Necronom V

Hans Ruedi Giger had the most profound influence on my development as an artist. The first encounter was through Omni magazine — issues bought through the seventies where Giger’s work appeared in those pages. Then came Alien, and after that the big art books at the local library. His imagery was unlike anything else: monochromatic, technically staggering, edgy in a way that felt genuinely dangerous. The Necronomicon series sat in one of those library books and Necronom V stopped me cold. Horror, nature and sexuality in a single composition.

No poster existed to buy. So the only option was to make one.

The library had an A3 photocopier. Two pages copied, trimmed and joined. A grid drawn over the top. Then the same grid scaled up onto a large piece of thick card — the only method available for achieving photorealism in the early nineties. The grid system was well established — the old masters used it and the photorealists after them.

The plan was to airbrush it. Giger worked in airbrush and the smooth tonal gradations of his work made that obvious. It was harder than expected — masking was laborious, the ink clogged constantly. Eventually the airbrush was abandoned in favour of Liquitex acrylic, applied by hand.

The card wasn’t quite the same ratio as the original so the lower portion was extended slightly to compensate. The palette stayed faithful — all of Giger’s Necronomicon work was monochromatic and this follows that exactly.

The finished painting went straight onto the bedroom wall. That was the original intent and it was achieved. More importantly, something else happened in the making of it — the realisation that copying was the oldest and most honest way to learn. The Dutch masters of the seventeenth century knew it. Their apprenticeship system was built on it.

This is the painting where everything started.

Detail views of realism painting Necronom V