Every time I read The Dunwich Horror I find myself feeling sorry for Wilbur Whately. He’s the bastard son of a feeble minded albino. His family is hated and feared by their neighbors. He’s oversized, overintelligent and not a pretty sight with his clothes on. With his clothes off he’s down right hideous. He’s fifteen and he knows that the human race isn’t going to accept him. Is it any wonder he wants to call his “father” out of the spaces between into this world? And, sadly, I don’t think he would have gotten on much better with the Great Old Ones than he did with fickle humanity. There was just no home for poor Wilbur anywhere.
Category Archives: mythos
Totem
I don’t know what this is. Other than one of the first sketches I did in the new apartment back in January. I mean I don’t know what this is a sketch of. It could be some sort of statue or idol. Perhaps a marker left by unknown beings? Maybe a very tall birthday cake?
A Dagger for Your Heart
Here’s the last of the spot illustrations I did for the first issue of The Black Seal. I don’t believe this one saw print either.
Do Not Open ‘Til … well … EVER
Another spot illustration done for The Black Seal #1. I’d need to check the issue to be sure but I don’t think this one ever saw print.
Old (ancient!) books of evil lore are a staple of Lovecraft’s stories. The Necronomicon is the most famous but many other authors have contributed their own dreaded tomes to Library-of-Books-it’s-a-BAD-Idea-to-Read.
In the Dark
Another spot illustration for The Black Seal #1. I did all the spot illustrations with pen and ink. The first illustration I did, the one that I was first assigned, was mostly done in Photoshop and it took forever. I hadn’t used Photoshop for illustrations much at that point and so I was learning as I worked. I fell back on pen (and brush) and ink for the rest of the illustrations in order to get them done more quickly.
Smoke and Empty Space
In the first issue of The Black Seal I was assigned three illustrations. I was also asked to come up with some spot illustrations that could be used to fill any unsightly empty spaces. This is one of those spot illustrations.
Tumor, Removed
Another illustration for The Black Seal #1.
Fungi From Yuggoth
This is another image from 2000 that I intended to use a portfolio piece. Ultimately I guess I did – the finished illustration is in my Epilogue.net gallery – I just didn’t get it completed until 2003.
This is a Mi-Go, a so-called Fungi from Yuggoth, one of H.P. Lovecraft’s alien species. They’re featured prominently in The Whisperer in the Darkness. I don’t think many of authors have used them. They’ve gained most of their prominence and personality by their use in the Call of Cthulhu role playing games.
Unfinished Deep Ones
Another unfinished intended-for-portfolio illustration from 2000, this one of a pair of Deep Ones. H.P. Lovecraft introduced the Deep Ones in Shadow Over Innsmouth. The Deep Ones are a species of fish/frog/simians who are, for some reason, inclined to mate with human beings. The results of those matings look human at first but develop the “Innsmouth Look” as they age. Eventually they transform into a fully amphibious creature and return to the sea.
Yithian
I wrote an earlier post about the challenges of illustrating Lovecraft’s Great Race of Yith. They’re the featured creatures in Shadow out of Time. They are a race of beings whose minds are immortal. Those minds inhabit the bodies of different species at different times on different worlds. In Shadow those minds are inhabiting the bodies of some sort of giant land dwelling mollusk during the age of the dinosaurs.
This is one of my more successful attempts at drawing the Great Race. It was done in 2000 as part of the portfolio series but, unlike the others I’ve posted I eventually finished it and it can be found in my Epilogue.net gallery.
