My Work, My Monster

I’ve spent years shaping my own vision of Frankenstein — not as a simple retelling of Mary Shelley’s novel, but as a personal mythology rooted in Orkney’s storms, its loneliness, and its stark, sea‑carved landscapes. My Monster isn’t a creature of bolts and stitches. He’s a tall, skeletal figure with skull‑like anatomy, long tangled hair, and eyes that carry a lifetime of sorrow. I draw him as someone who remembers everything: the cruelty, the abandonment, the brief moments of hope, and the endless grief that followed.

My work with Frankenstein grew slowly, illustration by illustration, until it became its own world. The haunted‑ink style I use — dry‑brush strokes, splattered shadows, and cold storm‑lit colours — feels like the right language for him. It’s a style that lets me carve emotion directly into the page. Every line is a gust of wind, every shadow a memory he can’t escape.

My Frankenstein is a mixture of illustration, lore, and personal interpretation. It’s a way for me to explore grief, isolation, and the strange beauty of the islands I live in. It’s also become a cornerstone of the BurnsInHell identity: a gothic, storm‑lit realism that ties all my projects together. The Monster is no longer just a character I draw; he’s a presence in my creative world, a figure who keeps returning in new forms, new moods, new storms.

This page is where I gather all of that — the artwork, the expansions, the Orkney connections, and the evolving mythology. It’s not a finished archive. It’s a living one, growing as I continue to explore who the Monster is, what he remembers, and how he moves through the haunted landscapes I create for him.