Archive for the ‘Series and Books’ Category
Tentacle Deeps 15
Tuesday, September 20th, 2011
Tentacle Deeps 15 by Amy Crook
Days of work went into today’s piece, but I think they’re my favorite tentacles yet. I used the same technique of softening pen-and-ink with water as in Tentacle Deeps 14, but then I went through and grew salt crystals along the body of each tentacle. The cross-hatching used three different pens to create the sense of light and depth, and my friend Eric L suggested that it looks like the tentacles are starting to dissolve where the light is hitting them.
Tentacle Deeps 15, 5″x7″ mixed media on paper.
Here you can see a closer view of the texture and the way I created the effect of light fading to darkness.
Tentacle Deeps 15, detail 1, by Amy Crook
I love how this shows off the variation in the tentacle colors, and the way the salt crystals sparkle even with the dark ink suffusing them.
Tentacle Deeps 15, detail 2, by Amy Crook
I finally had the brilliant idea of putting something in the framed shots so you’d get a sense of scale, so enjoy this shot of the tentacles in their frame, hanging out with my iPhone.
Tentacle Deeps 15, framed, by Amy Crook
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Series and Books, Tentacles
Tags: brush and ink, crosshatching, for sale, orange, pen and ink, red, salt, tentacle deeps
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Violet Midnight 2
Monday, September 19th, 2011
Violet Midnight 2 by Amy Crook
I’ve been thinking about making prints lately, and that’s led me to think about the way that the salt paintings are really unprintable — while a print of a normal piece is maybe half as cool as the real piece, but printing the salt pieces loses 90% of their awesomeness. So, with that in mind, I mixed up a slightly different mix of the violet-black from Violet Midnight and made a piece that only used the salt for visual texture rather than physical structure. There’s no shiny paint, no sparkly salt, just simple ink and watercolor.
I actually started it the same way I do any salt piece, with spirals in ink on paper, but this time I went straight to painting the background (which has little salt-made stars, done the traditional way by scattering salt onto the damp paint), then used plain water to pick up the ink and create halos of golden orange around the sun and larger stars.
Violet Midnight 2, 7″x5″ watercolor, pen and ink on paper.
Here’s how it looks in a frame, with my iPhone for scale:
Violet Midnight 2, framed, by Amy Crook
Categories: Daily Art, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Series and Books
Tags: for sale, moon, orange, pen and ink, salt, spirals, violet, watercolor
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Aglow 2
Thursday, September 15th, 2011
Aglow 2 by Amy Crook, $499
I just couldn’t resist revisiting the delicate colors and shapes I got using the orange ink pen with this paper and my salt techniques. I combined a constellation-like cluster of salt rosettes with the rich texture and deep, velvety color of the lunar black watercolor to create a companion piece to the original Aglow. This paper has such a soft texture of its own that the watercolor paint tends to sink in, giving the background a more muted feel and making the textures more subtle.
Aglow 2, 5″x5″ mixed media on paper, $499, framed, with free shipping.
The surprise this time is the delicate intersection of brush strokes in the lower right, which created an effect I liked so much you’ll see it repeated over again in tomorrow’s piece.
Aglow 2, detail 1, by Amy Crook
I also love the way this delicate little line of three salt pools looks like Orion’s belt, or perhaps just a trio of fireflies dancing in the deepening night.
Aglow 2, detail 2, by Amy Crook
A thin black frame protects the piece and offsets the subtle gradations in the paint.
Aglow 2, framed, by Amy Crook, $499
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Series and Books
Tags: fireflies, for sale, pen and ink, salt, watercolor
Tentacle Deeps 14
Tuesday, September 6th, 2011
Tentacle Deeps 14 by Amy Crook
Just when you thought the tentacles were slumbering, my Tentacle Deeps series is back! I’ve had a few more ideas for them niggling in the back of my head, and this is the first of at least two new additions to the series. This one, despite the look, is entirely done with ink pens and water, no paint involved. I used brushes dipped in plain water to create the visual effects and the second layer of tentacles. There’s a hint of the original pen lines in each tentacle, fore- and background, and subtle colors are hiding in the black, added with scribbles of blue and purple before the water was applied.
Tentacle Deeps 14, 5″x7″ pen, brush and ink on paper.
Tentacle Deeps 14, detail, by Amy Crook
You can see some of the texture here in the above detail shot, and the soft variations of blue, green, and purple hiding in the black. Below, you can see how the simple black frame looks with the tentacles inside.
Tentacle Deeps 14, framed, by Amy Crook
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Series and Books, Tentacles
Tags: brush and ink, for sale, green, pen and ink, tentacle deeps
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Salted Squid 2
Tuesday, August 30th, 2011
Salted Squid 2 by Amy Crook
Tentacle Tuesday is back with a sequel to the whimsical Salted Squid 1. I wanted to do something more controlled, so I scribbled out a complete squid in green pen and then went over it with water and a brush, and sprinkled the resulting pool with salt. You can see the pen lines still there as darker shadows in the larger shape, and so I decided to stay with that pen-and-ink feeling for the background.
I used two different colors of pen on the background to simulate sunlight shining down fro above, and then left blank circles like bubbles rising up. Then, I used plain water again, this time without the salt, to give a soft, watercolor feeling to the shafts of sunlight, and the darker depths at the bottom.
Salted Squid 2, 7″x5″ salt, pen and ink on watercolor paper.
You can see the even layer of sparkling crystals that make up the body of the squid here, along with some detail on the close pen-and-ink lines.
Salted Squid 2, detail, by Amy Crook
The black frame with its glass gives the feeling of looking into an aquarium, or so I like to tell myself. He looks adorable on my bookshelf, anyway.
Salted Squid 2, framed, by Amy Crook
Categories: Daily Art, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Series and Books, Tentacles
Tags: crosshatching, for sale, pen and ink, salt, squid, tentacles
WIP: Weeble Cthulhu Divination Deck
Wednesday, August 17th, 2011
Weeble Cthulhu Divination Card sketch by Amy Crook
Since it’s been a while since I released my two Coloring Books, I want to get back to my original weeble monster love and do another Cthulhu project. This time, I want to make a parody divination deck starring Weeble Cthulhu and his other creepy cute pals. This is inspired both by my love of tarot cards (they’re like little packs of themed art!), and the completely awesome Fantod Pack by Edward Gorey.
I’m still making a lot of the basic decisions, but I made this sketch as a motivator for myself. I love how his tentacles float up in the water, and the weird angles on his altar bed, though I’m pretty sure I won’t bother to show the surface of the water in the final, just shade it to give sense of being below the depths. I just felt like drawing a tiny sailboat.
Stuff that needs to be decided (feel free to weigh in!):
- What size should the cards be — playing card or tarot card size?
- How big should the deck be? (I’m thinking 42 cards right now.)
- Or, do I want to add a whole extra research dimension by trying to do an entire 78-card Tarot deck?
- If I did do a Tarot deck, how would the suits work? Obviously Tentacles would be a suit, but what about the other 3?
- If I did a 42-card “divination deck,” what should I do for the actual instructions for use?
- Either way I need to assign numbers and meanings to the monsters, which should be hilariously fun. I love the universal gloom of Gorey’s predictions, though mine will of course involve more tentacles.
- Where should I have them printed? How fancy should the accompanying booklet be?
- What other rewards should the Kickstarter off than packs and more packs? Originals, obviously, but what else?
I want to get at least half if not most of the art done before I even consider a Kickstarter, so that if/when it does fund it’ll be ready to send off to the printer very soon after. Having supported several Kickstarters now, I have to admit that the wait after funding is interminable, and the one that was ready for press right away and has already shipped to me has a very special place in my heart.
So, what do you all think, dear readers? Would you want to divine that you were destined to be detained by demons, tickled by tentacles or poked by psuedopods? Or have I lost too much of my sanity to be trusted?
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Series and Books, Tentacles, Things I'm a Fan Of, Works In Progress
Tags: cthulhu, lovecraft, tarot, weeble, wip
2 Comments »
Iridescence 3
Thursday, August 11th, 2011
Iridescence 3, abstract art by Amy Crook, $333
I admit, I wanted to post both of these in the same week because they feel like different sides of the same coin to me. They use similar color schemes and techniques, but where Iridescence 2 is all soft glowing colors and indistinct shapes, Iridescence 3 is all sharp-edged spirals and visible brush strokes.
Even the haloes of complementary color around each salt pool are sharper and more distinct than in the previous piece, with more areas of pure white paper peeking through as a result. I’m not sure which of the two I prefer, though this is the one I’ve got out on display right now.
Iridescence 3, 7″x5″ mixed media on watercolor paper, $333, framed, with free shipping.
This is a closeup of the green salt pool in the lower left, so you can really see how the paint is layered in distinct circles with watercolor’s characteristic dark, sharp edges.
Iridescence 3, detail, by Amy Crook
The bold black frame works really well with the blue-black and violet-black in the darkest, sharpest of the paint swirls, and protects the fragile salt crystals from damage.
Iridescence 3, framed, by Amy Crook, $333
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Series and Books
Tags: blue, for sale, green, hibiscus, iridescence, pen and ink, purple, salt, tea, watercolor
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