Aside from the show's opening theme music, probably the most recognizable part of Creature Features was the artwork that adorned each weeks TV guide. A Creepy vampire wearing a cape and a tall hat accompanied every weeks movie. When you are a small child, seeing that picture on TV late at night gave you nightmares for weeks! Let's take a closer look at the Drawings used for the show...

Here we see the classic artwork used for Creature Features. This drawing was taken from a still from the lost silent film "London After Midnight" starring Lon Chaney, Sr. It is not known who drew these, but one can only assume it was a staff artist working for WGN at the time. Why did they pick this drawing? Your guess is a good as mine, but they did and the rest is history...

In this drawing, notice the hands have been "toned" down and do not look as pointed as the previous drawing. Also, the hair has less detail. This was used in newspaper as well and other artwork. click on the above picture to download a side by side comparison of the drawing and the original photograph!

*Historical note: The 1927 silent film "London After Midnight" starring Lon Chaney, Sr is considered to be one of the top ten lost films of all time. It seems that in the early 1960's, a fire in one of MGM's vaults destroyed the only available print of the film. To this very day, no other has surfaced and the film is considered lost forever. Only about 150 production stills remain today!

NEW updated "Creature" drawing by artist Mike Hanaoka

copyright '06 Mike Hanaoka (used with permission)