Nightserpent.com blog- Fantasy art of Paul Carrick

Life Size Cthulhu (well, almost)

Paul Carrick — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 20:30:56 GMT

... and we're back!

In other mythos news, I have received a really fun commission. It's a painting of Cthulhu, but with some interesting differences from my previous renditions. For starters, it's in color, I have only approached Cthulhu in color once before. This time, though, the "client" (client is a bit of a cold term, I find, he's a really nice guy)would like Cthulhu to be bright red! As I am getting accustomed to using a bit more artistic license to Lovecraft's creations, this seemed like an interesting departure. Seeing that octopi turn reddish when they are upset, it made even more sense. Rather than the more serene rendering I am known for, this one uses a more dynamic pose. Here is the sketch:

In front of Cthulhu you might make out the hintings of a fishing vessel, which helps give a sense of scale. The original idea was to paint this 16 x 20", though upon seeing the sketch my friend wanted it to be bigger... a lot bigger! I broke out my abacus, and we landed on 36 x 42"... and on canvas. Seeing that most of my illustrations are designed to fit on my tiny scanner, this is an exciting departure to say the least. I hadn't hand stretched a canvas since art school, and I for got how satisfying it can be to get it right and drum-tight. Not only that, but being able to use my whole arm to make big sweeps with big brushed is an entirely different experience. A guy could get used to this!

Here are a few in-progress snapshots:

To remove the intimidating element of a pristine-white gessoed canvas, I toned it with a deep purple color, which I thought would work well for some shadows in the red skin. Then, I started blocking in the shapes with some greens. Though it was done with paint, this was more like drawing at this stage:

Here I have thrown in some more color to get a sense of what it will start to look like:

Pushing and pulling of shadows and highlights. Texture added to Big C, and the sky details get attention:

Aaaand, more work on the sky:

Sufficed to say, I am thrilled to have this opportunity and am thoroughly enjoying the new challenge and variety.

Though I am not the first to talk about it, I simply can't not comment about the recent passing of E Gary Gygax, co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons. D&D was a big part of my youth (and adulthood as well), it gave me a great outlet for my imagination and helped me finely hone it, proving to be quite valuable in my artistic pursuits. The slightly archaic nature of the first edition books boosted my vocabulary at a young age, and the map skills always came in hand (I was thinking of this often during the Europe trip). Beyond the scope of the game, I started to realize how the game has given me other great connections in life. Many of my long lasting friends were first introduced into my life because of the common interest. I probably would not have been exposed to H.P. Lovecraft, as I learned of him through the Call of Cthulhu RPG. I might not have even gone to art school in Providence, nor would I be working in the same field (at least in the same way, should RPGs still managed to emerge in another form). One highlight of my career so far was the opportunity to illustrate an article written by Gary himself. Without him, I wouldn't know any of you, and I wouldn't have this blog! My life would have been very very different without Mr. Gygax's contribution, and I know countless others can say the same. For that I am extremely grateful!

~Paul

One last look before the plunge...

Paul Carrick — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 19:56:02 GMT

Hello All,

As requested, I am showing one last full look at the sculpture before I take a deep breath and start the mold making. Much of the white color you'll see on the sculpey below is the Milliput gap fulling and general tweaking, and I did the final eye detail in the grey 'procreate' putty so it is already looking a little odd. A next step will be plotting the lines where each section of the mold splits, which ought to make the sculpture even stranger looking.

a detail shot:

As discussed previously, the translucent nature of Sculpey makes it harder for the eye to read the surface, so I have also make monochromatic version of these images and fiddled with the levels yet again, below:

I have a gallon or so of silicone mold making rubber, and seeing how poor Cthulhu has waited aeons for this, I probably shouldn't keep him hanging any longer.

This was meant to be a two-subject blog entry, but the volume of photos might be problematic for the slower modems, so I will simply start a new topic. See you in a few minutes....

~Paul

::Intermission::

Paul Carrick — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 20:32:19 GMT

I've been getting a few nudges about how ol' squidhead is progressing. Busy work, mostly, but nothing too glamorous.

I added a little 'signature' along side the bottom of the base, which was a fun challenge. The lettering reminds me a little of the tags on the bottom of gaming miniatures, a la "ORK WITH SPEAR", and it gave me an appreciation for those that can do the tiny lettering. I tried a newish product called (get ready to laugh) 'Procreate'. Instead of yellow and blue components, it uses white and black to create a neutral grey. It claims to be better than greenstuff by being less sticky and holding detail better, but I don't think this was enough for me to confirm the claim. The grey is easier to read and It's a lot more expensive, I can say that!

I did the sculpting under a large light-up magnifying glass with dental tools. With that magnification, I started to see a number of tiny fissures on the model. I would guess this is most in part to the multiple bakings. So, over the last few days I have been filling the tiny crack with milliput (a two part putty that is easy to sand, carve, and is water soluble before it hardens). I chose milliput because it is easier to get rid of the excess putty that is hard to remove with a tool. I first wipe at it with a wet brush to soften it, then I brush at it with a toothbrush. This seems to feather it out nicely. Whether these fine cracks would even reproduce in the molds, I don't know, but I'd rather be safe than sorry.

Next up is to fill in the eyelids with the suggestion of an actual ball, then I wanted to adhere a thick sheet of plasticard to the bottom side of the base to give it a nice smooth surface.

In other news, I finished a private commission of a nightgaunt. Many thanks to Barb for her super-angelic levels of patience:

It's 8x10", acrylic on masonite. Next up is another private Mythos commission, this time of Cthulhu, but with some interesting artistic license. I'll be sure to keep everyone posted.

cheers!

~Paul

Am I Evil??

Paul Carrick — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 20:32:57 GMT

A quick update/ check-in...

Perhaps I saw too much of a Laughing Buddha in his eyes, but my focus has been to make the eyes look more malevolent yet not so much to remove the intelligence.

I also added the 'ears' and hints of nostrils. Nothing's baked-in yet.

Thoughts??

~Paul

It has a face!

Paul Carrick — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 20:33:30 GMT

Hello Everyone,

Well, We've eaten out vegetables (all those tentacles) and now it's time for the dessert... the face! As Sculpey has a strange semi-translucence to it, I am trying a black and white photo for better readability. As I understand it, some professionals mix in some grey sculpey to make it more opaque and easier to read when sculpting. I might try that myself next time.

I'm still playing around with the shapes, so I would very much love input from all of you. Even the folks who don't speak up often. I am looking at you, you know who you are.

In other quasi related news.... my art will be hitting the silver... er, well, some sort of screen! What I mean is, my art will be featured in the upcoming documentary Lovecraft: Fear Of the Unknown. It features interviews with Neil Gaiman, John Carpenter, Ramsey Campbell, Guillermo del Toro and a whole bunch more. I am quite honored, to say the least, and it's cool to have my work branch out to yet another medium.

cheers!

~Paul

a Fist Full of Tentacles!

Paul Carrick — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 20:34:23 GMT

Hey Kids!

I keep forgetting to mention that I have been commissioned to design a Lovecraft themed tattoo, and by one of our regular blog participants (Hello, Matt!). Though this is actually not the first time my art has been translated to this medium, it's the first time I have been there from the design phase and considered the end product while designing it.

For those not familiar, this is the Yellow Sign, associated with none other than Hastur the Unspeakable. Say that three times quickly, I dare you. As soon as I get a photo of the finished product, I'll be sure to share it. It's a very flattering commission to be asked to do!

On to Cthulhu....

I contemplated James' comment about the size of the claws for a while and came to the decision to web the fingers as well as slightly beef up the fingers and enlarge the claws themselves. I think it satisfies both ideas (keeping interesting lines as well as looking more powerful), I hope you agree!

I have also added detail to numerous tentacles. Have a look:

That's it for for now, I look forward to reading what people think.

~Paul

New progress on the "Old One", and something for the young ones...

Paul Carrick — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 20:35:27 GMT

Hello Everyone, time for another update...

For starters, I have a bit of good news. As some of you may know, I occasionally illustrate children's books (which is often a rather amusing detail for those only familiar with my darker work). Somewhere around 2004 I got the idea to write one as well, that way I could have more control over what I was illustrating. It's a long process, let me tell you. The manuscript was
picked up by a publisher, and the artwork was just finished this fall. It's slated for a fall '08 release, which means it might hit shelves some time early/mid summer. Tentatively entitled Watch Out For Wolfgang! Here's a sample page:

It may look like a painting, but it is actually a flat layered sculpture. A hobby of mine is to convert and scratchbuild models for table top miniature wargames (see some here), at some point I found myself being more interested in the 3-d work than the 2d. I realized that if I didn't incorporate this interest into my "real work", I'd be living out on the street because I'd never get any work done. So, using the same materials and techniques (styrene plastic sheets, super glue and acrylic paint), I developed a bas relief style of illustration. This is actually the second book I've illustrated in this medium, Wired, a book about electricity was released last fall. But, Wolfgang is fiction, which allows for much more drama and artistic license. Those familiar with Warhammer 40,000 will discover numerous visual inspiration in this upcoming book.

OK, enough kid's book stuff, I know you're all here for the tentacular horror. I just made that word up.

The sculpture is chugging along. I have completed the second hand, rearranged some tentacles and so forth, focusing mostly on the left arm area. This was a big hurdle, as hands are probably one of the tougher areas next to faces.

a detail shot of the most recent work:

When in doubt, if it's a fleshy area and smooth, I haven't finished that area yet. Next up is a lot of the straggling tentacles, and then finally the head. After that, I may tweak some shapes to help it in the casting process, as long as it doesn't compromise the forms too much.

Though I knew my computer's monitor was a bit on the old side, I hadn't realized how faded it was. I recently heard that they are good (as far as for those who need color and levels to be properly calibrated) for four years. Looking at the back of mine, I learned that mine was nearly ten years old! That would explain why I have been having such a hard time reading various favorite sites. Last week I sold a painting, so I decided I should reinvest that money into a new monitor. Wow, what an amazing difference, the resolution and vividness is a hundredfold better! However, when viewing some recent files of my art, adjusted to look best on my ancient monitor, I have come to discover how awful the scans look on good monitors. If you look on my site, you can see as my monitor ages the more recent scans look odder and odder. So, I am going to have to "re master" a lot of images. I have my work cut out for me.

Between this and getting used to a new camera, I have a lot of learning, experimenting and adjusting to do. How do the new images of the Cthulhu statue look to everyone? How do they compare to previous WIP images? Input would be most useful.

~Paul

News Flash.... displaying artwork this weekend!

Paul Carrick — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 20:36:07 GMT

Hello All!

The Cthulhu statue is still in progress, but I needed to interrupt your daily scheduled surfing to let you know that I will be displaying some of my art (a mixture of the Lovecraftian and some of the more "adult" work not featured on my nightserpent.com web gallery) at the nightclub Machine on Saturday night. Though the art will be for sale, my primary focus is simply to give the artwork more exposure and meet more like-minded people. For those of you in the Boston area, please come by, check out my art and say hello!

~Paul

Here's the scoop on the venue:

Jan. 5th
“End of the world party”
DJ Punketta Doilie
DJ Arcanus
Industrial, EBM, IDM, Electro, Goth, Synthpop, 80’s, New Wave, Darkwave

Bostons newest dark and deviant night.

Shelter the 1st Saturday of every month. An industrial / goth night. Located @ 1254 Boylston St. Boston Ma 02215. 21+ $7 10 pm-10:30pm / 10:30 till close $10.

Dress code: Minimum all black

www.myspace.com/shelterboston

Back to the Third Dimension....

Paul Carrick — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 20:37:06 GMT

Hello!

I've been wanting to make an update for some time, I have almost completed a major project (a children's book that has taken over three years so far, more on that in a future update), so I am able to focus more attention on the Cthulhu sculpture. Between photos that I felt weren't doing justice (I find it challenging to capture the skin texture well on camera) and indecision about which stages were less misleading to the readers in regard to my direction, I experienced a bit of a stalemate for update timing. But, I didn't want the next update to be a jump all the way to the finish, as that defeats one of this blog's purposes: to share the steps of the creation.

I've been thoroughly enjoying this project, the Super Sculpey is quite a forgiving medium and I am learning quite a bit about how to handle it. Getting the skin texture where I like it is the biggest challenge, which is one of the reasons I am leaving the face until last (so I have as much experience under my belt as possible before I get to the most important part). Part of the fun is to decide how the skin behaves in different areas, whether it is stretched over bone, muscle or fat, and then where and how it will wrinkle or fold. My hope is that the variation will break up any monotony.

Enough blabbing... without further ado:

It might be a little hard to tell which parts are done and which aren't, but I am essentially working from the recesses out. It feels more practical to work in this direction, especially with all the overlapping layers. I unknowingly made things a bit more challenging for myself by weaving a number of the elements, as some parts can be both above and below another.

I've probably done four bakings since the last update, you can see that the tip of the head is getting nice and toasty, No problem, as I will resurface that before the last baking. I've focused on the arms & hands, "inner" tentacles and wings so far. I have also added a few improvisations, like bits of blubbery skin peeking out of the gaps of limbs and tentacles, putting him a little more back in line with the text's description.

I repeatedly invert the sculpture and try to imagine where any air might get trapped when I get to pouring the resin. It's a challenge to balance what looks best and what casts best. Though I am trying to eliminate some problems, I suspect it might take some trial and error in the mold making process. My guess is that it will take more than two sections to allow several vents to increase flow.

I'd love to hear what everyone thinks. Back to the Sculpey....

~Paul

Returned and recuperating! (image intensive)

Paul Carrick — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 20:38:19 GMT

Hello All!

I'll try to keep this under epic length, but I have a lot to share. Phew, what a trip! Fast and frantic, but quite enjoyable indeed. We landed in Frankfurt, Germany and then rented a car (bless whoever made the GPS, what a useful tool) and headed south to Heidelberg to have lunch with a friend. It's a cool medieval town complete with cobblestone streets and a castle looming overhead. Late that night we arrived in Yverdon Les Bains, the town where the hotel and museum was.

Yverdon Les Bains, Pestalozzi Place (it seemed sort of like a market square surrounded by shops and cafes):

The Maison d'Ailleurs (the House of Elsewhere), the museum front:

The museum is deceivingly large, with four floors for exhibition. They are now in the midst of construction, building a bridge to the second floor of that cafe to the left, enabling them to have multiple exhibits at the same time.

We decided to shoot out to the H.R. Giger museum in Gruyere, about an hour or so towards the center of Switzerland. It's a beautiful drive with lots of pastoral scenes, tiled ancient houses... everything picture perfect.

The hills started getting larger and larger, until it looked more like one might expect to see in Switzerland. We found ourself outside Gruyere, a medieval walled town on top of a hill. It's a real time warp! One has to park at the base and take a small path up the hill, passing small pastures with sheep and chicken grazing.

Inside the walls is a cozy village, complete with a castle, ringing bells, cobblestone streets and all the fondue you can eat (warning: not a good idea!!):

This is all a bit of a setup, because only a few blocks down you'll stumble upon the H.R. Giger bar and museum, which is quite the contrast. I later learned that Giger has always dreamed of owning a castle, so it's easy to see why he'd chose this area. He also wants a train, we can only hope that wish is granted as well.

First, we went for refreshments at the Giger bar, entirely decorated in his classic Alien-esque biomechanical style. Vaulted vertebrae ceilings, skeletal thrones, even custom floor tiles.

Bev models a throne:

Aside from the bar and a few sculptures outside the museum, photos were not allowed. Sufficed to say, it was very thorough and contained a lot of his classic paintings and sculptures, including sketches and full suits from the Aliens movies. What surprised me the most was that a number of his paintings were massive mural-like sizes. I guess from seeing them in books for a couple decades, I've come used to them being small in size.

Time to return back to Yverdon and get ready for opening night. The museum, as large was it was with around 400 or so pieces on exhibit, was packed! The concept was to broaden the vision to artists and artistic approaches not normally associated with the classic Lovecraftian imagery. I would describe a majority to be more of a 'cartoon' nature, even using a bit of humor in the artwork. So, only a handful were representing that traditional angle, I was honored to help represent the old guard. Not only were there paintings, but eerie music, spoken word and several films and documentaries on loop in viewing areas. One of my favorite parts was a couple of glass display tables with a complete collection of the artifacts that would have been present in the Call of Cthulhu short story. Everything from newspaper articles to ship logs, it was extremely thorough and authentic looking. I was told later that there was one true piece in the collection, a postcard from Lovecraft himself!

Patrick Gyger, the museum director, led us though the maze of art and people to the four paintings. I was doubly honored to see that my artwork was exhibited adjacent to Giger's works, himself. Honored and intimidated is more like it! It was interesting to see my art after a couple months, and work always looks better with a mat and frame. I thought they looked quite nice, though I feel like I've grown since I've done them... I guess that's to be expected if I am to keep developing.

Here I am am, sizing up my rival.

And, me explaining that I am not Mr. Giger:

I found it very interesting to see how other artists approached the same entries from the Commonplace book. One artist also chose "Azathoth", and drew a cartoon of a soccer player with an "Azathoth" jersey. I also got to meet some interesting people there, including the director of the Giger museum. After the show, a nice dinner was provided for all involved. It was a good opportunity to get to know people better and share our experiences.

More images of the exhibit itself can be seen at these two flickr galleries:

www.flickr.com/photos/17019577@N08/

href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/17313207@N06/" target="_blank"> www.flickr.com/photos/17313207@N06/

The next morning we said out goodbyes and set off for France. Here I am with Patrick Gyger, the Maison d'Ailleurs director. If Patrick hadn't somehow found my site and invited me, I wouldn't have had this wonderful experience:

The image on the right was the official graphic for the show, I find it quite striking, but it is best not to stare at it directly for too long.

We then drove west through steep mountains across the border into France and then Paris, itself. To make up for missing Halloween, we visited the Catacombs and Notre Dame cathedral. A fair exchange, I thought. I found the catacombs to be rather surreal, and I couldn't fully comprehend the vastness of the remains. We're talking millions of skulls and bones along miles of tunnels. It makes any Warhammer illustrations look like a Garfield cartoon.

The tunnels, which were once mines under the city, later became a mass tomb to deal with the overflow of bodies due to the plague. The long bones and skulls form walls about 4-5 feet high, and all the smaller bones are placed behind the retaining walls. The skulls are often arranged in various patterns or designs.

Notre Dame was impressively huge and ornate. I felt a bit sorry for those that were there to worship, as the hordes of tourists must be intensely distracting and diluting. I was told that they close off some parts for services, which made me feel a bit better. We were too late to go upstairs and see the gargoyles up close, but, on an optimistic note, because that day was nonstop rain we got to see the rain spouts doing what they were meant to do.

We saw saw several reliquaries, jewel encrusted pieces containing remnants of saints and other servants of the church. This looked like an engraved arm bone:

Though I didn't buy any souvenirs, we were rear-ended by a Parisian taxi cab. Just a bit of local flavor to take with us. The cabs, scooters and bikes outdid any crazy homicidal Boston or New York driving that I have ever seen. With that, we headed north to castle country. Pierrefonds, to be exact, the most perfect example of a castle, in my opinion. In order to storm it, you'd have to travel a ramp that encircles the entire structure, which involves about five big gates and portcullus, as well as a treacherously deep moat. All the while along is an exhausting number of arrow slits. It's far from giving anyone a sporting chance! I even saw a few cannonballs lodged into the outer walls, looking rather ineffective.

If I had been able to read French, I would have known to not pet the gargoyles:

The drawbridge and final gate into the courtyard.

From there, we headed though Belgium and on to the Netherlands for our final nights in Europe. Though it involved a lot of driving, we had a wonderful time. It was exactly what I was looking for, I wanted some stimulation by being immersed in different cultures and locations. I enjoyed the challenge of trying to communicate with people and navigate unfamiliar highways and streets (except for perhaps the wee hours of the night when I just wanted to sleep).

I'd easily say that the trip was a success in all ways, and I couldn't help but think of you guys and how much your help and support meant. Next up, aside from getting over jet-lag, we're back to the Cthulhu statue. I hope you'll join me.

sincerely,

~Paul

Another show, and surface detail started

Paul Carrick — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 20:39:16 GMT

When it rains, it pours! From no show to one.. and now two in the same month! I will be displaying five paintings at the Mystical Art and Talent Show on October 13 at the Cambridge Swedenborg Chapel in Cambridge (Harvard Square area), Mass. Four of the five paintings will be from my Lovecraft collection (not the pieces for the Swiss show, but my Call of Cthulhu illustrations). Though my art isn't often considered spiritual in the classical sense, there will be an interesting connection because of Lovecraft's 'Dreamlands'. I suspect that my art will serve as an interesting contrast to the rest of the work displayed, as it will likely have a darker tone in general. Unfortunately, I will not be able to attend. I am a bit bummed about this, I was very much looking forward to seeing how people interpreted the paintings, especially in that context. I know a few of you are in the Mass area, perhaps some of you can check it out.

I have started working on the surface detail of the Cthulhu portion of the sculpture, and it's a lot of fun. The trick, I find, is to work the surface to suggest bone and muscle under the rubbery flesh as well as give a sense of how squishy the octopoid skin is. I first start by carving off (via x-acto and dremel) approx 1/8" of the surface clay, and cover it with a similarly thick sheet of new clay. Then, I started working in the folds and forms (muscle and bone). Part of the challenge has been to pick which areas to work on, first. I tend to want to work the deepest recesses first and work outwards, though a lot of these limbs and tentacles overlap one another, so it's not as cut and dry a choice as I'd like.

Then, once the shape is to my liking, I started dragging various tools over the surface to suggest the creases and wrinkles, which also aid as a way to help describe the form and movement. Then, for variety, I used some lighter tools to hint at even finer creases.

A side effect of this technique is little ridges and tiny fuzzy bits, these can be eliminated (prior to baking) by lightly brushing on some turpenoid (a less toxic turpentine), it sort of melts the clay. It's really tricky, I might add, I am still struggling with the technique, but it can really work out well when it does.

Here are some photos in order of the process. I have applied the turpenoid on the second grouping, second shot, and you'll likely note the difference.

You'll note that some of the little balls still remain, I have been picking these off after the bake. Though multiple bakings can start to cause cracks and other damage, I prefer to 'lock' in detail with bakings so I don't absent mindedly ruin it later while working on another section. Cracks can be glued and filled later.

~Paul

A Possible Fix?

Paul Carrick — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 20:39:54 GMT

It seems if it weren't for the Iron Cross issue, most people would prefer the simple points. I kept thinking of ways to modify the corners, but why not just add more points to the sides? Todd/Bellygrub had suggested modifying the points themselves, but I wondered if that might make it too busy in the corners. Yet, I think it encouraged me in the direction of adding rather than subtracting (the circular cut-outs) to remedy the problem.

So, in this image we have the current state, a photo-shopped restoration to the original basic four points, and a photo-shopped possible fix.... adding 4 simple points to the sides.

Better? Worse? Neither?

~Paul

Base detail and a question

Paul Carrick — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 20:40:32 GMT

I have a quick update and a question about a detail...

Here's the front side of the base, showing the broken elder sign:

turning clockwise, there are jawless skulls on the other sides of the base:

another rotation:

The final skull is just the teeth, as a tentacle covers the bulk of the skull. I am now adding angular points into the crook of the trim. I can't decide whether to leave it as a simple point, or whether to us the more stylized version with the circular cutaways. There's something nice about the simple points, though it occurred to me that it might look too much like an Iron Cross... does anyone think that would be an issue? It's a charged icon for some, and I don't want to cross (no pun intended) signals. The second style is a nice shape, too.

Here we see one of each along the bottom border:

What do you think??

~Paul

Whittling Away At Evil...

Paul Carrick — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 20:41:15 GMT

I've been building up the armature in clay to a point where I feel I am ready to start working on the outer later and it's details. I kept adding mass and shifting and then locked it in with a partial bake. Once dry, I'd carve parts away until it looked right. Much like the back and forth process I do with 2D painting, adding and subtracting in finer and finer tunings until I was pleased.

Enough blabbing, here's the last two phases...

Below, I am still building up the main mass and focusing on the shape as a whole:

Below is my most recent bake, I am fine tuning the shapes and starting to improvise a little. Things might look good in a sketch, but there are always some tweaks to be made once it is fully realized in three dimensions. Plus, allowing for some spontaneity add to the enjoyment for me, otherwise it can be a bit of a redundant chore.

For those curious, I have taken a snapshot of the tools I've been using with the Super Sculpey:

I hope everyone can recognize the top item, I use the toothbrush to remove dust and chips of dried Sculpey, as a dusty surface makes it hard to get additional layers to adhere.

The next two are common loops for removing soft clay, they come in various rounded and angular shapes.

Below the loops are typical clay sculpting tools, the lower one has a rubber tip, which is good for softer impressions.

Last, a classic X-Acto blade, which I use to carve the hardened clay.

In other news, the Museum has sent me a more updated list of participants (listed below). As expected with any large group projects, some have dropped out. Probably because of other obligations (work, family, etc), or perhaps they couldn't meet the deadline. I know I cut it pretty close, myself!

"Albertine // Albin // Aeron Alfrey // Sylvain Amacher // Fred Bastide // Jose Antonio Bautista // Bénédicte // Noah Berlatsky // Stephan Bersier // Bertschy // Christian Bili // Enrique Bonet // Eric Braün // Benjamin Bron // Gabriel Br. // Giacomo Carmagnola // Paul Carrick // Caza // Daniel Ceni // Jean-Michel Cholette // Gilles Christinat // Cosey // John Coulthart // Marc Da Cunha Lopes // Brendan Danielsson // Guy Davis // Antoine Déprez // René Donais // Randy DuBurke // Antoine Duplan // Kevin Evans // Léonard Felix // Deak Ferrand // Grégoire Fontana // Mathias Forbach // Fufu Frauenwahl // Fritz & Ángel Olivera // Hugues Lapaire // Stephan Gaudin // Gess // H. R. Giger // Thomas Gilbert // Goomi // Gnot Guedin // Antoine Guex // Alban Guillemois // Gwabryel // Karen Ichters // Anna-Maria Jung // Julien Kaeser // Jean-Philippe Kalonji // Thomas Koenig // Körner Union // Krum // Muriel Liénard // Guillaume Long // Denis Martin // Guillaume Mayor // Laurent Mettraux // Berivan Meyer // Yves Milet-Desfougères // Monsieur Mishimoto // Mix & Remix // Fabian Moreillon // Sebastián Mulero // Jason Murphy // Julien Noirel // Johan Nowasad // Noyau // David Paleo // Fernando Pascual // Nancy Peña // Yann Perrelet // Stéphane Pichot // Nicolas Pitz // Plonk et Replonk // Alexandre Pointet // Mark Prent // Björn Quiring // Richard Raaphorst // Nadia Raviscioni // Jeff Remmer // Émile Roduit // François Rouiller // Jérémie Royer // David Saavedra // Patrick Saradar // Rick Sardinha // Irène Schoch // Andrés Soria // Laurence Suhner // Erwann Surcouf // Olivier Texier // Jason Thompson // Tom Tirabosco // Tito // Régis Tosetti // Walder // Anne Wilsdorf //

Catalogue (128 pages, 90 illustrations) with original fiction by
Terry Bisson // David Collin // Paul Di Filippo // Eugène // Valerio Evangelisti //
Jacques Finné // Jeffrey Ford // Philippe Forêt // Pierre-Yves Lador // H. H. Løyche // James Morrow // Christopher Priest // Lucius Shepard // Norman Spinrad // Ian Watson

The exhibit will also present The Call of Cthulhu, a film by the H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society, Le cas Lovecraft, a documentary by Patrick Mario Bernard and Pierre Trividic, a radio listening station organized by Sonar/Espace 2, and a series of interactive fictions imagined by Jon Ingold (Dead Cities), Peter Nepstad (Ecdysis), David Whyld (The Cellar), Eric Forgeot, Hugo Labrande, JB, Samuel Verschelde and Jean-Luc Pontico (Lieux Communs), as well as Ruben Nieto, Juan Saldalgo, Santiago Eximeno, Javier Carrascosa and Pablo Martínez Merino (El Museo de las Consciencias)."

Until next time...

~Paul

The paintings are gone, and now for the sculpture...

Paul Carrick — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 20:42:07 GMT

With the four pieces ready to go, I packed them up and sent them off. After putting so much effort and time into them, I was a little surprised at how unceremonious the shipping process was. Not that I expected fanfare, but the clerk didn't even look over my form... I wasn't left with a whole lot of confidence in it's safe delivery. I guess I am a little paranoid, but I had a cover painting snapped in half by UPS before. As you can imagine, I made a fairly durable box for these paintings.

Here's one more look, one last scan of each before the shipping:

I am happy to report that the artwork arrived quickly and safely. They seemed very pleased with what I had sent them. *PHEW!!!*

My promo savvy friends have encouraged me to write a press release. Evidently, there are places where these can be submitted where others can pick them up and use for related publications (magazines, papers, websites, and so forth). It's free content for them, and great advertising for me. If you're curious, you can see it here. If you have any ideas or suggestions for where I should submit it, I'd very much appreciate it.

Along a similar vein, the museum asked me to write a small bio, I suppose for the exhibit, catalog and site. They wanted short, as they felt people were more likely to read them:

Paul Carrick was born and raised on the small island of Martha's Vineyard, located off the coast of Massachusetts in the United States. His parents, Donald and Carol Carrick, were an artist/author team for many children's books, some of which included Paul as a character, based on his actual childhood adventures. Paul eagerly took to art at an early age, and would entertain himself for hours by creating terrible monsters on the page, and not much has changed. Another favorite pastime was role playing games, and a favorite was Call of Cthulhu, based on Lovecraft's universe. After High School, Paul attended the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, earning a BFA with a major in illustration. While in Providence, Paul became more familiar with Lovecraft's writings, and it had an added level of interest to know that many of the tales took place only blocks from where he read them. Since art school, Paul has created hundreds of illustrations for games, music and fantasy publications as well as some children's books of his own.

After a slight break, I realized it was time to return to the Cthulhu statue. Here's a few shots of the progress so far:

I created a rough armature out of armature wire (a fairly soft thick wire, I assume it has aluminum in it) and aluminum foil to comprise the main bulk. After this, I cover the armature with a thin layer of 'Super Sculpey' (a fairly common polymer clay that bakes to harden). The third step is building up more of the actual form. I expect to be in this phase for a few more steps.... carving away and adding bulk until I get it where I want. I haven't been baking it all the way, because multiple full bakings can result in burning the clay. I just want to slightly harden it to keep it in place. When it is where I like it, I will thin it down a bit and then cover it with it's final 'skin', this is where all the details will happen. Then, the final bake.

OK, I guess that's all for now!

~Paul

Lavinia... finished?

Paul Carrick — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 20:42:49 GMT

Every time I come close to completion of a painting or sculpture, I think of the famous Leonardo da Vinci quote:

"Art is never finished, only abandoned."

I suppose this could be taken as a gloomy kind of sentiment, though I find it rather comforting. There's always a risk of putting too much work into a piece, over-working it and ending up with something stiff and contrived. It's better to move on and explore new ideas and techniques. The trick is deciding when to let go. I think for Lavinia, I am quite close, if not completely ready. One of the positive sides of deadlines, is that your hand is eventually forced to let go, ready or not. Open-ended projects can be dangerous, as you might be tempted to never stop working on a single piece.

Though I am highly critical of my work, and rarely satisfied, I am happy with a number of things about the piece. I like the softness (hard to achieve in acrylic, I find), the bubbly textures, and the sense of silvery light. I also like the degree of uncertainty about the relationship between the two. I'd love to know what you think!

Speaking of deadlines, all four pieces have to be in the museum's hands by September first... and that's coming quite soon! I hope to revisit each piece and give them some final adjustments and tweaks. I'll then take them to be professionally scanned, both as a backup in case of some mishap (shipping, etc), but I won't see these paintings for at least six months- I might need a hi-res copy for some reason or another. Then it's time to ship.

Until next time...

~Paul

update (software oddness)

Paul Carrick — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 13:26:53 GMT

In my last update, Lavinia, I wrote it out in a couple sittings, saving the draft in between. Evidently, if I publish from a saved draft, it will not go out as a notification to all the subscribers. I can't make sense of this, but there you have it. So, this is my way of notifying the subscribers.... update time!

~Paul

Lavinia...

Paul Carrick — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 20:44:20 GMT

For my last piece, I chose this entry from Lovecraft's commonplace book:

"An sint unquam daemones incubi et succubae, et an ex tali congressu proles nasci queat?"
I guess I was attracted to the semi-obscurity of Latin, and a challenge to make the best of whatever the meaning ended up being. Using an online translator, it crudely breaks down to:

"Have there ever been demons, incubi and succubae, and from such a union can offspring be born?"

or

"Can it be that demons, incubi and succubi were to be at some time, in such encounters so as to be able to give birth to offspring."

Still a bit vague, then I remembered that two of my friends studied Latin, and this is one of their replies:

"My translation works out to something like, "Have there existed spirits (or demons), incubi and succubae (crazy medieval sex demons), and can progeny be born of such congress?" Basically, "are there demons, and if we have sex with them, what kind of crazy-ass babies will that make?" It was a wild time, that sixteenth century."

The Latin phrase itself ended up in Lovecraft's short story, the Horror at Red Hook. ( wiki page) The actual line wasn't a very integral part of the story, so I didn't feel bound to illustrating a specific scene. I pondered about how I would portray the concept, and after a while I settled on an image of the demon/human as an embryo. After a couple days of painting, it just wasn't doing much for me. Maybe it felt too much like an editorial piece, I don't know, but my heart just wasn't in it. But, then what? I was suffering a bit from painter's block, and I was feeling pressure from both time and the idea that this was my last piece... my last chance to make an impact at the show. As the last two pieces were only loosely 'Lovecraftian'. I had the urge to have the painting more tied in with his well-know works. Then, it hit me, there is another story of his that has a human breeding with something quite inhuman.... the Dunwich Horror. In this story, the Outer God Yog Sothoth (a link to a previous painting of mine) impregnates the albino backwater witch, Lavinia Whateley. Perfect, I had always loved that story, and had hoped to return to it in some way.

And, so after a couple day's of work, I give you an in-progress shot of Lavinia at the point of conception:

As much of my 'Mythos' art is greyscale, I thought it might be nice to have that represented in my contribution to the show. Classically speaking, an incubus/succubus is a demon or spirit that assumes a seductive form and uses that diversion to drain sexual energy from their human victims while they sleep.

As a related side, some years ago I was introduced to Robert Bruce (not to be confused with Robert the Bruce), the foremost authority in astral projection. We had talked about collaborating, I would illustrate what he saw in his astral travels. As a visual aid for the publishers, he described one of the entities... an incubus/succubus. Mr. Bruce told me that they are the same thing, and they assume the appropriate form during that seduction. However, their true form is more like this:

Unfortunately, illustrations were simply not in the budget for that project, but we have chatted about other ones in the future. Hopefully an opportunity will present itself. What made that project so interesting is that it reminded me of the very early wildlife illustrations before cameras, where the creatures were described firsthand from the explorers.

I'd love to hear your thoughts!

~Paul

Son of 20,001 Leagues Under the Sea...

Paul Carrick — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 20:45:02 GMT

I think this piece is at the stage to put it down for a while and get going with the final piece. If I have time, which I hope I do, I will go through with a final pass of tweaks. Considering the limitations, I think this scan is fairly accurate, at least on my 'antique' monitor. I've been experimenting with the various unexplained settings, and seem to be improving.

Excitement is building for the trip and show, I've neither been to Europe (save for a day in London), nor have I seen my art hang on walls outside a class or trade show. I've been learning more about the other participants. Aside from H.R. Giger and John Howe, there are other artists I am familiar with. Caza, a well known European graphic novel artist, in the same vein as Moebius and Druillet. James Gurney, creator of the best selling Dinotopia children's books. Dave McKean, comic artist (Sandman). Also, interestingly enough, a number of film makers, I am interested to see exactly how they will contribute. Most notably, Guillermo Del Toro, director of films like Pan's Labyrinth, Blade 2 and many more. It's going to be one humbling night, that's for sure! Between the new surroundings, culture, great art and great company, I expect total sensory overload.

~Paul

20,001 Leagues Under the Sea part two... or is that 20,002 leagues?

Paul Carrick — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 20:45:44 GMT

Another work in progress shot to show how how it's evolving....

I'm having a good time getting lost in various textures and forms, giving just enough information to hint at what we are seeing, yet allowing plenty of room for the imagination to do it's thing. Please let me know what you think!

~Paul