Archive for the ‘Tentacles’ Category

Navy Squid

Wednesday, February 18th, 2015

Navy Squid, commissioned art by Amy Crook, all rights reserved

Navy Squid, commissioned art by Amy Crook, all rights reserved

This commission was a Christmas gift, it’s just taken me a while to get it into the schedule with all the other madness going on.

The giftee for this was formerly in the Navy, and is a fan of two of Boston’s sports teams, so we incorporated both those ideas into his cheerful blue tentacularness*. He’s either doffing or straightening his cover, which is at a bit of a jaunty angle for a proper naval serviceman. Or servicesquid.

Navy Squid, 7″x5″ pen & ink and Copic marker on paper.

*tentacularness is totally a word

Categories: Completed Commissions, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Tentacles
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Tentacle-Tied

Saturday, January 24th, 2015

Tentacle-Tied, a Cthulhu comic by Amy Crook

Tentacle-Tied, a Cthulhu comic by Amy Crook

“You make Cthulhu tentacle-tied,” says the Elder God of legend and nightmare, looking quite wide-eyed and nervous. Will you take pity on Cthulhu and be his Valentine?

Tentacle-Tied, 5″x7″ pen & ink and Copic marker on paper.

Tentacle-Tied, a Cthulhu Valentine by Amy Crook on Etsy

Tentacle-Tied, a Cthulhu Valentine by Amy Crook on Etsy

Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Card Design, People, Figures and Faces, Series and Books, Tentacles, Things I'm a Fan Of
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Dreamlands

Monday, November 3rd, 2014

Dreamlands by Amy Crook

Dreamlands by Amy Crook

Pink jellyfish float serenely over a translucent city in shadowy greens, everything looking half-real against the sky of blue with hints of periwinkle and lavender. Deadly tendrils caress the tops of the buildings, or perhaps pass right through them, and the buildings tilt along with the horizon, like something in a dream.

I’m sure it surprises nobody that the Dreamlands are a Lovecraftian sort of thing, the alien worlds one travels to in the perilous hours of dreaming.

Dreamlands, 6″x6″ watercolor on Fluid watercolor paper.

Dreamlands, detail, by Amy Crook

Dreamlands, detail, by Amy Crook

Above, you can see the way the jellyfish float past the city, unaffected by its strange towers and spires. Below, you can see the painting in a temporary frame, like a window into a dream.

Dreamlands, framed art by Amy Crook

Dreamlands, framed art by Amy Crook

Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Floating Gallery, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Series and Books, Tentacles, Things I'm a Fan Of
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Jellyfish Bloom

Monday, October 6th, 2014

Jellyfish Bloom by Amy Crook

Jellyfish Bloom by Amy Crook

I went to Monterey Bay Aquarium recently, where they have two different exhibits full of jellyfish. I love the way the jellies just float serenely along, totally oblivious to the tug of gravity, going up or down or whichever way suits them at the moment. Their tentacles trail along behind like the tails of comets, following with the same slow, careless air.

The splash of sunlight at the top of this painting made me want to give them a bit of a gold sheen, so I used the palest gold paint I have (doesn’t everyone have 7 shades of gold paint?). There’s a tiny bit of salt hiding in this painting, and the background is shining and iridescent, giving everything an ethereal, underwater glow.

Jellyfish Bloom, 7″x5″ salt, metallic watercolor, and iridescent watercolor on paper.

Jellyfish Bloom, detail, by Amy Crook

Jellyfish Bloom, detail, by Amy Crook

It’s annoyingly difficult to photograph shiny things, because the white of the paper ends up looking grey by comparison, but you can get a little hint of the iridescent sheen that hides in the turquoise waters with the shiny gold jellies in the photo above. Below, the piece in a frame, looking rather more green from the bright sunlight.

Jellyfish Boom, framed art by Amy Crook

Jellyfish Boom, framed art by Amy Crook

Categories: Floating Gallery, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Series and Books, Tentacles
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Say My Name

Sunday, September 7th, 2014

Say My Name, a Hastur parody comic by Amy Crook

Say My Name, a Hastur parody comic by Amy Crook

The King in Yellow showed up recently in pop culture True Detective, though we never did get a properly otherwordly connection to Hastur and his pallid mask. Names have power, and saying someone’s name three times has long been a traditional way to summon that which you perhaps didn’t really want in your living room. But Hasur is there for you this holiday, whether you like it or not.

Say My Name, 5″x7″ pen & ink and Copic marker on paper. Visit my Etsy shop and get a card with a relatively harmless Hastur of your very own.

Hastur holiday card by Amy Crook on Etsy

Hastur holiday card by Amy Crook on Etsy

Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Card Design, Floating Gallery, People, Figures and Faces, Series and Books, Tentacles, Things I'm a Fan Of
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Cthulhu Waits

Thursday, August 7th, 2014

Cthulhu Waits, pen and ink art by Amy Crook

Cthulhu Waits, pen and ink art by Amy Crook

Three colors of pen, three different inking techniques, and one creepy drawing. Cthulhu glares balefully out of his cave, surrounded by strange growths and bathed in darkness. He waits for the stars to be right, for the summoning that will bring him from his sleep of death and up into the world once again.

Cthulhu Waits, 6″x4″ pen & ink on Fluid watercolor paper.

Cthulhu Waits, detail, by Amy Crook

Cthulhu Waits, detail, by Amy Crook

Above, you can see all three inking techniques up close, the roe-like stalactites hanging down above the fine-inked blackness, with Cthulhu in his scribbly, tentacled glory. Below, you can see the piece in a frame, just waiting to drive you mad with its strange details.

Cthulhu Waits, framed art by Amy Crook

Cthulhu Waits, framed art by Amy Crook

Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Floating Gallery, Series and Books, Tentacles, Things I'm a Fan Of
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Blood Moon 5

Tuesday, May 6th, 2014

Blood Moon 5 by Amy Crook

Blood Moon 5 by Amy Crook

Another Blood Moon made its way into my work queue this month, this time by adding some very subtle tentacles to an older painting in lieu of the previous image. This one is much more eerie than the last one, the bloody color leeching from the shadow to the white parts of the moon, and a second, smaller moon waiting off to one side, ruddy and strange. This sky is not our sky, or perhaps it is our sky many millennia hence, when the stars have become right and Great Cthulhu will rise up from R’lyeh to reclaim the planet for himself.

Blood Moon 5, 5″x7″ Japanese watercolor on Arches cover black paper.

Blood Moon 5, detail, by Amy Crook

Blood Moon 5, detail, by Amy Crook

Above, you can more clearly see the subtle mist and dark black tentacles rising up from the bottom of the painting, reaching toward the bloody moons. Below, the piece rests in a frame, a little window to some awful future*, or perhaps somewhere very far away indeed.

Blood Moon 5, framed art by Amy Crook

Blood Moon 5, framed art by Amy Crook

*Perhaps it’s Thundarr the Barbarian’s future, instead of Cthulhu’s. I always did like Ookla.

Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Floating Gallery, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Tentacles
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