An Interview With Miss Death

  As an Artist, I'm always on  the prowl for art that captures my attention like a beast locking it's jaws around the throat of it's prey. I came across Vicki Death's art while following her on Twitter and was instantly enamored. Here was an old school Low Brow style that jumped off the screen and commanded me to look, and of course, I did.


   I felt it fitting that she should be my very first interview of someone whose work I admire. So without further ado I give you a peek inside the mind of the drop dead gorgeous and extremely talented Miss Death!

Me:   Would you care to tell everyone a little bit about yourself? What ingredients make a Vicki Death?

Vicki Death:   I’m a traditional free-lance artist from the North West of England. I’ve been painting, drawing and creating for as long as I care to remember. The ingredients that make up a Vicki Death are lots of horror, tattoos, cigarettes, tea and a variety of random weird shit. 

Me:   What is your earliest memory of loving horror and how do you think it shaped who you are and what you do today?

Vicki Death:   One of my earliest memories of loving horror was from when I was about 4 or 5 years old. I was sick and both my parents had to work so I went to spend the day at my Nans. She had a huge box of various videos and asked me if I wanted to watch any. Whilst rummaging through them I found a video of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Something about the image on the front made me want to watch it. Surprisingly my Nan put it on and let me do so. I watched in both horror and awe. Something about it fascinated me and when the end credits started rolling, I just wanted to watch it again. My Nan was pretty much the one who got me into horror, she loved all the old Vincent Price films and we’d have film nights where we’d watch a load of them together. I was always drawing monsters and weird stuff that I’d see in these films so the love of drawing monsters comes from there. There are far many other aspects that shape who I am today, both in horror and otherwise. 

Me:   In regards to your art, what made you decide to combine classic horror films and old school tattoo design?

Vicki Death:   They’re two of my greatest loves in life! (Apart from tea, of course) I didn’t necessarily decide to combine the two, it just sort of happened. The traditional western tattoo style is so fun to work with, it’s simple, dark, bold and you can draw pretty much anything in that style. I think the darkness of the style works beautifully with horror, both classic and modern. 

Me:   What kind of preparation do you do for any particular painting?

Vicki Death:   It varies on the painting itself, what mediums I’m using and what the actual image it is that I plan on creating. If it’s a subject I’m not too familiar with I like to do research to go behind it, and make sure I can get the piece as accurate as possible. But a lot of the time I’ll just have a general idea in my head and go from there. A lot of stuff is ‘make it up as I go along’ sort of thing. 

Me:   What medium do you prefer to work in and why?

Vicki Death:   Acrylic is my favourite and most used medium. I love how it can be used in it’s more natural state where you can gain lots of texture or it can be used more like a watercolour, but it’s still bold and bright. It’s also perfect to use with multiple materials, not just paper or canvas.

Me:   Who are some horror icons and artistic greats that you greatly admire and why?

Vicki Death:   I love a lot of the Universal Monster actors, Lugosi and Karloff of course, apart from being handsome chaps, they had this mystery to them that to this day I still find fascinating, as well as performing some of my favourite horror scenes. Also, Bruce Campbell. Who doesn’t love that guy? He’s a genius! I don’t feel I need to explain why or how. 
On the art front, most of the artists I admire are lowbrow and tattoo artists. People such as Vince Ray, Johnny Ace, Johnny Crap, Angelique Houtkamp, Allan Graves, Mattie Macabre plus various others. 

Me:   If you weren't painting horror, what do you think you'd be painting instead?

Vicki Death:   Probably more traditional tattoo related stuff, pin-up girls and vintage inspired goodies. I paint these anyway. I like to mix things up now and again. I go through phases were one week I’ll paint nothing but horror stuff, then the next will be more traditional/vintage tattoo based. I love the vintage era of the 30’s/40’s/50’s, it was glamorous, beautiful and stylish. It makes for good art subjects and works perfectly with the traditional tattoo stuff.

Me:   Do you have a dream project or painting that you've always wanted to do? If so, what is it?

Vicki Death:   I do, but I tend to be greedy and not share ideas. So you’ll all just have to hold tight and see what creations I come up with in my laboratory next. Bwahahaha!

Me:   And Lastly, just for a bit of fun...What's your all time favorite horror film and why?

Vicki Death:   I've been asked this question on numerous occasions, and each time I can never choose just one particular film. As I mentioned earlier, I love the Universal Monsters, in particular The Bride of Frankenstein and Dracula. Both were beautifully made films and told brilliant stories. The character of the Monster in TBOF is superb to watch, I can relate to his character in the film. More modern horror that I love is Texas Chainsaw Massacre for introducing me to the world of horror and The Evil Dead series for being fun, creative and having a brilliant sense of humour.

To see more of Vicki Death's works please visit: http://www.vickideath.co.uk

You can also follow her on Twitter: @VickiDeath

All artwork is ©2011 Vicki Death and has been used with permission.