Hellboy Homage Twin Post

*All images are owned by Mike Mignola and Dark Horse Comics. I do not own the rights to Hellboy or BPRD. This is just an expression of my love for the series. Thank you.*

Hey, everyone!

Today I am very excited to share with you a twin post with none other than Amy of Amy Loves New Wave! We recently discovered that we are both avid fans of the comic character Hellboy, and this is my mani that came out of it all! Keep reading to find out more! VERY PICTURE-HEAVY POST!

Before I get to my nail art, let me explain this character to those of you who may not be familiar. Hellboy was created by the talented Mike Mignola and is published by Dark Horse Comics. Long story short, Hellboy is a demon, raised by Allied forces who rescued him as a baby from Nazis at the end of WWII. He now works for the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense (BPRD), fighting supernatural and paranormal phenomena and creatures.

Here is my ever-growing collection of Hellboy and BPRD comics. I'm slowly working through them chronologically because there's actually a lot of storyline to keep straight! Although let's be honest, most of the enemies tend to be either Nazi or Hell-spawn in origin. And who doesn't love reading about and seeing those guys getting their butts kicked?! We all know they deserve it!

This is the first Library Edition of Hellboy, which is essentially a collection of all of the individual issues into one gorgeous volume. It's also quite large, and it's got a lovely weight and feel to it when you're reading.

It's so pretty, in fact, that I took the inspiration from the skull on the spine for one of my nails, which you'll see in a better picture coming up.

Oh, and before I forget... two of the biggest reasons that I love Hellboy so very much are the art, and Hellboy's attitude. The art in these comics is unlike any I'm familiar with, and it's just so SHARP! And Hellboy himself is so incredibly sassy and cynical and hilarious, as can be seen in the scene above, where he's back-sassing Hecate, the goddess of death. Oh, Hellboy!

And here is a prime example of just how awesome and badass Hellboy can be. Yes, his right hand is large and made of stone. I won't explain that really because of possible spoilers, though!

Okay, FINALLY we get to the nail art! After a base coat to protect my nails, I painted the base colors on each of my nails: Maybelline Bare Escape on thumb and ring finger; Wet n Wild Black Creme on index and middle fingers; and Orly Red Flare on my pinky. When those were dry, I used Red Flare and Black Creme on my thumb to paint the Hellboy letters HB in the classic font from the comic covers. On my index finger, I used Bare Escape to paint the skull from the spine of the Library Editions. On my middle finger, I used OPI Goldeneye to paint the general shape of Hellboy's crown (again, spoilers! Let's just say it has to do with the Apocalypse...) and used Black Creme and a detail brush to fix the outline. On my ring finger, I sponged on a tiny bit of Black Creme around the cuticle and applied a handpainted decal I made months ago. I created it by tracing the image from a comic onto a piece of plastic, then I filled in the details with polish and applied a topcoat. When it was dry, I trimmed it to the correct size and applied it onto my nail. It was REALLY hideously bumpy and ugly at first, but I managed to fix it! Finally on the pinky, I painted the silhouette of Hellboy's horns (again, Apocalypse spoilers! Heehee) using Black Creme. I sealed it all in with Seche Vite, then I applied a coat of Orly Matte Top to mimic the matte pages of a comic.

Here's a better close-up of the HB on my thumb!

There was NO way I was going to recreate all of that on my right hand, so I went for a much simpler look. I definitely don't feature my poor Cinderella hand enough in my posts! She still has difficulty getting her pose correct! I started with the same base colors as I did on my left hand, but then I simply dry-brushed some of the other colors onto the base colors. I layered them until I was happy with the result. Then I sealed with regular topcoat and then Matte Top. Very grunge!

Materials Used

Wet n Wild Black Creme

Maybelline Bare Escape

Orly Red Flare

OPI Goldeneye

Orly Matte Top

 So what do you think? Are there any other Mignola fans out there? Please let me know if I did this amazing series and character justice! And PLEASE don't forget to check out Amy's take on our beloved Hellboy, you can check out her post here! Thanks so much for stopping by!