Archive for the ‘Tentacles’ Category
Sherlock & Dr Watson Shrinky Dinks
Saturday, April 21st, 2012

Sherlock, Dr. Watson and a Tentacle, Shrinky Dinks,
shrunk, by Amy Crook
I was in the mood to doodle something silly the other day, so I made these three Shrinky Dinks. Above is the “after” version, next to a quarter so you get a feel for how big they turned out. Below is the “before” version, with the very same quarter for comparison.
If you’re coveting these, the tentacle’s been claimed but you can still get John & Sherlock as donation gifts in my HALP PLS computer replacement donation drive. Because while I mostly use natural media (physical not digital things) to make art, I still need a working computer to bring the art to you.

Sherlock, Dr. Watson and a Tentacle, Shrinky Dinks, unshrunk, by Amy Crook
Categories: Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces, Series and Books, Tentacles, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: sharpie marker, sherlock, shrinky dinks, watson
Flour Sack Tentacles
Friday, April 20th, 2012
Bonus tentacles for Friday!
It should come as no surprise to anyone that I have fabric Sharpies as well as the regular kind. I bought them a few months ago, and I’ve finally acquired a package of the flour sack dish towels I like for decorating. This one’s been washed but not, obviously, ironed, and then decorated with pink and purple tentacles.
The tentacles are positioned so that they’re in the center if you fold the towel into thirds, and lay it over a towel bar, but most of the towel is still pristine for actually drying your dishes. It’s 28″ square, which is actually a bit bigger than the towels I’m used to, and the Sharpie says machine wash cold, hang dry, but I haven’t re-washed this one yet to test it.
I haven’t decided how much I’ll list these for on Etsy yet, I have seven to experiment with, but if you would like one as a donation gift instead of a Shrinky Dink, just let me know.
Speaking of which, thank you to all the lovely people who have donated or bought something from Etsy so far! I’m not going to name you darlings since I haven’t asked if I could, but just know that I really, really appreciate every one of you.
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Tentacles
Tags: dish towel, sharpie, tentacles
3 Comments »
Tentacle Deeps 33
Tuesday, April 17th, 2012

Tentacle Deeps 33, watercolor by Amy Crook
Today’s tentacles are muted, odd, and not really opaque. The background is something I painted ages ago and then wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to do with it, until this week I decided that I’d use some blue-violet I’d dulled with black would make good tentacles to go with the grey-green. I watered the color down a bit for the front ones to get some extra visual texture, and then even more for the back row.
I’ve been looking at some of my older tentacles recently, and I liked the rougher, less perfected shapes in Tentacle Deeps 2, so I decided to revisit those here. Everything’s deliberately wobbly and out of balance, with angular spirals and long, reaching arms. I wonder what’s up there that they’re so keen to get to.
Tentacle Deeps 33, 5″x7″ watercolor on paper.

Tentacle Deeps 33, detail, by Amy Crook
You can really see the texture in the detail shot, the paper and the old paint underneath the new, giving it all a shadowy, desaturated feel. Below, you can see the tentacles happy in their frame, reaching forever for the sky.

Tentacle Deeps 33, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Series and Books, Tentacles
Tags: for sale, tentacle deeps, tentacles, watercolor
Negative Sixteen Degrees Sharpie
Tuesday, April 10th, 2012

Sharpie Sherlock silliness by Amy Crook
Sharpie Week Redux continues with tentacles! You know I’d never skip your Tuesday tentacles.
This time @wyomingnot on Twitter asked me to draw something related to a fanfic where Sherlock is a genius pastry chef who wants to open an ice cream shop, and John is his faithful sidekick/store manager. The title is I believe the name of the shop, which refers to the ideal ice cream storage temperature in Celsius.
Or something, I don’t know. John! Sherlock! Tentacle Surprise ice cream! Really, do the details matter?
Categories: Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces, Series and Books, Tentacles, Things I'm a Fan Of
Tags: nfs, sharpie, sherlock, sketch, tentacles, watson
Tentacle Deeps 32
Tuesday, April 3rd, 2012

Tentacle Deeps 32 by Amy Crook
This tentacle painting is much more subtle and mysterious than the usual, covered almost entirely in salt crystals. There’s a dark violet-black background hiding under all that salt, and then iridescent violet tentacles. Then I inundated the whole thing with my potion of salt, water and paint. After it dried, I went in with black ink and brought the tentacles back up out of the sparkling murk I’d created.
The effect in the end is both murky and sparkly at the same time, and really does make me think of deep R’lyeh where mysteries slumber, waiting to rise up through the blue deeps to the surface.
Tentacle Deeps 32, 5″x7″ salt, sumi-e ink, and watercolor on paper.
Of course it’s terribly hard to catch the feel of this art in a scan or photo, so much of it changes with the light and angle, but I’ve taken some detail photos to try.

Tentacle Deeps 32, detail 1, by Amy Crook
Above is the usual photo from the bottom of the tentacles, but this time it almost looks like an 80s fantasy movie set after they applied all the glitter. You can see the swirling colors and shapes, and the tentacles dark and mysterious running through it. Below, I took a shot of the longest tentacle and the varying textures in and around it. I liked the way that one turned out with its shining squares on the left and sand-like salt crystals to the right, so I made you yet another wallpaper. Don’t you feel special?

Tentacle Deeps 32, detail 2, by Amy Crook
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Free Wallpapers, Series and Books, Tentacles
Tags: blue, for sale, iridescent, salt, sumi-e ink, tentacle deeps, tentacles, violet, watercolor
Tentacle Deeps 31
Tuesday, March 27th, 2012

Tentacle Deeps 31, watercolor by Amy Crook
I’m still enamored of these paints that are ghostly pale from some angles, and richly colored from others. This one looks like fine gilding from the right angle, but turns almost white and translucent from the wrong one. I couldn’t resist the idea of golden tentacles, though!
Tentacle Deeps 31, 4″x6″ watercolor on paper.
My camera picked up the golden color quite well, though I ended up leaving the background a little more purple than it is in reality because, well, it looks cool.

Tentacle Deeps 31, detail, by Amy Crook
The piece looks nice framed, below, with my usual iPhone for scale. I considered using a dollar, but then, I have no idea of my international readers (hi!) know how big a dollar is, and yet it’s safe to assume most of you have seen someone holding their iPhone. Weird.

Tentacle Deeps 31, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Series and Books, Tentacles
Tags: for sale, gold, iridescent, purple, tentacle deeps, tentacles, watercolor
Party Octopus
Saturday, March 24th, 2012
Party Octo’s in the house tonight! Everybody just have a good time…
And now that you have that earworm, too, I shall leave you to enjoy your Saturday.
Party Octopus, 5″x7″ pen & ink and Copic marker on paper. You can buy him on a card at Etsy, he makes a great birthday card or party invite!
Categories: Daily Art, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Tentacles
Tags: copic marker, martini, octopus, party, pen and ink, purple, weeble
« Or Head Back That Way
