A Deadly Encounter with "El Silbón" ("The Whistler")
CASE STUDY
ESP
PERSONAL WORK
I first learned about "El Silbón" (The Whistler) when I was a child. I heard his story from an old vinyl record during one of my many visits to my maternal grandma's home in Caracas in the early 90s.
Even though the legend is well-known, dating back to the middle of the 19th Century, its depictions in art form are somewhat in short supply when compared to its fame.
So, I took it on as a personal project, as a horror fan, to craft a comic-style drawing of this scary character from my childhood.
I created a highly detailed hand-drawn illustration of "El Silbón." It depicts a menacing scene with him taking center stage, towering over the viewer. He is cursed to be forever tormented by a demon dog, set against the backdrop of the night sky in "The Plains" (Los Llanos) region from Venezuela.
SCOPE
Illustration
Lettering
A Horror Story for the Ages
EXPOSITION
Horror folktales have a way of sticking with you, especially when they come from your own country; I first heard of the story of "El Silbón" ("The Whistler") during my childhood. I discovered it from an old vinyl record during one of my many visits to my maternal grandma's house in Caracas in the early 1990s. However, the origins of this tale go way back to the mid-19th Century.
El Silbón is a legendary ghoul in Venezuela, particularly associated with the "Los Llanos" ("The Plains") region. His story is one of tragedy turned into horror. Although it has many versions, they all end up the same way: a man who brutally killed his father and was later punished with death, and cursed to carry the bones of his father in a sack over his back, chased by a demon dog for all eternity. Now, he wanders the savannah at night, consumed by bitterness and madness, mainly targeting drunkards, womanizers, and sometimes even innocent victims, mercilessly killing them and putting their remains in the sack he carries.
People describe him as a huge, gaunt plainsman, some claiming he could be as tall as almost 6 meters (20 feet), wearing an old hat and carrying a ragged sack full of bones.
It is his characteristic whistle that takes him to another level, resembling the musical notes C, D, E, F, G, A, and B in that order, rising in tone to F and then lowering to B. It is said that when the whistling sounds close, there's no danger, indicating that "El Silbón" is far away. However, if the whistling sounds distant, it means he is nearby.
Even though the Legend is well-known, there are relatively few artistic depictions of him compared to his fame; mostly, there are fan-made paintings, drawings, and a few statues. Perhaps his biggest appearance was on HBO's "Fantasmagorias," a series of animated short films based on Latin American urban myths and legends.
So, as a horror fan, I took this as a personal project and crafted a comic-style illustration of this scary character from my childhood.
HBO’S “Fantasmagorias” depiction (2015)
Chasing a Lost Soul
THE PROCESS
I wanted to show El Silbón as an imposing, shambling ghoul, so at the very start, I looked for the most menacing and awkward poses I could find.
Once the references are locked down, I begin sketching by making simple pencil thumbnails to start getting a feel for the layout and composition.
The Illustration comes alive with the phases of inking, coloring, and shading; each phase cements the character features and details from the background.
I make sure to use create lineart with dark strokes, their thickness varying with lighting and proximity, adding a comic-style effect.
The whole story takes place in the 1800s, so I went through pictures and vintage illustrations from 19th-century Venezuela depicting the "Los Llanos" region, with its extensive plains, characteristic palm trees, and its inhabitants, "los Llaneros" ("the plainsmen").
For the lettering I took inspiration from horror storytellers from that era, in this case, the Penny Dreadful genre from 19th-century London, a series of books that contained scary folktales and short horror stories with peculiar hand-drawn illustrations on their covers; those I matched with old print Venezuelan documents from the 1800s, contemporary to London's Penny Dreadfuls; the result was a vintage font with a spectral feel.
A Ghostly Visage
THE OUTCOME
The final Illustration was created in high resolution and full color, coming in two sizes: square and landscape. Each character was drawn individually to allow for composition flexibility so I could reposition them as needed for different applications (posters, podcast covers, magazines).
Contrast:
the color palette was mainly constructed with red tones to convey a menacing feel. I used complementary colors for key elements such as the main character and the moon to enhance contrast.
Shading and Crosshatching:
the shadows are crafted with color gradients, enhanced by Crosshatching (using parallel and intersecting lines). This approach blends realism with a classic comic style look.
Textures:
Extra layers with pre-made textures were applied to enhance the authenticity of certain items, such as the sack of human bones, or to highlight the vintage appearance in the lettering.
Highlights:
Light strokes were added to the contour of the characters to achieve a rim light effect, representing light beams coming from various light sources.
Historical elements:
I incorporated elements from 19th-century Venezuela, focusing on the clothing and equipment used by actual plainsmen.
