Monday, August 25, 2014

Ghoul


Click image for a larger view


"These figures were seldom completely human, but often approached humanity in varying degree. Most of the bodies, while roughly bipedal, had a forward slumping, and a vaguely canine cast. The texture of the majority was a kind of unpleasant rubberiness. Ugh! I can see them now! Their occupations—well, don’t ask me to be too precise. They were usually feeding—I won’t say on what. They were sometimes shewn in groups in cemeteries or underground passages," "It was a colossal and nameless blasphemy with glaring red eyes, and it held in bony claws a thing that had been a man, gnawing at the head as a child nibbles at a stick of candy. Its position was a kind of crouch, and as one looked one felt that at any moment it might drop its present prey and seek a juicier morsel. But damn it all, it wasn’t even the fiendish subject that made it such an immortal fountain-head of all panic—not that, nor the dog face with its pointed ears, bloodshot eyes, flat nose, and drooling lips. It wasn’t the scaly claws nor the mould-caked body nor the half-hooved feet—none of these, though any one of them might well have driven an excitable man to madness." "It was the faces, Eliot, those accursed faces, that leered and slavered..."
-H.P. Lovecraft, "Pickman's Model"

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Byakhee


Click image for a larger view


Here is the completed byakhee illustration. Now I have to decide which creature to illustrate next. I've been itching to do something formless, although I have also been wanting to revisit the ghoul, as it's been years since I've illustrated one.

The byakhee: "Out of the unimaginable blackness beyond the gangrenous glare of that cold flame, out of the tartarean leagues through which that oily river rolled uncanny, unheard, and unsuspected, there flopped rhythmically a horde of tame, trained, hybrid winged things that no sound eye could ever wholly grasp, or sound brain ever wholly remember. They were not altogether crows, nor moles, nor buzzards, nor ants, nor vampire bats, nor decomposed human beings; but something I cannot and must not recall. They flopped limply along, half with their webbed feet and half with their membranous wings; and as they reached the throng of celebrants the cowled figures seized and mounted them, and rode off one by one along the reaches of that unlighted river, into pits and galleries of panic where poison springs feed frightful and undiscoverable cataracts."
-H.P. Lovecraft, "The Festival"

Saturday, August 16, 2014

Getting back in the saddle

What started as a small hiatus turned into a long absence; my apologies to all who waited. I am returning to this project with the byakhee. The description of this creature is one of the most macabre of all of Lovecraft's creations, yet rarely do I see it illustrated to its full potential. Hopefully my own rendition will capture the essential flavor of Lovecraft's description:

Out of the unimaginable blackness beyond the gangrenous glare of that cold flame, out of the tartarean leagues through which that oily river rolled uncanny, unheard, and unsuspected, there flopped rhythmically a horde of tame, trained, hybrid winged things that no sound eye could ever wholly grasp, or sound brain ever wholly remember. They were not altogether crows, nor moles, nor buzzards, nor ants, nor vampire bats, nor decomposed human beings; but something I cannot and must not recall. They flopped limply along, half with their webbed feet and half with their membranous wings; and as they reached the throng of celebrants the cowled figures seized and mounted them, and rode off one by one along the reaches of that unlighted river, into pits and galleries of panic where poison springs feed frightful and undiscoverable cataracts.
-H.P. Lovecraft, "The Festival"

Attached is a preview of the work in progress.

Friday, May 25, 2012

Hiatus

I realize that it's been over a month now with no updates from me. The reason for this is that I have injured my back. Sitting in a position which allows me to use my hand to create is extremely painful right now, and I can not create when pain is the only thing I can think about, so I am taking a hiatus from artwork until my back heals sufficiently. This could be a few weeks to a few months, but is NOT a permanent condition. The doctor believes I have a ruptured disk in my lower spine, which should heal completely in due time with proper therapy and rest and medication. An X-ray has proven useless in diagnosing this injury, but I have scheduled an MRI for the end of July to see how things are progressing. Medication is another factor, now that I think of it, in preventing me from creating. It is hard to access that creative part of your brain when the pain-diminishing drugs you need to stay sane have the side effect of keeping you in a dreamlike stupor. On the positive side, it is an artist's prerogative to have vivid and strange dreams as a result of using such powerful drugs, and I'm sure that I will come through all this with some wonderful new inspiration once all is said and done. So if you have come to expect more from me, please be patient and believe me when I say that I do have many more great ideas building up in the pipeline, but they will simply have to be on hold for a while. ~K.L. Turner

Monday, April 23, 2012

Dimensional Shambler


Click image for a larger view



"Shuffling toward him in the darkness was the gigantic, blasphemous form of a black thing not wholly ape and not wholly insect. Its hide hung loosely upon its frame, and its rugose, dead-eyed rudiment of a head swayed drunkenly from side to side. Its fore paws were extended, with talons spread wide, and its whole body was taut with murderous malignity despite its utter lack of facial expression." -H.P. Lovecraft & Hazel Heald, The Horror In the Museum


If you wish to follow my other work and/or see the occasional work in progress in addition to the finished pieces posted here, you may follow me at http://eclectixx.deviantart.com/

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Hound of Tindalos


Click image for a larger view



"The nature of the Doels was plainly revealed, and I was told the essence (though not the source) of the Hounds of Tindalos."
H.P. Lovecraft, The Whisperer In Darkness

"Beyond life there are'—his face grew ashen with terror—'things that I cannot distinguish. They move slowly through angles.'"
"'All the evil in the universe was concentrated in their lean, hungry bodies."
"'God, they are breaking through! They are breaking through! Smoke is pouring in from the corners of the wall. Their tongues—ahhh—"'
Frank Belknap Long, The Hounds Of Tindalos


If you wish to follow my other work and/or see the occasional work in progress in addition to the finished pieces posted here, you may follow me at http://eclectixx.deviantart.com/

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Deep One


Click image for a larger view


"I think their predominant color was a greyish-green, though they had white bellies. They were mostly shiny and slippery, but the ridges of their backs were scaly. Their forms vaguely suggested the anthropoid, while their heads were the heads of fish, with prodigious bulging eyes that never closed. At the sides of their necks were palpitating gills, and their long paws were webbed. They hopped irregularly, sometimes on two legs and sometimes on four. I was somehow glad that they had no more than four limbs. Their croaking, baying voices, clearly used for articulate speech, held all the dark shades of expression which their staring faces lacked ... They were the blasphemous fish-frogs of the nameless design - living and horrible."
-H.P. Lovecraft, The Shadow Over Innsmouth

If you wish to follow my other work and/or see the occasional work in progress in addition to the finished pieces posted here, you may follow me at http://eclectixx.deviantart.com/