the Charnel God
Hello All!
A new first for me, illustrations for sheet music! James Gruetzmacher has created several piano scores based on Lovecraft's work, and my artwork will be featured on the cover and table of contents. I particularly love illustrating for music, but this opportunity was one I had never contemplated. The cover is inspired by Clark Ashton Smith's the Charnel God
9-1/2 x 12" acrylic on illustration board.
Smith wrote within Lovecraft's 'Cthulhu Mythos', so I have depicted the ghouls to bear similar features. In the story, the ghouls are the true identity behind the mysterious priests that cart off the city's dead to the depth's of a temple... for what reason, I don't want to spoil.
The visual concept behind the piece was to accentuate how mysterious and inky-black the underground temple is. After the viewer's eyes move away from the blindingly bright light and adjust to the darkness, the forms of the ghouls emerge. Much like a classic Lovecraftian tale, the story slowly unfolds over time.
Along a similar vein, I recently saw a special 'Pirate Special' on the Discovery Channel's 'Mythbusters' show. In it, they addressed the rumor that pirates didn't necessarily wear patches because of eye wounds, but sometimes to keep one eye continually adjusted to darkness. That way, if they needed to quickly go from a bright area to a dark one (from upper deck to lower, or inside to out at night), they wouldn't need time to wait to see clearly. During skirmishes, this could be particularly advantageous. From the show's tests, the concept was deemed quite plausible. A friend told me that he worked as a ghoul in a Halloween haunted house, and he said it took him about 30 minutes for his eyes to fully acclimate. Quite a coincidence, eh? There's nothing like talking to an actual ghoul to get my facts straight!
Cheers!
~Paul
A new first for me, illustrations for sheet music! James Gruetzmacher has created several piano scores based on Lovecraft's work, and my artwork will be featured on the cover and table of contents. I particularly love illustrating for music, but this opportunity was one I had never contemplated. The cover is inspired by Clark Ashton Smith's the Charnel God
9-1/2 x 12" acrylic on illustration board.
Smith wrote within Lovecraft's 'Cthulhu Mythos', so I have depicted the ghouls to bear similar features. In the story, the ghouls are the true identity behind the mysterious priests that cart off the city's dead to the depth's of a temple... for what reason, I don't want to spoil.
The visual concept behind the piece was to accentuate how mysterious and inky-black the underground temple is. After the viewer's eyes move away from the blindingly bright light and adjust to the darkness, the forms of the ghouls emerge. Much like a classic Lovecraftian tale, the story slowly unfolds over time.
Along a similar vein, I recently saw a special 'Pirate Special' on the Discovery Channel's 'Mythbusters' show. In it, they addressed the rumor that pirates didn't necessarily wear patches because of eye wounds, but sometimes to keep one eye continually adjusted to darkness. That way, if they needed to quickly go from a bright area to a dark one (from upper deck to lower, or inside to out at night), they wouldn't need time to wait to see clearly. During skirmishes, this could be particularly advantageous. From the show's tests, the concept was deemed quite plausible. A friend told me that he worked as a ghoul in a Halloween haunted house, and he said it took him about 30 minutes for his eyes to fully acclimate. Quite a coincidence, eh? There's nothing like talking to an actual ghoul to get my facts straight!
Cheers!
~Paul
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