The Art of Chad Savage


CHAD SAVAGE BIO 

Chad Savage was a dark artist from the moment his pudgy little hands were able to set crayon to paper. He was the kid that loved Halloween better than Christmas, rooted for Godzilla and Dracula, and really worried his Southern Baptist parents. It was very clear early on that Chad wanted to celebrate Halloween 365 days a year. 

With a degree in illustration and graphic design, 20 years' experience drawing and designing for the horror genre and over 10 years' experience in web design, Chad got his wish. Halloween, for him, is every day. His company Sinister Visions inc. is thriving, providing web design, print design, illustration, sound design, font design and more for the horror, Halloween and haunted attraction industries. Sinister Visions currently hosts/manages close to 200 dark websites; odds are you've already been to at least 10 of them. 

Chad's artwork has appeared in (and on the cover of) numerous books and magazines and garnered awards from same. His original fonts have appeared on books, magazines, DVDs, CDs and in movies. Besides running genre sites like ChicagoHorror.com and ZombiePinups.com, he is the Art Director and Lead Designer for annual horror conventions like Flashback Weekend, HAuNTcon, and the World Horror Convention (2006), and proudly sponsors numerous dark genre events and projects. 

Chad instituted and runs the annual HorrorFind Weekend Horror Art Show; he was also the Art Show Director for Convergence 10 in Chicago in 2004, the World Horror Convention in New York in 2005, co-chairman and Art Director for the World Horror Convention 2006 in San Francisco and the Flashback Weekend Horror & Dark Art Show in 2006.  

Chad currently lives and works outside of Chicago (OK, in Indiana) with his fabulous (and tolerant) wife Alex, lovely daughters and their fairy dogmother Bishop. 

For more information and samples of his work, you can start with http://www.sinistervisions.com or http://www.savagesinister.com

CHAD SAVAGE ARTIST'S STATEMENT 

I was never afraid of the dark as a child. I was, however, often terrified of what might have been hiding in it. In  my mind's eye I pictured strange and fantastic creatures, sometimes beautiful, often grotesque. At a very early age I  began to try to capture the images in my mind on paper, and I've never stopped. 

There is a place in this world for the bizarre. There is a time for the twisted. Anyone who doubts this needs only  look at the success of such visionaries as H.R. Giger, Clive Barker, Michael Parkes or even Stephen King. It's no  secret that the most conservative person, given the opportunity, will thrill to tales of the dark or the sight of  blood. 

To my thinking, things grotesque and sinister are not without their own unconventional beauty; the most hideous  spider may spin the loveliest web. My work is an argument that 'dark' is not synonymous with 'evil'; that there is  nothing to fear in the night if you make it your own. After all, there is no light without the dark to define it. 

This is what I'm about. 

This is what my art is about.