Cryptozoo by Mail
Posted by: Loren Coleman on May 23rd, 2007
Ever wanted your own personalized cryptid?
Well, for twenty bucks you can have your idea envisioned by an artist who quickly draws your desire, via Monster by Mail. (See more ordering info at the bottom of this posting.)
Thanks to Rogier van Bakel, I heard about this artist, Len Peralta who is in the midst of drawing a very limited number (150) of “Cryptozoo” cryptids. Getting in contact with Len, I challenged the artist to do an original hand-drawn sample of his specially imagined “Coleman’s Cryptozoo” with a Yeti, Nessie, Bigfoot, Mothman, and Dover Demon, and email me the result.
As it turns out, he picked up on “Cryptozoo” from visiting here. Or as Len said: “I really did this theme with your site in mind. I really think your readers would get a big kick out of it.”
Len Peralta was up for my challenge.
Called “Speedy” at his former mainstream illustrator job, the guy is rapid in his response. Last night, within an hour in email time, Len sent me his black and white graphic art version of my one line request. What he produced, actually, was superb, in my view, as he made “my art” more nonfictional than cryptofictional, as compared to his other pieces. It is almost as if he read my mind, combining my serious but open-minded take on cryptids with his graphic art vision of how he does his illustrations. The one exception that could have upset me was how he “thought” of and then drew the non-avian Mothman – more as a combo bat-insect than a giant owl, which is my sense of Mothman. But, hey, Len’s an artist (I respect that), I do have a sense of humor about theories, and not everyone has read my book on Mothman, lol.
Below is a sample video of one of his rapid drawings. Also here are samples of his “Desert Yeti,” “Zombie Bigfoot,” “Chupacabras,” “Mongolian Deathworm,” and, finally, the infamous “Pigfoot.”
The two panels (below) give you more information on Len’s offer, which may be ordered by clicking on Monster by Mail. Geez, the guy’s a freelancer, is the father of five kids, and is doing this project to pay the healthcare costs for the sixth baby.
About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
Wow…. This guy is good….!!!
These are wonderful!