The third layer, that is the non-Gaussian blurred one, has the contrast increased so I get good solid blacks.

In the middle we have Lovecraft himself. At this point I’m pretty sure I’ve read all his stories including the ones that were revisions of other people’s stories. Except for the occasional excerpt I haven’t read any of his letters. He wrote far more letters (perhaps as many as 100 thousand, often many pages long) than he wrote stories and a good chunk of his correspondence has been collected and is in print.

For me, a big part of the appeal of the Cthulhu Mythos, is its collaborative nature. Anybody can write a story and add to it. That started with Lovecraft. He added his creations to the stories he revised. He referred to other’s creations in his stories. His friends referred to his creations in theirs. The Mythos is inconsistent and contradictory. Fans argue over which stories should be considered canon. While many Mythos stories are under copyright the Mythos itself is in public domain.

Once the image has been scanned into Photoshop and I’ve cleaned up any major problems I copy the first layer and duplicate it twice. The additional layers are both set to multiply so that they combine and compliment the layers below them. I use the Gaussian blur filter (set to five points) on one layer. That smooths out the image a little bit and makes the grey tones blend together a bit better.

The third author from the left is Robert E. Howard. Howard is most known for having created Conan the Barbarian but he also wrote some Mythos stories (and apparently maintained a very steady correspondence with Lovecraft). I assume that I’ve read some of them but I’m honestly not sure. If I did they were published singly in anthologies with other author’s stories. I’ve only intentionally read Howard in the last few years and that was an El Borak and a few Conan collections. I mostly enjoyed what I read but not so much that I felt I had to seek out more immediately.

With the sketch approved I finished up the pre-digital work by putting down blacks with ink and more varied shading with my trusty B pencils. And then I scanned it into Photoshop.

Adam, my editor and publisher, had made suggestions for objects that the authors could be holding that relate to their stories. Arthur Machen holds a Black Seal.

Robert Bloch, standing to the right of Machen, holds a skull and has a towel from the Bates Motel over his shoulder. Bloch is probably most known for having written the novel Psycho. I’ve never read Psycho. I tend to prefer my horror fiction to revolve around supernatural menaces rather than the horrors human beings inflict on each other.

Bloch wrote a number of “Cthulhu Mythos” stories, mostly at the beginning of his career. Given the number of horror anthologies I’ve consumed I’ve probably read more than one of them but the one that has stuck in my memory is Notebook Found in an Deserted House. I think I first read it in one of those old Alfred Hitchcock anthologies but a quick googling isn’t turning up any confirmation.

Bloch also wrote Strange Eons, a Mythos novel (if I remember correctly) about Nylarlathotep bringing about the end of the world. I didn’t care much for it when I read it as a teenager. Maybe if I read it now my opinion would be different.