Archive for the ‘Tentacles’ Category

Tentacle Deeps 12

Tuesday, May 17th, 2011

Tentacle Deeps 12, watercolor by Amy Crook

Tentacle Deeps 12 by Amy Crook

I think I may be just about done with the tentacle series, so in a few weeks I’ll have to think of something else to do with my Tuesdays.

This one got two layers of washes, one darker than the other, so I decided to keep the tentacles themselves to a single, matte black layer, contained entirely within the darker wash, at least at the bottom. One of them does break out of the top, as tentacles are wont to do. The rich colors of this were lost somewhat in the scanning process (I do seem to say that a lot, don’t I?), but this handmade (not by me, though) postcard looks great in a simple black frame.

Tentacle Deeps 12, 4″x6″ watercolor on handmade postcard.

Tentacle Deeps 12, framed art by Amy Crook

Tentacle Deeps 12, framed, by Amy Crook

Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Series and Books, Tentacles
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Whiteboard Tentacles

Saturday, May 14th, 2011

Whiteboard Tentacles by Amy Crook

Whiteboard Tentacles by Amy Crook

Bonus tentacles for Saturday!

I got tired of my whiteboard and wanted a clean slate, so I took some proper Windex and washed away all the to-do lists and inspired ideas and good intentions and gave myself a clean slate.

Then came the tentacles.

Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Tentacles
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Tentacle Deeps 11

Tuesday, May 10th, 2011

Tentacle Deeps 11, watercolor by Amy Crook

Tentacle Deeps 11 by Amy Crook

I tried something a little different with today’s tentacles, and I think the results are really interesting.

The background was a wash of periwinkle gouache with large already-paint-stained salt crystals set int the wet paint and left to dry. The resulting spots seemed to me like excellent starting points for some tentacles, so it looks like they’re each emerging from their own interdimensional portal. I went for a lighter color of tentacles, a deep green instead of the opaque black or blue-black I usually use, giving the whole thing a sense less of depths than heights.

Tentacle Deeps 11, 5″x7″ watercolor and salt on watercolor paper.

Below you can see a close-up of the way the paint and salt reacted to each other, and the way they layered when a tentacle was painted over one of the salt “portals.”

Tentacle Deeps 11, detail, by Amy Crook

Tentacle Deeps 11, detail, by Amy Crook

And here you can see it in its lovely new frame:

Tentacle Deeps 11, framed art by Amy Crook

Tentacle Deeps 11, framed, by Amy Crook

Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Series and Books, Tentacles
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Lovecrafty

Tuesday, May 3rd, 2011

Lovecrafty mixed media art by Amy Crook

Lovecrafty by Amy Crook

While some pieces come together with effortless synchronicity, others are a struggle from start to finish. This piece was definitely one of the latter, but I’m finally happy with the end result. There’s just something that really amuses me in the way it seems like a cross between Lovecraftian horror and a 12-year-old girl’s diary.

The grey writing is done with a brush pen usually used for shading, the barely-legible words are a couple of especially creepy quotes from HP Lovecraft’s fiction. Blank spaces on the left were filled in with single words or shorter phrases, giving the whole thing a sense of mad, frantic writing, the deranged mind getting out what it’s seen. Or, possibly more insanity-inducing, the inner feelings of a pre-teen.

The images themselves are layered, everything from printer ink to sharpie marker, watercolor to pen and ink. I used water to blur things left and right and there’s even a tiny bit of salt texture, though it doesn’t take very well on this type of paper. I considered adding some tentacle monster green into the mix to dull down the overall cheeriness of the palette, but in the end I couldn’t resist the juxtaposition of color and intent.

Lovecrafty, 5″x7″ pen & ink, watercolor, Sharpie marker and salt on paper.

Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Series and Books, Tentacles, Things I'm a Fan Of
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Tentacle Deeps 10

Tuesday, April 26th, 2011

Tentacle Deeps 10 watercolor by Amy Crook

Tentacle Deeps 10 by Amy Crook

Tuesday is a great day for tentacles, don’t you think?

The rich, bloody red of this paint seemed to cry out for dark, velvety tentacles, so I did just two layers and then snuck in something new, a background effect with salt and an opaque yellow paint that created red salt crystals where it overlapped the background, and subtle white ones on the edges of a few of the tentacles. The extra detail seems to increase the feeling of eldritch horror, as though madness lies just around the corner if one could comprehend the meaning behind it all.

Tentacle Deeps 10, 5″x5″ watercolor and salt.

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

Tentacle Deeps 10, framed art by Amy Crook

Tentacle Deeps 10, framed, by Amy Crook

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