Posts Tagged ‘lovecraft’

After the Stars

Sunday, October 5th, 2014

After the Stars by Amy Crook

After the Stars by Amy Crook

This piece has a lot of in common with both Insomnia City and Lost Arcadia, but the eerie city it depicts is slowly decaying after whatever cataclysm cracked the moon and erased the stars. As I painted, my mind supplied Lovecraftian stories to go with the muted palette, reminiscent of his cities of glowing semiprecious stone there in the Dreamlands.

After the Stars, 6″x4″ Japanese watercolor on Fluid watercolor paper.

After the Stars, detail, by Amy Crook

After the Stars, detail, by Amy Crook

Above, you can see a small detail of a few buildings, one dripping with something that might be blood, one cracked all along its windowless face, and a third thrusting up at the clouds, defying the decay around it. Below, you can see it in a frame, waiting to go to its new home.

After the Stars, framed art by Amy Crook

After the Stars, framed art by Amy Crook

Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Floating Gallery, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Series and Books, Things I'm a Fan Of
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Fetch the Cultist

Thursday, April 24th, 2014

Fetch the Cultist, Lovecraft parody art by Amy Crook

Fetch the Cultist,
Lovecraft parody art by Amy Crook

The Hound of Tindalos is one of the most evil, annoying monsters to draw while playing Arkham Horror, and so of course I wanted to draw one being adorable. He’s playing fetch the cultist with Cthulhu! I’m sure the one he’s brought is only slightly chewed.

There’s not actually any real description of the hound in the books, it’s only called that because once it gets a time traveler’s scent, it will follow him through space and time like a hunting hound.

My idea is cuter.

Fetch the Cultist, 5″x7″ pen & ink and Copic marker on paper. You can get him in black & white in my Cthulhu Holiday Fun Book, or pick up the original during May’s Floating Gallery.

Fetch the Cultist, framed art by Amy Crook

Fetch the Cultist, framed art by Amy Crook

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Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Floating Gallery, Series and Books, Things I'm a Fan Of, Zombies, Skulls, and Other Morbid Things
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Cthonian Skies

Monday, December 2nd, 2013

Cthonian Skies by Amy Crook

Cthonian Skies by Amy Crook

The Floating Gallery has touched down for December, and I thought I’d start your Monday off strangely.

The swampy greens in this strange sky are laced with shimmering iridescence. The moon shimmers darkly beneath spirals of gold, and strange salt-formation stars radiate yet more gold into the gloomy mists of night. Perhaps this is what Cthulhu saw in his native skies, or what he sees now in the slice of reality he occupies as he slumbers deep beneath the waves — beautiful, maddening dreams of a night that never was.

Cthonian Skies, 5.5″x8.5″ pen & ink, salt, watercolor, and iridescent watercolor on acid-free embossed paper.

Cthonian Skies, detail, by Amy Crook

Cthonian Skies, detail, by Amy Crook

Above, you can see the sunlight making long shadows from the salt crystal stars, and the textures of paper and paint interacting. Below, it’s loosely attached to a frame for size. The final product will be properly matted and framed for shipping, to protect the nifty salty bits.

Cthonian Skies, framed art by Amy Crook

Cthonian Skies, framed art by Amy Crook

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

Tuesday, November 5th, 2013

Mercy House by Amy Crook

Mercy House by Amy Crook

“Sometimes one feels that it would be merciful to tear down these houses, for they must often dream.”
-H.P. Lovecraft, “The Picture in the House”

I’ve been wanting to paint a house to go with this quote for a while, and October seemed the perfect month for a fretful, unhappy wreck of a house to emerge from the cool green background. There’s a quality to the paint that’s hard to capture on film, an unnatural wash watery green across the whole thing that slips it sideways into the world of Lovecraft’s special brand of madness.

Mercy House, 8″x10″ watercolor on watercolor paper.

Mercy House, detail, by Amy Crook

Mercy House, detail, by Amy Crook

Above, you can see the tiny glints of sunlight off the blindly staring window, and the black gap where the door once was. I never did decide if those fragments of sun are on shattered glass, or merely filtered through the encroaching leaves surrounding the house. Below, I’ve put the piece in an antiqued gold frame, the better to emphasize the sense of decay.

Mercy House, framed art by Amy Crook

Mercy House, framed art by Amy Crook

This piece always puts Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds’ “The Mercy Seat” in my head. Because of reasons.

Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Floating Gallery, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Zombies, Skulls, and Other Morbid Things
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Trick or Treat & a new Cthulhu Book

Wednesday, October 30th, 2013

Trick or Treat, Cthulhu parody art by Amy Crook

Trick or Treat, Cthulhu parody art by Amy Crook

I’ve finally finished my Cthulhu Holiday Fun Book, a handmade coloring and activity book themed around holidays from Halloween to Father’s Day (zombie style). The above art is lovingly dedicated to Goomi’s Unspeakable Vault, my favorite Cthulhu webcomic of all, since he had the idea of dressing Cthulhu up for Halloween and did it much more cleverly than I.

This image and 11 more are waiting in the book for you to color, along with 5 original maddening puzzles and activities. I don’t promise some of them won’t drive you insane, but hopefully you’ll enjoy the journey.

Get a copy at my Etsy shop today!

Cthulhu Holiday Fun Book, a Lovecraftian activity and coloring book by Amy Crook

Cthulhu Holiday Fun Book, a Lovecraftian activity and coloring book by Amy Crook

Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Card Design, People, Figures and Faces, Series and Books, Tentacles, Things I'm a Fan Of, Zombies, Skulls, and Other Morbid Things
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Sunday Round-Up & Shudde M’el Sketch

Sunday, August 4th, 2013

art, art everywhere!

art, art everywhere!

Another busy week, whew! Monday I did a long-overdue sequel to Growth, and Tuesday I finished an actual painting on canvas. Wednesday I updated you on the State of the Artist. Thursday another Uncanny Fear came out to haunt us, and Friday I switched gears with some silly clip art dingbats. Saturday John was grateful, if a bit reluctantly.

For today’s sketch, we have someone’s weird coloring book addition, and one of the Lovecraft Mythos critters that kicked our butts one of the last times we played Arkham Horror, Shudde M’el.

He's kind of like a sandworm that just sits on you until you die.

He’s kind of like a sandworm that just sits on you until you die.

Categories: Daily Art, Sunday Round-Up
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Eihort

Friday, May 3rd, 2013

Eihort watercolor by Amy Crook

Eihort watercolor by Amy Crook

Before painting this, I was mostly familiar with Eihort as a Great Old One from the board game Arkham Horror. Afterwards, I looked this horrific monster up and found that yep, it’s pretty awful. Eihort is from one of the later Mythos writers, Ramsey Campbell, and is basically a giant gelatinous mass with eyes that implants people with its brood, which will later hatch and kill them during the end times. Cheerful! But appropriate to the piece of art, I think, especially the part about eyes forming and unforming constantly in its shapeless body.

Eihort, 5″x5″ duochrome watercolor on Arches cover black paper.

Eihort, detail 1, by Amy Crook

Eihort, detail 1, by Amy Crook

The two different paints used are both snazzy special effects paints that change color depending on the angle to the light, and together make the whole painting even more eerily otherwordly.

Eihort, detail 2, by Amy Crook

Eihort, detail 2, by Amy Crook

Above, you can see the green and orange mixing together in strange ways in Eihort’s gelatinous form. Below, it’s lurking in a frame, just waiting to offer you its hellish bargain of freedom for larvae.

Eihort, framed art by Amy Crook

Eihort, framed art by Amy Crook

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