Flying Fish Illustration

In HP Lovecraft’s At the Mountains of Madness, an antarctic research expedition goes awry when it encounters the remnants of a prehuman civilization. This story has lingered with me ever since I first listened to the audiobook during the doldrums of a long car ride, and for me it’s the standout of Lovecraft’s fiction. I was immediately captured by that sense of terrible revelation, the human explorers creeping like mice amidst colossal geometry, equally inhospitable and fathomless.

So when the opportunity arose to make a piece themed around Gods and Monsters, it didn’t take me long to settle on an idea. I was determined to plan the piece through more than I normally do. I’m trying to figure out my process for these larger paintings, and in that regard this piece marks a step forward: I planned the composition, the values, and the colors to boot. In the heat of an August evening I donned my winter coat and took reference pictures complete with lantern.

I would of course like more from the piece. There are too many indistinct details left as such not by design but by ignorance or confusion; I don’t quite buy the perspective; it’s too dark; it took too long; I desperately want more stuff going on in the piece, more little details to draw the viewer in.

Nonetheless I am happy with the piece. The perspective was a worthy goal and the composition is fair. But what matters most is that I actually knuckled down and finished it, even though I had all sorts of nagging doubts. Now that it’s on display, I’m excited to move on to the next leg of the journey!

Canines this week, largely drawing from images. I’m trying to build my own sense of the form of these creatures; I’m getting to the point where I can recognize some shapes, but putting them together out of imagination remains a bridge too far. Also: portrait and head practice.

Shoutout to ballpoint pen. No one ever seems to actually purchase these things. They just proliferate on their own like mice, accumulating in backpacks, in drawers, in disused coffee mugs, inevitably stolen by people like me (inadvertently, I hasten to add). In spite of such petty larceny my supply ran out over the summer, so like an honest taxpaying citizen I’ve actually bought some.

It’s taken about a year, but I’ve finished my sketchbook. Looking back, I would like to have made more progress; my life is more organized around this goal now.

The final page of the sketchbook features this swamp-guardian-monster I made yesterday. It’s not a serious piece, not really, but I got the bug and wanted to make something quick and “complete”.

I used ballpoint pen and acrylic layered over watercolor and water-soluble crayon. My goal was to experiment with the materials and to render something with a background and everything.

That background is messier than I intended. I was going for a Frazetta-style leafy background with loads of hanging moss and greebly roots, but it’s overwrought.

Going forward, I have to be more intentional with my pieces if only for the sake of time. It’s just too slow to make something unsatisfactory and then spend ages correcting everything by guesswork. It might be better and quicker to get it right (or wrong) on the first try and live with it, as hard as that is! I have to keep speed a priority.

I drew a Gandalf-type the other day while listening to the BBC’s Lovecraft Investigations*. It turned out okay for lacking a reference picture! I’ve been trying to use references more wisely: as as supplement rather than something to copy from directly. In this case I first got my general pose sorted, then I copied whatever I could find of hands in robe sleeves (with particular attention paid to the hows and whys). Then I went back and tried to apply what I’d seen to the original sketch.

I wouldn’t say it’s totally satisfactory—there’s definitely a lack of naturalism in all the fabric on the character. Still, I liked the line quality and it’s generally in the right direction.

* The series order can be a little confusing, but it goes like this:

1. The Case of Charles Dexter Ward
2. The Whisperer in Darkness (I’m here)
3. The Shadow Over Innsmouth
4. The Haunter of the Dark

I know that Spotify at least has them out of order, so watch out for that.

I’ve started a few blogs and websites by now, all of which have fallen to ruin.

It’s best if I’m intentional about this, then: this site is where I’ll post my best work, and every month I’ll post an update on what I’ve been working on.

If I do it right, it will have a long life. Here’s to starting out!