Monster Memories: 'Spooky Chews'

Way back (circa. 1983) I collected ‘Spooky Chews’ badges I have absolutely no memory of the sweets themselves but the badges were firmly etched into my memory. Each badge represented a classic monster Dracula, The Frankenstein Monster, The Wolfman, The Mummy etc. these little badges mark the early beginnings of my fascination with all things monster related. Fast forward three or four years later and the badges were long gone, lost to the mists of time but one day as I played in the garden I made a chance discovery! To my amazement I discovered a single badge under the grass! Somehow a Wolfman badge had survived the elements and several years of mowing and I now had it in my possession again! It’s a vivid memory, as I held it in my 7 year old hand I remember thinking, “I’m sure they used to be bigger!” Despite being pleased with my discovery I’m afraid to say that history repeated itself and I lost that badge again.
Onwards to 2012 I was browsing on eBay and was amazed to find that Wolfman badge again! CEREAL PREMIUMS TOYS KELLOGGS FREE GIFTS MONSTER BADGES MUNCH CRISPS SMITHS ???’
I am happy to report that I won the auction but naturally I then had to acquire the complete set, not easy because if they came up for auction at all they would either be over priced, sold separately or in an expensive group lot made up of many doubles. But here they are all 13 of them! Dracula, Wolfman, Frankenstein Monster, Mummy, Hunchback, Skeleton, Ghost, Ogre? Two-headed man, Viking- troll- man and slime monster and all of them lovingly mounted and framed and hanging in my studio and I simply adore them! Being ever enthralled by nostalgia these items hark back to a simpler time that saw me sitting in front of the television set watching The Munsters, The Groovie Goolies or The Real Ghostbusters eating something endorsed by the Honey Monster, the Chewits Monster or the Monster Munch Monsters! Which leads me neatly to the next item on the agenda...

The re-vamped amalgamated banner courtesy of FixMyPhoto

Monster Munch! As the main site approaches completion I am attempting to amalgamate my other sites, first up is my Monster Munch Collection site. As you may have guessed this site is devoted to all things Monster Munch… For those of you who hadn’t guessed Monster Munch is a brand of baked corn snack (or crisps as we call them in the United Kingdom). Launched in the late 1970’s and aimed primarily at children the crisp manufacturer Smiths produced many items of promotional material ranging from fan clubs to television adverts and to someone like me that is both interested in design, relishes nostalgia and loves monsters these items are simply delightful. Despite being a long term Monster Munch fan it wasn’t until 2003 that I embarked on this strange hobby, I hadn’t intended to embark on a mission to acquire all things Monster Munch related but the first item I bought was a Blue Monster glove puppet! I had no idea it even existed until I had found it on ebay but it fascinated me and from then on I have been collecting ever since. I created the site in 2010 as an attempt to catalogue the items in my collection and highlight these wonderful examples of 1980’s – 1990’s promotional designs and provide a back story on them and since creating the site I have had people contacting me, thanking me for bringing back fond memories for them (an unexpected bonus). So do please check out the site for yourselves and see what nostalgic memories it conjures up and feel free to share your monster memories!

© Arfon Jones 2012. All images are copyrighted throughout the world

New Book! The Life of the Air Kraken

In my last post I mentioned an up and coming stall on the Mechanised Market at this year’s Waltz on the Wye. Well I’m pleased to announce that the event will also see the launch of a new series of books that will be written by James Richardson-Brown and illustrated by me!
‘The Brajj’s Guides The Life of the Air Kraken’ will be the first of several guides created for steampunks about the various species that they might encounter on their adventures!
As the title suggests this book tackles the Air Kraken! With 31pages featuring 11 full-page illustrations and recounts man’s historic struggle against this fearsome beast up right up to ‘present day’ also discussing the science, physiology and social effect of the Krake Volanti!

Priced at £2.50 in paperback or £1.50 for the electronic version, this book can be pre-ordered right now! Anyone pre-ordering the book will also be sent on a quest to discover a dark secret about the Air Kraken! And on the 18th of April one randomly selected person will receive a free copy of the book signed by James and myself, along with a goody bag of assorted artefacts!
And that’s not all! There is a second competition open to all that buy the book who simply complete this sentence “I think the next Brajj’s guide should be ______ because _____.” The winner will receive a very special prize, namely the opportunity to be immortalised, (in text and illustration) as a character in the next guide!

Here’s a preview page...
As a life long, armchair Cryptozoologist I have found illustrating the guide to be a real treat. As a child I grew up reading ‘The Unexplained Magazine’ and watching television shows such as ‘Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World’ ‘Michael Aspel’s Strange But True?’ along with anything presented by the Reverend Lionel Fanthorpe! So to be able to bring this ‘mythical’ creature ‘to life’ along with James, (who as far as arch-nemesis go is actually quite talented) has been delightful, I look forward to seeing you all and hearing your feedback in May!

© Arfon Jones 2012 All images are copyrighted throughout the world.

Full Steam Ahead!

It certainly has been busy these last few months! Nevertheless I am chugging along at ‘full steam’ in preparation for the Waltz on the Wye event on the 18th-20th May 2012! Held in the beautiful medieval town of Chepstow, located on the River Wye on the English/Welsh border, Wales’ Steampunk and Neo-Victorian Weekender is back for a second helping I’m pleased to report that the logo that will adorn this fabulous event was created by me. Having been approached by event organisers Rachel and Andy, I set about creating the logo which features a mechanical/ clockwork couple waltzing inside Chepstow’s landmark bandstand. The logo can now be found on the event web site (tickets can also be bought there!) Having had a marvellous time last year we decided to go again only this time round I will have a stall at the Mechanised Market on both the Saturday and Sunday. But what will I be selling? Well, on the event website I am advertised as, “Arfon Jones, Purveyor of Artistic Wonderment and Atrocities will be trading in ephemera, glow in the dark portraits plus a portrait service!” Which pretty much says it all really, but I plan to have one or two additional items… watch this space!

On the subject of steam the good folks at the Ladies of Steampunk Calendar, who are currently working on the 2013 calendar, recently appeared on 'Good Day Sacramento'. In the interview they discussed the calendar and the steampunk genre in general and they shared some examples of the 2012 calendar one of them being December’s Time Traveller who of course has my condensed T-Rex in her possession! Follow the link to see the interview and while you’re at it follow the link to their facebook page for further news and updates!

© Arfon Jones 2012 All images are copyrighted throughout the world.

It's Norman the Northern Zombie!

Zombies have certainly been in high demand these last few years, between ‘How To Survive A Zombie Apocalypse’ and ‘Zombies from Ireland’ I have illustrated many a staggering brain eating corpse! Here is another one, Norman the Northern Zombie!
Online comedian Neil Baxter’s hilarious character originally started out as Neil “putting slop on my face and taking a photo” and calling it "Zombie Pie Eater". Then as a blatant attempt to attract viewers on Youtube and draw in the George A. Romero's fan base he named the second video "Diary of the Dead" check out these videos and find out what Norman has been up to…

With a passion for creating comedy characters, Norman is just one of Neil’s creations that have taken up residence on Youtube you can also find the wonderfully endearing Barry Barmcake on there as well. (A character that came about after Neil posted various comments on Facebook about Lady Gaga staying over) Follow the link to Barry’s page and find his videos on there!

© Arfon Jones 2012 All images are copyrighted throughout the world.

Zombies from Ireland poster concept drawing

In light of the Zombies from Ireland poster being so well received I thought I would share one of the concept drawings used which features lead actress Sian Davies who plays a zombie stripper in the film!
Horror and attractive women are always a winning combination so it was a pleasure to work on this project with Sian who not only works as a professional model she also works as a wrestling ring girl for Britannia Wrestling Promotions.Follow the link and show your support!

In other Zombies from Ireland news, the trailer has gone viral! Interest continues to grow with an article in the North Wales Chronicle along with a competition to win the movie poster signed by the director Ryan Kift, star Sian Davies and me (the artist/ designer). The competition has received an amazing response I met up with Ryan and Sian on the closing date of the competition to sign the poster ready to be posted out to the lucky winner which will soon be announced.

The North Wales Chronicle article

Star, Director and Artist

For further details regarding Zombies from Ireland join the facebook group

UPDATE: the drawing has been added to Live Nude Ghouls a site devoted to “the ghoulishness of others”

© Arfon Jones 2012. All images are copyrighted throughout the world.

Zombies from Ireland Movie Poster and Trailer

Back in July I 'reported' on the filming of a local based movie entitled Zombies from Ireland and how I joined a horde of zombies and crossed the Menai Bridge for the film’s climax. Since then I was commissioned by the film’s writer/ director Ryan Kift to produce the film’s poster. The film, (due for releases this summer) tells about the horrific by-products of the government’s, failed attempts at a swine-flu vaccination tested on convicted criminals so the poster was painted in blood red. It also features several members of the cast including the film’s Co-Writer Sian Davies and former Big Brother contestant Marcus Akin with the Menai Bridge and a tank thrown in for good measure! The poster can be seen on both the film’s facebook page and the first official trailer check it out now!

© Arfon Jones 2012. All images are copyrighted throughout the world.

Self-Promotional Items

With a logo that needs to be inserted into the masses’ psyche and a web site in the works (do please join the facebook group to be notified of this event!) I thought I would showcase a selection of the self-promotional items that have been created over the past few months…

Business cards with free dinosaur! 7 different species of prehistoric animals to collect in 6 different colours!









Stickers, these beauties not only have a fine quality gloss to them they can also be stuck on practically anything! Envelopes, robots, computers, passers by…






Mug and cake toppers! The mug is not only dishwasher safe it will also subliminally ‘encourage’ the person you are sitting opposite to visit the web site while you drink tea! The cake is decorated with an edible logo icing cake topper and serves as a tasty subliminal back up!






Badges, like the stickers are simple items that can be handed out to anyone (with the exception of young-unsupervised children) Loved these badges they were recently handed out at the Asylum event back in September and were created by GCD. I should say that GCD are purveyors of high quality goods ranging from badges to T-shirts at a very good price either check out their web site or facebook group for more details and tell them Arfon sent you!


© Arfon Jones 2011-2012. All images are copyrighted throughout the world.