Blog « Antemortem Arts | Art & Writing by Amy Crook

WIP: Zombie Crayons

Posted on April 4th, 2011

Zombie Crayons work in progress by Amy Crook

Zombie Crayons work in progress by Amy Crook

I spent several hours this weekend making art and managed not to really finish anything suitable for posting, oops! Here’s a sketch for my upcoming Zombie Family Coloring Book, an idea of how zombie kids might play with crayons. Note that, like all good zombies, she’s drawing her favorite thing – brains!

Categories: Daily Art, Works In Progress, Zombies, Skulls, and Other Morbid Things
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Ogdred Weary

Posted on April 2nd, 2011

Ogdred Weary, detail, by Amy Crook

Ogdred Weary, detail, by Amy Crook

This print combines two printing techniques for a singular layered result. First the colors were painted onto a blank acrylic plate with monoprint inks and the  piece was run through the printing press. Then, a deep-bite etched intaglio plate was inked and the already-printed page was run through a second time, which left the textured black impression overlaying the color. It can be a very precise process, but I never was a very precise artist, so you can see that the two plates don’t quite align on the page, which accents the loose style of the print itself.

I only ever made one print like this one, but it’s one of my favorite images to have come out of my explorations with printmaking. I named it after an Edward Gorey pseudonym, because the image reminded me of some tentacled beast that might live in a pond in one of his delightfully morbid picture books. My favorite of his is The Gashlycrumb Tinies, because it opens with, “A is for Amy who fell down the stairs.”

Ogdred Weary, 3″x3″ etching and monoprint on 7″x10″ watercolor paper.

Ogdred Weary by Amy Crook

Ogdred Weary by Amy Crook

Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Tentacles
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Dance of the Octopi

Posted on April 1st, 2011

Dance of the Octopi by Amy Crook

Dance of the Octopi by Amy Crook

I can almost imagine sleeping in a room with one wall papered with dancing octopi, squid and jellyfish, all swimming in their Victorian frame of swaying seaweed. Though, actually, once I get the colors adjusted to my satisfaction, I may upload the design to Spoonflower and see about making some pyjama pants out of it, so I can sleep cool in my underwater dreams.

I drew the individual pieces up with pen and ink, and then scanned them in simple black, adding color as I worked with the design. There’s no original per se for this one, just a bunch of sketches in a couple of sketchbooks. At some point I’ll need to crop just one panel out for repeating properly, but I want to adjust the blue background and purple squid first.

Now you can better imagine the Octopi as wallpaper/curtains: Click here!

Categories: Daily Art, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Whimsical and Strange
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Salt Cell 2

Posted on March 31st, 2011

Salt Cell 2 by Amy Crook

Salt Cell 2 by Amy Crook

After exploring the combination of salt and watercolor last week, I picked up some larger crystals of sea salt. Wanting to do something else that echoed Salt Cell but incorporated some pen-and-ink work as well, I decided on a rather tedious methodology. The process affected the outcome because the paint began to dry before I was done putting the salt back on the little circles.

I think I might try it again, but with fewer salt crystals.

Salt Cell 2, 5″x5″ pen and ink and watercolor on watercolor paper, $229 with free shipping.

You can see more about how this piece came together below the cut.

Read the rest of this entry »

Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Series and Books
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Weeble Wednesday: Brides of Dracula

Posted on March 30th, 2011

Brides of Dracula by Amy Crook

Brides of Dracula by Amy Crook

Now that I’ve got my super-pale-skin marker refilled, I’ve finally started coloring the bonus brides from my Monster Heart Coloring Book. These toothy gals are inspired by the many movie depictions of the three brides that I’ve seen, and some judicious image googling to figure out what styles would have been appropriate for the era, for 50 or 100 years before. I liked the idea that they might still dress in the fashion of their own times, and that each one had been born in a different era.

Brides of Dracula, 7″x5″ pen and ink and Copic markers on watercolor paper. $89, with free shipping.

Categories: Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces, Series and Books, Whimsical and Strange, Zombies, Skulls, and Other Morbid Things
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Tentacle Deeps 7

Posted on March 29th, 2011

Tentacle Deeps 7 by Amy Crook

Tentacle Deeps 7 by Amy Crook

This piece most closely reflects the very first Tentacle Deeps watercolor I did, I think –the same paper, no fancy salt or pen-and-ink effects, just the layers of watercolored tentacles reaching up from the bottom of the page. The wash was a bit more layered and random, and whenever a tentacle “breaks through” the upper right corner, there’s a little bit of a skip as though it’s breaching the surface of a pool, or slipping between realities.

Tentacle Deeps 7, 5″x7″ watercolor on watercolor paper.

Tentacle Deeps 7, framed art by Amy Crook

Tentacle Deeps 7, framed, by Amy Crook

Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Series and Books, Tentacles
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Texture in Brown

Posted on March 28th, 2011

Texture in Brown by Amy Crook

Texture in Brown by Amy Crook

Everything about this piece is a combination of deliberation and randomness, letting my choice of materials dictate the final product.

I didn’t like this when I started it out, at first just the red-brown leaf shape at the center of the page. then I added the redder wash down at the bottom, and an even softer red wash in the upper area, and used salt to give a rough texture to the lower area. I let that dry and sit a few days before coming back to it with a quill and some ink that used to be black, but has aged in its bottle to a soft, walnut brown. The quill caught and stuttered on the rough paper, giving the lines a rough look as the ink bled.

I think the end result looks like some sort of landscape, each piece working together to create a rich field of texture and earthy color.

Texture in Brown, 7″x5″ watercolor and pen and ink on watercolor paper, $129 with free shipping.

Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art
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