloring contests to win tickets to the circus. I also always took in anything my Dad would teach me when it came to art. That is why my coloring contest entries actually had shading (those other kids didn’t stand a chance ha ha).

When I was given an assignment in school I always ended up doing something different then everyone else. When I was in the 5th grade we had to do a drawing along with a small essay about a bird. I chose an owl. Most likely influenced by my Mom (who had passed away) and loved them and had statues and macrame versions of them all over our house. I will never forget when they hung all the drawings up in the hall for the parent teacher conference. Here were all these beautiful, colorful birds drawn perched on branches and then there was mine….  an owl in mid flight with a mouse captured in its talon. And to me it was just as beautiful if not more so then the others. I also remember the parents pointing mine out. Maybe they liked it maybe they didn’t but I felt such satisfaction knowing mine stood out from the rest and it just came naturally to me. I have thrived for that feeling ever since.

Growing up and even as an adult I continue(d) to express myself in all aspects of life from my own personal fashion sense (if people don’t like crazy colored hair, tattoos and horror t-shirts that’s on them) to my artwork. My favorite quote is “Be yourself everyone else is already taken” (Oscar Wilde). If something I do suddenly becomes trendy I tend to stop and move on to the next thing. But I never let anyone stop me from being me. I find beauty in the dark, spooky and mythical. If something is odd or macabre I am usually drawn to it. Same goes for fairies and other fantasy creatures. Aspects of these things tend to come through in my creations as an extension of myself. I always tell people I grew up to be a mixture of my 2 childhood idols….Elvira and Jem. “Give me spooky and creepy with a side of glitter and glam… that’s me!” I find a lot of that comes out in my Dead Girl Decay accessories

People often ask me how the name Living Dead Girl Nicole started as my signature artist name. Some of my art online says my maiden name of Nicole Birmingham, my married name of Nicole Garcia and then there is of course Living Dead Girl Nicole. This name stuck with me thanks to my love for horror and all things that rock. What started as an online screen name due for my admiration of Rob Zombie stuck with me when people started to associate my artwork with the name as well. I found it rather fitting as Rob Zombie had always been someone that inspired me as an artist. I could relate to
his work and it always reminded me that it’s ok to break out of your shell and to continue doing what I love no matter how dark the genre is. If people wanted to associate me and my artwork in that way then I was honored to be known by it and still am.

I am also honored to have so many Freaky Fanatics and people who follow my work. Just the other day my friend posted this photo on Instagram. Its of his zombie welding helmet with my logo sticker on it. The caption says “represent”!

Having the support of people like this is what makes me keep creating! It means you love what I do and are proud to embrace the beautiful freaks that you are!

AND to celebrate just that here is a coupon code! Just put in code BEAUTIFULFREAKS17 at check out in my Etsy shop and watch 13% get slashed off your orders (of $5 or more)! This code is only good during the Beautiful Freaks Fest so make sure to place your orders before Monday!

And to end this post with a rocking bang here is my girl Kimberly Freeman of One Eyed Doll singing a song that should be this event’s anthem! When your done rocking out take a click over to Little Gothic Horrors blog page to see all the other blogs participating in the Beautiful Freaks Fest and go visit their pages! Don’t forget to show some comment love on their posts too! Us freaks need to unite 😉

Stay Spooky!
LDG Nicole

Inspirations: Finally meeting the monster man himself… Cleve Hall

From my previous posts you all know I have always had mad admiration for and supported the work of Cleve Hall and his daughter Constance. They have been in the monster making industry for a ton of years before SyFy’s Monster Man. However, they were the first to bring monster making into our homes (on our television sets). They showed the world the importance of making hand made creations vs always going with CGI to bring monsters and horror movies to life. When it happened it was a huge breakthrough for dark artists everywhere. It not only supported us but gave people a better understanding and opened some minds to the idea of what dark art is all about and why we love what we do. It also gave younger audiences inspiration of what they can be when they grow up..if you love drawing monsters and don’t want to be a doctor or lawyer.. draw monsters!  I wish so badly there was something like this out there for me when I was younger that showed me the outlets of a career I never knew existed.

This is actually part of the conversation I had with Cleve last night… in PERSON! I finally got to meet him and even though I thought I was going to have to stand in line like everyone else as a part of a meet in greet it actually happened quite differently and rather perfectly. You see we brought Frankenhearse out last night to the Dupage Haunted Halloween Flea Market (very cool event!!) and ended up being asked to put it on display in front of one of the buildings. Needless to say it was a huge hit with the people attending and the promoter Bob was very happy we brought it.

The coolest part of the night though was when we walked away for a while and came back to find Cleve (a big hearse enthusiast) checking out Frankenhearse. Frank was like “Babe I think that’s Cleve by the hearse” We ran over and he was right! I walked up to him and introduced myself and immediately he knew who I was and gave me a big hug. He told me that the Cleve mini zombie head I made him is doing great and sits by his TV. That of course made my day…. month… year! The man is a monster making legend and MY creation is on display in his home! I am still smiling. The greatest part is he had time to kill before judging the costume contest in the building right by the hearse so Frank and I got to have a really nice conversation with him and actually hang out.

We talked a little about the show as I know that is something people probably talk his ear off about. I just told him that as an artist my appreciation for them doing the show was it gave me a behind the scenes glimpse into the creative process. To be able to see how they worked to create something from an idea turned into a physical thing that came to life on set blew my mind. It was the closest thing to me being able to experience that myself and I was grateful for that.

A very special thank you to Cleve for taking the time to talk with me and making my first time at the Halloween Haunted Flea Market such a memorable one! It’s not very common for people to get to meet those who inspire them in person. I am so grateful to have gotten this opportunity and even more so for the one on one time with such a legend.

Stay Spooky!
LDG Nicole