Monthly Archives: April 2019

Creator Spotlight: ALLAN MACRITCHIE

We’re coming up to week 4 of our artist spotlights celebrating 3 years of Knock Knock zines! We’ve previously spoken to some of our regular contributors to Knock Knock including Kevin T. Rogers, Michela Cicconi and Erika Price, this week we’re turning our spotlight onto macabre comic maker Allan MacRitchie. Allan has been contributing to Knock Knock since issue 4, and has experimented with comics, strips and even a fake film review. Read forth to catch a glimpse of Allan’s creative process and influences!

What got you into creating art? 

My parents are both creative and they encouraged me to start drawing. I also loved telling stories so comics became the perfect way for me to combine words and pictures. It’s only been in the last five years that I started making comics seriously and I’ve been self-publishing and tabling at conventions since 2016.

Are there any creators who influence your work and how?

Mike Mignola and Charles Burns use a lot of black ink and I do too- mainly to hide all the mistakes in my drawing. Also you can’t make horror comics without admiring/fearing Junji Ito.

Do you have a favourite piece of horror media?

Too many to list but off the top of my head: The League of Gentlemen, And Then Emily Was Gone by John Lees and Iain Laurie and Ari Aster’s Hereditary.

Do you have any projects coming up? 

I’m three pages into the second volume of Grave Wax– a supernatural mystery written by Heather Palmer and drawn by myself. Volume 1 was set in an isolated Highland town surrounded by creatures from the darkest corners of Scottish folklore. Now we’re moving the action to Glasgow where there’ll be murder, conspiracy and cults. If you’re a fan of Hellblazer check it out!

Your work has a very distinctive style, is there anything in particular which inspires your creative process?

I like to adapt how I draw to fit the tone of each story. Every time I make something I usually learn something from it that I can use for the next project. And the more I make the more I’m inspired to create new stuff.

Your stories tend to be very influenced by folklore, what is it that draws you to these types of tales?

I love monsters and mythology is full of them. Nothing fires up my brain more than great creature design.

What scares you the most? 

Opening up to people and exposing the horrible, blackened being that lives inside me. And yet here I am doing this interview.

What’s your favourite piece that you’ve submitted to Knock Knock?

The Adventures of Billy from the Nightmare Issue– I was trying to emulate the style of Winsor McCay’s Dream of the Rarebit Fiend and it’s possibly the darkest thing I’ve written so far. Also Family Dinner, from the Gourmet Edition, which Heather wrote about an aristocratic cannibal family. It’s gross. So much so that I look at the art and think, “I can’t believe we did that.”

You can follow more of Allan’s twisted works and artistic process through Twitter and Instagram.

You can also grab issues of Grave Wax (and we highly recommend you do) on Etsy

Catch up on Later issues of Knock Knock in our archive!

Creator Spotlight: ERIKA PRICE

As a celebration of the fact that we’ve been making our Knock Knock zines for 3 years, we have been doing a creator spotlight on some of our most regular contributors. So far we’ve interviewed Kevin T. Rogers and Michela Cicconi, this week we’re shining the spotlight on comic maker Erika Price. Erika started submitting work in our 6th issue of Knock Knock- Creature Feature and her distinctive art style and story telling method has stuck out to us since.

What got you into creating art? 

I’d always enjoyed painting but I think really it was when I started my GCSEs and I had art teachers who could see I had potential, but didn’t have the physical skills, and so pushed me to keep trying to reach slightly higher than where I was skill-wise and never let me give up and fail. then when I studied fashion I had a fashion illustration teacher who encouraged me to keep developing stylistically via repetition of the same idea over and over. I think that those teachers all sort of instilled a work ethic in me that made me suited to what I do now. As for getting interested in comics in particular, that came when I was very ill in my early 20s and I started to read some comics and very quickly wanted to make my own somehow, the idea of working on stuff that lasts longer than fashion does and tells stories was appealing.

Are there any creators who influence your work and how?

German expressionist art is a big influence, especially Kathe Kollwitz, Egon Schiele is another huge influence, Tsutomu Nihei’s books, Kieron Gillen has profoundly influenced the way I approach making comics too.

Do you have a favourite piece of horror media?

The Leopard by Sarah Horrocks, it’s just a beautifully made revenge slasher comic, it’s just gorgeous.

Do you have any projects coming up? 

I’m working on a webcomic called Disorder at the moment, it’s a stream of consciousness horror comic, that I create as art therapy. it’s kind of like if William Burroughs and Junji Ito made a diary comic together

Your work has an extremely unique style, is there anything in particular which inspires your creative process?

I’m pretty into formalism, so how I layout my pages is something that I think about a lot. with Knock Knock I try to take it as an exercise in thinking of a story in as short a time as possible, also more recently I’ve been trying to use them as a place to switch up my art style and try new things out.

How do you come up with the content of your stories? 

My Knock Knock pieces tend to be about either people going somewhere they shouldn’t/reaching too far and getting destroyed as a consequence, or people who are monstrous and have been abandoned to their self-destruction. this isn’t intentional though, just the pattern that’s emerged, I’m very psychoanalytical about my own work though, and both those story archetypes absolutely can apply to past parts of my life.

What scares you the most? 

not being able to be who I am. Dying. also, insects crawling into my ear.

What’s your favourite piece that you’ve submitted to Knock Knock?

probably the one I did for the disease issue, though I’m quite fond of the piece for tech noir too.

You can keep up to date with Erika’s work on Twitter and Instagram

Disorder is an ongoing series and you can read issues here.

All past issues of Knock Knock are available to read in our zine archive!

Creator Spotlight: MICHELA CICCONI

Week 2 of our continuing creator spotlights, last week we spoke to Kevin T. Rogers, this week we are interviewing Italian artist Michela Cicconi. Michela has been contributing stories, comics and illustrations to our Knock Knock horror zines since issue 2 in 2016. We instantly fell in love with her dark humour and unique style.

What got you into creating art?


You know when you’re a kid, you draw a lot, especially before learning to write? I basically kept that up (I can read and write). There wasn’t a time in my life when I haven’t been drawing or
painting. Growing up, that proclivity towards drawing evolved as my interests changed, incorporating art and comics, but what remains is the will to create something with my hands.

Are there any creators who influence your work and how?


That has actually always been one of my weaknesses. I appreciate art in different styles and means of expressions, but there isn’t one specific artist that mainly influenced me. I look at different ones, from time to time, looking for inspiration. I love the works of Alphonse Mucha, just to give you a name. I find ideas in books and music, when I work, I often listen to the CDs of Caparezza (Italian musician) on repeat, that keeps me focused.

Do you have a favourite piece of horror media?


I love horror movies, especially those involving malefic presences, devils, anything related to demonic possession and Satan toying with humanity. I basically consume every piece of crap with a slight resemblance to Omen.
In comics, I love the work of Ted Naifeh, that combines a dark atmosphere with a beautifully crafted sense of wonder.
One of the books that really made an impression on me as a kid was Vinegar Street by Philip Ridley, a bit claustrophobic, apocalyptic and distressing. Just my type. Add years of reading Bram Stoker and Anne Rice, of course.


Do you have any projects coming up? 


I’m going to bring my art prints (mainly linocuts) and comics to an independent maker’s fair in a short while. I hope to be able to finish a new series of four prints inspired by an early project I made on fantastic places. I am currently exhibiting only in Italy but I would love to go overseas, maybe to fairs, when I get the chance!
Other than that I’m really only hoping to get out of allergy season with my sanity intact.

Is there anything specific to growing up in Italy that has inspired your work or the horror comics you have contributed to Knock Knock?


You might have noticed that I didn’t mention any Italian book or movie answering about my favourite piece of media. I love Italian comics but mostly comedic and adventure ones, and they really are great.
Growing up in Italy, you hear many stories, very often. They go from ancient history to modern narrative but there is always a common need for recording what happened, what has been told or even just imagined. Anecdotes are told, re-told and changed to please the audience, it isn’t really important that they fit the truth.
Considering the history of Italian theatre, the oral tradition of telling stories to amuse people around us isn’t that surprising. That also connects to the sense of lost grandeur, of the good old days, of an empire dissolved (you might relate to that). In short, we look at the past.
That directly influences me when I imagine a story, classic myths and fairy tales mix with the fun of imagining infinite what-ifs and my own fears. All the stories I’ve done for Knock Knock are based on
legends or real places. Italian fairy tales, with their repeated stereotypes, the woods, the devil (as in evil being trying to outsmart you) are also part of my set of references.

You have a penchant for print making, what is it you like about that medium?


First, my BA is in Graphic Arts, as printmaking, that is my background. Printmaking, of course, allows you to make several originals of your artwork, that allows for larger distribution. Also, I’m kind of obsessive, I love spending hours carving a tiny piece of wood or linoleum and the all process (almost magical) of inking up, printing and finding out if you created a masterpiece or wasted good paper. I seldom know in advance.


What scares you the most? 

I’m easily scared. I fainted when they tried to take a drop of blood to check glycemia, I see shadows moving when I’m alone, I’m scared of people’s judgement (and of my judgement of them), I’m scared of dying, of meaninglessness, and I really, really dislike wasps.
That being said, I love horror, I love reading and telling stories about all the above, I think it’s the same for most people.
(They really had to work hard to get that drop of blood; my veins are under my control).

What’s your favourite piece that you’ve submitted to Knock Knock?


I have to say it’s Il Corvo e la Strega (The Witch and the Crow) from summer issue 2018. It was fun to draw and fun to write, and, even if it’s not strictly horror (it suggests horrors to come), it’s the comic in which I was able to convey the mood I wanted.

You can see more of Michela’s work as well as her process on instagram: @MichelaCicconiGraffica

You can also check out her original Lino prints, labels and other beautiful artworks on her Etsy.

You can read our previous zines in our zine archive here.

Creator Spotlight: KEVIN T. ROGERS

With issue 12 of our horror zine series Knock Knock, we’re coming up to the 3rd year anniversary of creating horror zines. to celebrate we thought we’d do a weekly creators spotlight with some of our zine regulars. For our first week we thought it fitting to feature Kevin T. Rogers, the only contributor who has been in every issue of Knock Knock to the date of this article.
Kevin’s darkly humoured stories are always a pleasure to receive. His work strikes the balance of horror and humour perfectly and there is always a clever surprise at the end.
Kevin has recently had his screenplay Once Bitten adapted into a short film currently touring various film festivals around the world.

Below we have an interview with Kevin, exploring his writing habits and influences.

How did you first get into writing? 

 I was given a copy of Richmal Crompton’s Just William, for my fifth birthday & reading it was so fantastic, that I wanted to know how it was done! How did people actually write such enthralling and entertaining stuff? And I’ve been trying to find out ever since! 

Are there any creators who influence your work and how?

Too many to get anywhere near naming all of them – and from all sorts of different genres and fields. But sticking to Horror/Fantasy/ Sci-fi, I’d have to mention the specifically Gothic writers of the nineteenth century – from Mary Shelley (and Jane Austen’s satire, Northanger Abbey) through to the fin-de-siècle masterpieces by Stoker, Stevenson, Wilde. Plus of course the ‘three weird sisters’, the Brontes, with particular attention to Emily (novel & selected poems.) And a whole host of others of the period who were fellow travellers or dabblers – like Poe, Conan Doyle, H.G.Wells, Dickens, etc. 

In terms of 20th/21st Century work, I tend – though by no means exclusively – towards performance media – particularly screen. I’ll watch – and enjoy – almost anything from Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon serials of the 1930s, to all of the post-war ‘biggies’ – Carpenter, Cronenberg, Craven, Romero – and lots more in between.

      I suppose the influence of all of the above, manifests itself in my interest in what I guess are general things like structure, humour, characterisation – and overall great storytelling. Whether I’m a competent student of their example though, is another matter entirely!

Do you have a favourite piece of horror media?

Not really – just anything that I think is great in whatever form it takes.

Do you have any projects coming up? 

I’m always trying to work on something or other – some of which might see the light of day, most probably won’t. But practice is never wasted. I’m currently revising my comic/Fantasy e-book, Carol Starr & The Dump of Discarded Charactersand thinking about a possible follow-up.

You’re the writer of the award-winning short film ‘Once Bitten’, how different is it writing for film compared to short stories?

Well, for me, there is a certain amount of cross-over – most specifically, efficient three-act-structure, getting the characterisation right, and hopefully a story that  draws the audience in.Then with a finished script it’s over to the director – in the case of Once Bitten . . . , Pete Tomkies of Punk Duck who is brilliant! Pete also assembled a fantastic cast – Lauren Ashley Carter, Garth Maunders & Sir Dickie Benson, and an award-nominated-and-winning crew. So I was incredibly lucky with that script. With short stories, I suppose I work more as writer and director.

Which medium is your favourite? 

Whichever of my work that is liked and has any success!

What scares you the most? 

EVERYTHING – I’m the most phobic person you could ever meet! But especially politicians – they actually think they’re doing us a favour. In terms of horror fiction, though – I’ve been terrified both by film and the written word equally.

What’s your favourite story that you’ve submitted to Knock Knock? 

I have a certain soft spot for, A TASTE OF HIS OWN MEDICINE – because there’s a sort of extra, almost hidden, twist-in-the-tail that comes after the main one. The trick is in the switching from third-person to first in the very last line!

You can check out Kevin’s Ebook, Carol Starr and the Dump of Discarded Characters on Amazon UK. You can also read all of Kevin’s previous stories in our zine archive here.

Kevin can be contacted here: kevint.rogers@virginmedia.com