Archive for the ‘Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths’ Category
A Series of Uncanny Fears: Sleep Paralysis
Thursday, November 7th, 2013
A Series of Uncanny Fears: Sleep Paralysis
pen and ink art by Amy Crook
If you’ve never experienced sleep paralysis, this particular Uncanny Fear might not quite make sense to you.
You’re lying in bed, just on the edge of sleep, and your body has descended into some nether region of unresponsiveness. A fear grips you along with the strange paralysis, and you look around as much as your frozen eyes will allow. Dark figures loom all around, watching, waiting, though you don’t know what for. You probably don’t want to know.
Although I enjoy the pattern on the rumpled bedding immensely, I think the staticky quality of the shadowy figures if my favorite part of this one.
A Series of Uncanny Fears: Sleep Paralysis, 5″x7″ pen & ink on paper.
A Series of Uncanny Fears: Sleep Paralysis, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see the spooky, swirly footboard on this narrow bed. Below, the piece is in a frame, with my iPhone for size reference.
A Series of Uncanny Fears: Sleep Paralysis, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Floating Gallery, People, Figures and Faces, 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
Mercy House
Tuesday, November 5th, 2013
Mercy House by Amy Crook
“Sometimes one feels that it would be merciful to tear down these houses, for they must often dream.”
-H.P. Lovecraft, “The Picture in the House”
I’ve been wanting to paint a house to go with this quote for a while, and October seemed the perfect month for a fretful, unhappy wreck of a house to emerge from the cool green background. There’s a quality to the paint that’s hard to capture on film, an unnatural wash watery green across the whole thing that slips it sideways into the world of Lovecraft’s special brand of madness.
Mercy House, 8″x10″ watercolor on watercolor paper.
Mercy House, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see the tiny glints of sunlight off the blindly staring window, and the black gap where the door once was. I never did decide if those fragments of sun are on shattered glass, or merely filtered through the encroaching leaves surrounding the house. Below, I’ve put the piece in an antiqued gold frame, the better to emphasize the sense of decay.
Mercy House, framed art by Amy Crook
This piece always puts Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds’ “The Mercy Seat” in my head. Because of reasons.
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Floating Gallery, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Zombies, Skulls, and Other Morbid Things
Tags: house, lovecraft, nfs, sold, watercolor
Pollen
Monday, November 4th, 2013
Pollen by Amy Crook
Continuing with my new tradition of reworking old art, this piece has very little resemblance to its forebear. The soft black paper is entirely covered in a dark, velvety red like old blood, and each little salt pool has a halo of iridescent garnet. The salt pools, originally a dull pink from the Himalaya sea salt, have been dyed a bright shimmering blue to match the tentacles. They reminded me of glowing motes of pollen drifting on the breeze, which is how I got the name.
I’ve got to admit, I really hope I don’t ever have to inhale these alien grains of pollen. I’d hate to see what kind of allergy attack they’d produce — or find blue tentacles growing in my brain.
Pollen, 5″x5″ salt and watercolor on Arches cover black paper.
Pollen, detail, by Amy Crook
The big central crystal in this formation refused to be dyed blue, so it’s the only bit of the original pink left in the piece. Above, you can see the shimmering iridescent paint fading into the deeper background color — a natural-mineral paint called, appropriately, bloodstone. Below, the piece has been tucked into a frame with some extra tentacles to make it feel at home.
Pollen, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Floating Gallery, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Tentacles
Tags: black paper, for sale, iridescent, more cowbell, salt, tentacles, watercolor
Trick or Treat & a new Cthulhu Book
Wednesday, October 30th, 2013
Trick or Treat, Cthulhu parody art by Amy Crook
I’ve finally finished my Cthulhu Holiday Fun Book, a handmade coloring and activity book themed around holidays from Halloween to Father’s Day (zombie style). The above art is lovingly dedicated to Goomi’s Unspeakable Vault, my favorite Cthulhu webcomic of all, since he had the idea of dressing Cthulhu up for Halloween and did it much more cleverly than I.
This image and 11 more are waiting in the book for you to color, along with 5 original maddening puzzles and activities. I don’t promise some of them won’t drive you insane, but hopefully you’ll enjoy the journey.
Get a copy at my Etsy shop today!
Cthulhu Holiday Fun Book, a Lovecraftian activity and coloring book by Amy Crook
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Card Design, People, Figures and Faces, Series and Books, Tentacles, Things I'm a Fan Of, Zombies, Skulls, and Other Morbid Things
Tags: cartoon, coloring book, copic marker, cthulhu, for sale, halloween, lovecraft, pen and ink, weeble
Alternate Universes: Sherlock BBC
Saturday, October 26th, 2013
Alternate Universes: Sherlock BBC
parody Sherlock comic by Amy Crook
And so we come to the end! I used simple neutrals and a white background to show that really, all of these alternate universes are part of the bigger pastiche of Arthur Conan Doyle’s works, Sherlock BBC. And, as Sherlock says, no matter what universe he’s in, he’s always exceptional.
You can read the whole comic here any time you like, where I’ve conveniently reordered time so the panels read in order.
Alternate Universes: Sherlock BBC, 7″x5″ pen & ink and Copic marker on paper.
Below, you can see the print I made of this whole 6-panel comic.
Alternate Universes, a Sherlock comic, print by Amy Crook on Etsy
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Completed Commissions, People, Figures and Faces, Series and Books, Things I'm a Fan Of
Tags: commission, copic marker, etsy, john watson, nfs, parody, pen and ink, sherlock, sherlock au, sherlock bbc, sherlock holmes, sold, watson
Alternate Universes: Soulmates
Friday, October 25th, 2013
Alternate Universes: Soulmates
parody Sherlock comic by Amy Crook
For Friday we have purples, and one of the sweetest AUs in fandom: Soulmates. This is a magical realism AU where there’s some sort of mystical way that people are matched up at birth, and they have to search to find their perfect match. It takes the myth of the divided soul and puts names on people’s arms, or clocks counting down, or bits of poetry or some other plot device to show that the characters are literally made for each other.
In this case, I went for the name on the arm trope, and you can see John’s got his own wrist covered in a cuff, politely shielding his soulmate’s name from prying eyes, while Sherlock just used nicotene patches for dual-purpose covering up.
Alternate Universes: Soulmates, 7″x5″ pen & ink and Copic marker on paper.
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Completed Commissions, People, Figures and Faces, Series and Books, Things I'm a Fan Of
Tags: commission, copic marker, etsy, john watson, nfs, parody, pen and ink, sherlock, sherlock au, sherlock bbc, sherlock holmes, sold, watson
Alternate Universes: Alpha/Omega
Thursday, October 24th, 2013
Alternate Universes: Alpha/Omega
parody Sherlock comic by Amy Crook
It’s Thursday, so let me give you something very weird indeed — a pregnant Sherlock Holmes! I’m not sure how to explain Alpha/Omega fic if you don’t already know what it is, but it’s probably one of the most alternate of universes. You can blame Supernatural fandom for this one, really.
Alternate Universes: Alpha/Omega, 7″x5″ pen & ink and Copic marker on paper.
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Completed Commissions, People, Figures and Faces, Series and Books, Things I'm a Fan Of
Tags: commission, copic marker, etsy, john watson, nfs, parody, pen and ink, sherlock, sherlock au, sherlock bbc, sherlock holmes, sold, watson
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