A Series of Uncanny Fears: The Dark
Posted on October 4th, 2013
A Series of Uncanny Fears: The Dark
pen and ink art by Amy Crook
Those shapes you see in the dark, those are just shadows. Just reflections and illusions made up of your imagination and your eyes straining to make sense with very little light.
I’m sure there are no monsters lurking at the foot of your bed, no ghosts floating up near the ceiling, no faces peering in from the dark outside.
That scratching at the glass is getting louder, but it’s not necessarily from the dark. It could be the mirror. It could be inside your head.
You never really know, do you?
A Series of Uncanny Fears: The Dark, 5″x7″ pen & ink on paper.
A Series of Uncanny Fears: The Dark, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see some of the details hiding in the darkness. I especially like this pair of eyes, because they seem as distressed to be looking in at you as you are to be looking out at them. Below, you can see the piece in a frame, yet another pane of glass between you and the darkness.
A Series of Uncanny Fears: The Dark, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Floating Gallery, Series and Books, Zombies, Skulls, and Other Morbid Things
Tags: a series of uncanny fears, crosshatching, edward gorey, for sale, gorey, pen and ink, uncanny fears
A Series of Uncanny Fears: Your Shadow
Posted on October 3rd, 2013
A Series of Uncanny Fears: Your Shadow
pen and ink art by Amy Crook
I’m not certain what my favorite thing about this piece is, but it’s risen to the top of A Series of Uncanny Fears for me. I love the Gorey-esque fur coat on the figure just passing out of the frame. I adore the wallpaper pattern you can see showing through the shadowy figure. And I think the overlong, many-jointed fingers of the shadow are delightfully creepy.
I’m sure your shadow doesn’t hunger to steal the life you live, to step into the light, to slip into your skin and live looking out of your eyes. There’s nothing to worry about at all.
You could make sure you always know where it is, just in case, though.
Just in case.
A Series of Uncanny Fears: Your Shadow, 5″x7″ pen & ink on paper.
A Series of Uncanny Fears: Your Shadow, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see a close-up shot of the wallpaper pattern both bare and hiding under the shadow. Below, you can see the piece happily ensconced in a frame, safe behind the glass. That sound you hear isn’t claws against the inside of the glass, I’m sure of it. After all, there’s so much glass in your home, you can’t really pinpoint where the sound is coming from.
A Series of Uncanny Fears: Your Shadow, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Floating Gallery, Series and Books, Zombies, Skulls, and Other Morbid Things
Tags: a series of uncanny fears, crosshatching, edward gorey, for sale, gorey, pen and ink, uncanny fears
Map to an Undiscovered Country
Posted on October 2nd, 2013
Map to an Undiscovered Country by Amy Crook
I’m going to post a bit more about some of the pieces in October’s Floating Gallery for the next couple of weeks, starting with this one! If there’s a piece you’re curious about, feel free to ask.
This painting was directly inspired by a patron’s reaction to one of last month’s pieces. You know who you are, and thank you! It’s been a month of being fascinated with maps, for me, so this was a good way to explore that.
There’s two kinds of pen and ink on here, my teeny tiny Micron pen outlining the fjords and inlets around this strange country, and the thicker Japanese Pilot fountain pens in deep green and dark brown forming the inner details.
The line across the middle feels like a river and lake to me, but what if it’s a border, a fault, a plateau or crater? I love the mystery created by the map, making you wonder if the yellow is beaches or deserts or something else. Are those deep green spaces forests or mountains? If the brown aren’t roads, what are they? Are there even people in this undiscovered land, or are you the first to gaze upon it?
Map to an Undiscovered Country, 5″x7″ pen & ink and watercolor on Arches cover white paper.
Map to an Undiscovered Country, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see a close-up of the paper texture interacting with the media to create detail, the tiny hand-drawn borders making strange borders, the thicker lines intersecting and the edge of the shape in the center. Below, you can see it in the frame I got especially for this piece, though of course once it finds a new home I’ll be able to re-purpose this, should the frame not go with it.
Map to an Undiscovered Country, framed art by Amy Crook
I’ll end on a note about works in pen and ink. Most colored inks are made with dyes and are less lightfast than the pigments in paint. If you put your art somewhere that gets direct sunlight, it will fade like an old map despite the high quality art paper. So don’t do that.
Actually, don’t do that to any art, because even the most lightfast pigments degrade over time. Also, it’s just not nice.
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Floating Gallery, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: for sale, green, map, pen and ink, watercolor
Diddy Wah Diddy Illustrations
Posted on September 30th, 2013
Diddy Wah Diddy by Corey Mesler, with interior illustrations by Amy Crook
This spring & summer I had the privilege to illustrate a literary novel! It’s been a really wonderful experience working with the editor, Jason, to add interior illustrations* to Corey’s richly-textured novel of Beale Street, Memphis, and the mythology of the blues.
Corey’s prose is full of rich character, and it was really easy to find images to go with it. Jason chose a scribbled black-and-white style of mine for the illustrations, and I did 9 images total, sprinkled throughout the book. He’d pick a story and have me read through it, then either ask for something specific, or something that went well with the story. I tried to keep everything as loose as a good blues jam, and capture the feel of each story.
The whole novel fits together to tell how a community went from its height of mythic glory, dipped down, and started building itself back up again. Everything is steeped in the language of the era and the feel of the blues, and I hope you’ll head on over to Ampersand Books and give it a shot!
illustration from Diddy Wah Diddy
Above, you can see a woman chilling at the bar, enjoying a legendary cocktail, helping to set the scene for the book. Below, I chose the author’s favorite of the group. I’ll let you read the book to find out how the werewolf ended up in the jar.
another illustration from Diddy Wah Diddy
If you’ve got a project that you think needs my illustrator’s touch, I’ve got info here about how you can hire me.
*Their designer did the cover, which is rich and red and beautifully sets the mood for the prose within.
Categories: Completed Commissions, People, Figures and Faces, Series and Books, Zombies, Skulls, and Other Morbid Things
Tags: all rights reserved, book illustration, commission, illustration, pen and ink
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Beetlejuice
Posted on September 27th, 2013
Beetlejuice, parody comic by Amy Crook
Say it once, say it twice, third time’s the charm… Iiiiiit’s showtime!
It’s the season for cheerful Halloween movies (okay, every season is the season, but hush), and I decided to render the Ghost with the Most in my signature “fancy stick figure” style.
I haven’t decided yet if he’d be fun on a card, but he’ll be showing up on Tuesday in October’s awesome Halloween Floating Gallery.
Beetlejuice. Beetlejuice! BEETLEJUICE!!!
Dammit, that trick never works.
Categories: People, Figures and Faces, Things I'm a Fan Of, Zombies, Skulls, and Other Morbid Things
Tags: beetlejuice, copic marker, for sale, parody, pen and ink
J is for Journey
Posted on September 24th, 2013
J is for Journey, commissioned illuminated capital by Amy Crook
Predictably, one of the first letters in my Illuminated Alphabet to sell was the J is for Juxtapose. After a lot of wembling and waffling, I’ve finally completed another J for a wonderful patron who commissioned one. He was trying at first to stick to the typographical theme of the finished alphabet, but in the end it just wasn’t working with the elements he wanted.
Instead, I snuck off and finished up the sketch this way, knowing that he’s got a love of maps and using the requested orange for the main capital. The smaller letter is in Tengwar, one of Tolkien’s invented alphabets, and a letter long-beloved by my patron. The squiggly red map-line was added near the end, though usual the glitter gel pen was saved for the very last. The faux Celtic decorations on the J were added in freehand, and you can see them better in the below photo, along with a clearer idea of the orange color behind them, which my scanner tended to oversaturate.
J is for Journey by Amy Crook
Categories: Completed Commissions, Things I'm a Fan Of, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: alphabet, commission, glitter gel pen, nfs, pen and ink, watercolor
2 Comments »
A Hobbity Birthday
Posted on September 19th, 2013
Hobbit Birthday Traditions, parody art by Amy Crook
Happy my-upcoming-Birthday to you! On Sunday I’ll be properly 40, and in grand hobbit tradition I have some little gifts for you.
- If you get a set of Sherlock or Doctor Who bookmarks in September, you’ll get an extra bonus bookmark. Just don’t blink.
- You can use this coupon code all through September to get 20% off anything in my Etsy shop: WHATDAYISIT
- My novel will be free on Kindle from Sept. 20-22, approximately midnight to midnight Pacific, though their servers are sometimes a bit slow to update.
- I’ll be offering something special to my Art Patron’s list as well, so keep an eye on your inbox!
Bilbo is of course available on a card, being his grumpy old self. I really enjoy antisocial old Bilbo Baggins and his dismissal of everyone else’s gossip about him. Though he still knows how to throw a party!
Bilbo Baggins Birthday card by Amy Crook on Etsy
Categories: Card Design, Sale Post, Series and Books, Things I'm a Fan Of, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: bilbo baggins, birthday, copic marker, hobbit, pen and ink
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