Archive for the ‘Tentacles’ Category
A Trio of Dancing Squid
Tuesday, June 18th, 2013
A Trio of Dancing Squid by Amy Crook
I had originally thought of doing fatter, cuter, cartoony squid on this lusciously bright green background, but then when googling around for inspiration I found some pictures of swimming squid that were sleek and small with big golden eyes. And so we have this little trio, swimming past some big, mossy rock or perhaps a wall in some ruins somewhere. They’re painted in a shimmery turquoise with green-yellow eyes, and a scribble-painted dark teal for shadows and outlines. I imagine them cheerfully unaware of their audience, just twirling and dancing around as they swim on by.
A Trio of Dancing Squid, 7″x5″ watercolor, Japanese watercolor, and duochrome watercolor on Arches cover black paper.
A Trio of Dancing Squid, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see the sun shining off the iridescent paint. Below, you can see them in their frame, hanging out with some aquatic friends.
A Trio of Dancing Squid, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Daily Art, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Series and Books, Tentacles, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: black paper, duochrome, green, iridescent, japanese watercolor, nfs, sold, squid
Happy Jelly
Tuesday, June 11th, 2013
Happy Jelly by Amy Crook
I know I’ve painted jellyfish before, but I decided my Wall of Squid needed some variety in its betentacled cuteness. This guy is actually a bit more pale in real life than he looks here, soft subtle pale blue-greens that make him look delightfully translucent. He’s not any specific species of jelly, just a cute one, but I did steal the idea of his heart-shaped markings on top from the lovely moon jellyfish.
Happy Jelly, 5″x7″ pen & ink and Copic marker on paper.
Happy Jelly, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see a slightly better version of the pale coloring, and of course his cute little heart markings and big shiny head. Below, the happy jelly is dancing in his frame with my iPhone and favorite jellyfish plushie.
Happy Jelly, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Daily Art, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Series and Books, Tentacles, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: copic marker, for sale, jellyfish, pen & ink
Tentacle Bookmark 5
Tuesday, June 4th, 2013
Tentacle Bookmark 5 by Amy Crook
Scribbly purple tentacles come in from all sides of this bookmark, which has a soft, grainy wash of reddish violet for its background. It’s quite small, drawn on stiff archival comic backing board, and would make an excellent accompaniment to a book by HP Lovecraft.
Tentacle Bookmark 5, 4″x1″ pen & ink and watercolor on paper, nfs (sold).
Tentacle Bookmark 5, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see the spiraling purple tentacles up close, the ink going from dense to loose around the curls. Below, you can see the bookmark nestled up to a big hardcover book, looking all dainty.
Tentacle Bookmark 5, with book, by Amy Crook
(book not included, tentacles are enough for anyone)
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Series and Books, Tentacles
Tags: bookmark, iridescent, pen and ink, watercolor
Ace of Cthulhu Hearts
Saturday, May 25th, 2013
Ace of Cthulhu Hearts by Amy Crook
One of my friends asked me for a playing card prop for her Lady Luck costume at a con this weekend, and so I used my Cthulhu’s heart art and popped it into a quickie design. If I was going to do the cards for real, I’d probably do something more elaborate for the background, but I didn’t feel like fighting with the white background on the heart image. I printed a page of them on cardstock for her to cut up into a prop (I put 9 on the page so she’d have plenty of extras), and she’s planning to put one in the brim of her top hat.
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Completed Commissions, Daily Art, Tentacles, Things I'm a Fan Of
Tags: cthulhu
Brainton Soup
Tuesday, May 21st, 2013
Brainton Soup by Amy Crook
I have a friend who always says that wonton soup looks like little brains floating in broth, so, this is totally her fault. The tentacles are taking place of the bok choi, cabbage, spinach or whatever random greens your chosen Chinese place uses in their soup. Also, tentacles. I even gave the bowl a nice design of my very own madness-inducing fake Mythos alphabet. Because I could.
What’s sad is that I’ve now done enough paintings with that text in it that I could generate this one without looking up a reference. Either that, or it really is all messages from beyond the stars.
I’m thinking this would make a great t-shirt, so if there’s interest it might go up on my meager little Redbubble account. What do you think?
Brainton Soup, 7″x5″ pen & ink and Copic marker on paper.
Brainton Soup, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see a detail of the brains and tentacles. I tried to color the brains somewhere between the warm yellow of wonton wrappers and the unhealthy pink of a real brain, and I think the result is pleasantly disturbing. Below, you can see the brains in a frame, with Cthulhu there to keep the tentacles in line.
Brainton Soup, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Tentacles, Things I'm a Fan Of, Zombies, Skulls, and Other Morbid Things
Tags: brains, copic marker, for sale, pen and ink, tentacles
Another Man’s Octopus
Tuesday, May 7th, 2013
Another Man’s Octopus, a Sherlock Holmes comic by Amy Crook
When I was contemplating ideas for today’s Tentacle Tuesday, this idea came to me (undoubtedly influenced by the steampunk novel I’m reading) to draw the original Holmes and Watson. I borrowed the fashions from one of the old Paget illustrations, so blame him for Holmes’ weird little jabot, and then added in our random steampunky science nerd and of course Biffy, the friendly octopus. He just really likes Watson’s moustache, I feel. It’s quite dashing.
I decided to shade it all in warm greys to give it the feel of an old Victorian daguerreotype or something, which always runs into the question of whether I should color the skin of the people or leave them white as the paper. I compromised by making Holmes very pale indeed, and giving Watson and the scientist a bit more robust warmth. This kind of coloring takes a bit less time than proper color, as the limited palette simplifies things.
Another Man’s Octopus, 7″x5″ pen & ink and Copic marker on paper.
Another Man’s Octopus, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see the line that made me decide I absolutely had to draw the comic, along with an unimpressed Holmes uttering it. Below, they’ve made it into a frame with my bored 5-armed plushie and one of the original books.
Another Man’s Octopus, framed comic by Amy Crook
Categories: Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Series and Books, Tentacles, Things I'm a Fan Of, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: ACD holmes, comic, copic marker, for sale, grey, john watson, octopus, pen and ink, sherlock holmes
Tentacle Deeps 48
Tuesday, April 30th, 2013
Tentacle Deeps 48 by Amy Crook
It’s Tentacle Tuesday and this one’s an octopus! Appropriate for 48, I suppose, that I’d break the “odd numbers look better” rule and go for 8 sucker-laden arms waving in the murky water. The background is an odd duochrome paint that goes from rusty orange to a very bright green, the tentacles are a translucent dark purple, and the suckers are a gunmetal silver color called “iridescent moonstone.”
Tentacle Deeps 48, 4″x6″ duochrome, iridescent and normal watercolor on Fluid watercolor paper.
Tentacle Deeps 48, detail, by Amy Crook
Above you can see the green shining up through the purple where it catches the light. Below, I’ve tucked it into a frame and let it hang out with my rather bored plushie — I think the orange one’s just jealous because it only has 5 arms.
Tentacle Deeps 48, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Series and Books, Tentacles
Tags: for sale, iridescent, octopus, tentacle deeps, tentacles, watercolor
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