Archive for the ‘Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths’ Category

Tentacle Deeps 9

Tuesday, April 19th, 2011

Tentacle Deeps 9 watercolor by Amy Crook

Tentacle Deeps 9 by Amy Crook

Once again, I bring you tentacles for Tuesday!

This watercolor piece uses double the salt for its effects. First I added rich texture and some orangey-gold color to the background with the large, coarse salt crystals. Later I used smaller Kosher salt on the tentacles themselves, putting the salt on after painting each one to get the maximum effect.

Something about this background made me want paler tentacles, so there’s less layers as a result. The salt texture is more dramatically visible, making the tentacles look as though they’ve got barnacles attached from years under the deep oceans.

Tentacle Deeps 9, 4″x6″ watercolor and salt.

I’ve also made an iPhone wallpaper and computer wallpaper out of this one, as well, enjoy!

Tentacle Deeps 9, framed art by Amy Crook

Tentacle Deeps 9, framed, by Amy Crook

Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Free Wallpapers, Series and Books, Tentacles
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Cthulhu Moleskine Volant

Monday, April 18th, 2011

Cthulhu Moleskine Volant customized by Amy Crook

Cthulhu Moleskine Volant customized by Amy Crook

The green of this Moleskine’s original cover just reminded me of the tentacles of an Elder God for some reason. Here he’s shown rising up over a field of silvery stars, or perhaps he’s slumbering with a blanket of the vast sky to keep him warm in the depths of R’lyeh.

Cthulhu, Moleskine Volant customized with oil paint Sharpie markers, nfs (sold).

Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Series and Books, Tentacles
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Weeble Wednesday: Sculpey Cthulhu

Wednesday, April 13th, 2011

Weeble Cthulhu, Cultists, and Extra Tentacles, sculptures by Amy Crook

Weeble Cthulhu, Cultists, and Extra Tentacles, sculptures by Amy Crook

Cthulhu has been summoned into this dimension! You can see that his otherwordly color confuses my digital camera into giving it white highlights, though in reality he’s quite matte in appearance. The cultists who summoned him seem to have gotten a bit more than they bargained for, as one’s in his grip and another got scooped up by his tentacled friends.

A friend of my commissioned Cthulhu for his girlfriend’s birthday, originally intending it as a cake topper. Unfortunately he turned out too heavy for the cake, but I’m told he’ll end up in a place of honor with his cultists and tentacles. Making something that big with Sculpey was a real challenge, and I ended up making a core of aluminum foil over which the sculpey was laid, since they recommend you not try to make or bake anything out of it that’s more than 1/2″ thick. Given that he’s about 5″ overall, that wouldn’t have worked out too well!

Sculpey Cthulhu by Amy Crook

Sculpey Cthulhu by Amy Crook

As you can see, his color seems to baffle the camera even in the shade, the vibrant green-screen green just a little too much for its pixely heart.

Sculpey Cultists by Amy Crook

Sculpey Cultists by Amy Crook

Each of the cultists was done with a different skin and hair color, and they’re about an inch tall, though I made sure to vary the height as well. Cthulhu is a multicultural destroyer of souls!

Sculpey Tentacles by Amy Crook

Sculpey Tentacles by Amy Crook

The tentacles started out rather flat, and then I figured out ways to drape and pose them during baking so they could have some extra dimension when they were emerging from the depths of R’lyeh, or the cake. Whichever.

Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces, Series and Books, Tentacles, Things I'm a Fan Of
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Tentacle Deeps 8

Tuesday, April 12th, 2011

Tentacle Deeps 8 by Amy Crook

Tentacle Deeps 8 by Amy Crook

It’s Tuesday, and that means tentacles! Well, at least here it does.

I used four different colors of pen to ink in these tentacles, giving a depth of field that’s harder to do with the crosshatching texture alone. The fourth, palest green only shows up in the signature and as a tiny tip of tentacle peeking out along the left side. I put them down in reverse order, first the black tentacles, then the dark green, and then the lighter, more blurry green, and finally the tiny bit of bright, pale chartreuse.

I’ve been experimenting with other textural shading in other pieces, but for some reason I just really prefer this simple crosshatching when making tentacles. I’ve got at least two more backgrounds waiting to be be-tentacled, however, so perhaps I’ll try something else next time.

Tentacle Deeps 8, 5″x5″ pen and ink and watercolor on watercolor paper.

I was feeling self-indulgent, so I made a computer wallpaper and iPhone wallpaper of this one. I’ve got it up on my monitor right now!

Tentacle Deeps 8, framed art by Amy Crook

Tentacle Deeps 8, framed, by Amy Crook

Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Free Wallpapers, Series and Books, Tentacles
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At First Sight

Saturday, April 9th, 2011

At First Sight by Amy Crook

At First Sight by Amy Crook

I went through a period where I was fascinated with the idea of the chakras, and I did several monoprints related to them. This one uses the colors are all of the lower chakras to make flame, and the symbols for the 2nd and 6th chakras, desire and the third eye.

Our culture has a whole myth of “love at first sight” that I’ve never really bought into — I think that what you get at first sight comes from somewhere else, though it might eventually be pulled upward into the realms of the heart. At first sight all you get is a visual, some social cues from dress and superficial action, and no idea of what the person is really like inside. This piece reflects that idea, that we expect to see into them with our third eye, when really we’re seeing with our sacral instincts, desire and wanting rather than the love that comes from accepting a person’s flaws as well as their really nice body.

At First Sight, 2″x6″ monoprint on 6.5″x9″ watercolor paper, $299 with free shipping.

Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Series and Books
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Weeble Wednesday: Bride of the Mummy

Wednesday, April 6th, 2011

Bride of the Mummy by Amy Crook

Bride of the Mummy by Amy Crook

This poor lady was stuck as inks for many weeks, waiting for me to get a refill on my colorless blender so I could properly fade the wear and tear on her bandages. I had fun making her as a counterpart to the Mummy, especially since I gave them opposite eyes freed of bandages.

She’s one of the bonus brides from my Monster Heart Coloring Book, of course, and I have just one illustration left to color before those are all done.

Bride of the Mummy, 5″x7″ pen and ink and Copic markers on watercolor paper. $89 with free shipping.

Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, 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

Tuesday, 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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