Artist Spotlight
Some time ago I posted a very rough and ready piece on my blog called Reasons to Like Lovecraft: Yog-Sothoth. It contained a couple of images and embedded YouTube links to the Dunwich Horror audio book. There was very little explanatory notes about how I perceived Yog-Sothoth from a fiction writing point-of-view (something I’d like to address later this year when I find time to step away from current writing commitments). One of the images was by an Australian artist by the moniker of Drhoz.
The Lurker At The Threshold – Yog-Sothoth by Drhoz
In my mind, the image encapsulates everything about the menacing, frothing-madness and cosmic horror of this Outer God as it comes streaming through a rent in our reality. The overlap of a ring of monoliths in a dark, isolated location, where obscene rites are performed, with the rancid, expanding stream of alien influence; conveys the inevitable, unstoppable reign of these monstrous things. The Old Ones were, the Old Ones are, and the Old Ones shall be.
And yet… the boundaries of the Quantisphere, however fragile, has managed to enable this “oasis” of existence for the human condition called awareness.
So with great pleasure, I hand over to the artist behind the image.
DJR: Hello Drhoz. Thanks for taking time out to pen some words here. First question up is around your inspiration for the image. Are you a fan of H.P.Lovecraft and the body of work that is the Cthulhu Mythos or is it just that you find the particular concept around Yog-Sothoth of interest?
Definitely a fan, ever since I read ‘Colour Out of Space’ when I was in my young teens. Although as it happens I’d read Bloch’s ‘Notebook Found In An Abandoned House’ and Derleth’s ‘The Shuttered Room’ before that. The former is a brilliant piece of work – the later – not so much. As for the picture of Yog-Sothoth – I loved the description – even if the first use I saw of it was in another Derleth piece.
So I got together a bunch of photos of marbles and crystal balls, particle tracks from a collider, and the stone circle, to frame the seething quantum foam of Yog-Sothoth. Then used a few contrast-adjusting tricks to give it the tone I used in this a few related Lovecraftian pieces :)
.
Temple of Starry Wisdom by Drhoz
.
The_Inhabitant_of_the_Lake_by_Drhoz
.
The_Colour_Out_of_Space_by_Drhoz
.
Three_lobed_Burning_Eye_by_Drhoz
.
Render_of_the_Veils_by_Drhoz
.
Statement_of_Randolph_Carter_by_Drhoz
.
The_Temple_of_Nug_and_Yeb_by_Drhoz
and a few where I played with Apophysis and LunarCell to make more abstract works; for example:
Mad_Aurora_by_Drhoz
.
DJR: Linking into the above. What theme captures your artistic temperament and sees most creative output? What truly inspires you and gives you a tingle of delight to craft within? And conversely, what makes you want to pull your hair out. What concepts are your biggest challenge?
Well, going back over these pieces on a monitor that isn’t on it’s last legs certainly makes me pull my hair out – it shows up all the errors and obvious cuts that were too subtle to see on a cathode ray monitor that old :)
As to inspiration – I do draw, or write, a lot of rather dark stuff. Possibly because of the satisfaction of drawing really ghastly things when I’m generally a pleasant person :)
The Mythos is a favorite, and generating portraits or props such as this photo of a thing the Cthulhu players found under Boston also keeps me happily busy.
.
broodling_in_a_bottle_by_drhoz-d3cvgmt
.
The Call of Cthulhu RPG, Deathwatch and Rogue Trader, and a Bronze-age middle east themed AD&D campaign also gave me lots of inspiration, too.
That said, I might spend the better part of a week tearing my hair out about one picture, give up, then go back to it months later and decide that actually, this was pretty good.
Oh, and I’m terrible at drawing feet. Witness one piece where I finally satisfied with the rather complex pose and POV, and only then realised I’d given the character two left feet. *headdesk*
.
DJR: Are you all about Digital Art or do you hold other skills? If you were to define yourself, as an artist – what do you say?
Actually, nearly everything I’ve done is with pencil and pen. For example – this character portrait for a Rogue Trader game -
.
navigator_netzach_benetek_by_drhoz
.
I’m way behind in drawing though – at the moment a lot of my creative effort is pushed towards making fake 1920s news items and similar props for the Call of Cthulhu campaign I run here in Perth.
.
DJR: Do you see the Cthulhu Mythos seeping further into mainstream awareness through cinema and fiction? Do you think this would be a good thing or a bad thing? A validation of Lovecraft’s work after nearly a century of relegation to a “freakish” sub-genre – or an erosion of deliciously obscure niche that the Mythos sits within?
I’m very much in favour, but admit it’s difficult to sell an audience on indescribable horror and utter nihilism. I’d like to think the old gentleman would have been delighted with Plush Cthulhus though – he was a fan at heart himself, and his letters are frequently very funny.
.
DJR: What’s your favourite piece of personal work and your favourite source of inspiration (artist or otherwise)? (Provide example copy if you like).
Well, I get inspiration from all over – anything might trigger a good idea. Even if that idea is horrible beyond words – My Little Pony / Mythos crossover for example *insert insane laughter here, cue psychiatric orderlies*
but I’m still very pleased with with a portrait I did of another unspeakable character I invented – Eidolon. A complete monster.
.
Eidolon_2_by_Drhoz
.
DJR: What’s coming up in your world that you’d like to shout about? Any links, events, promos you would like to share with the folks who look at this blog every month?
Well… the Call of Cthulhu and other games I mentioned above are being turned into Actual Play podcasts, and the journals, fake newspaper articles, and props andportraits for them continue to turn up online at various forums. Anybody interested in seeing them is welcome to email me and I’ll point them in the right directions. I was appalled to notice that the journal for the Cthulhu campaign is already 120 pages long.
.
DJR: Final words?
Cf’ayak’vulgtmm, vugtlagln vulgtmm! Iä! Shub-Niggurath! Iä! Shub-Niggurath!
.
.
LINKS FOR THIS ARTICLE:
- http://drhoz.deviantart.com/art/Temple-of-Starry-Wisdom-45370679
- http://drhoz.deviantart.com/art/The-Inhabitant-of-the-Lake-28652836
- http://drhoz.deviantart.com/art/The-Colour-Out-of-Space-28653084
- http://drhoz.deviantart.com/art/Three-lobed-Burning-Eye-28652931
- http://drhoz.deviantart.com/art/Render-of-the-Veils-28653793
- http://drhoz.deviantart.com/art/Statement-of-Randolph-Carter-28654452
- http://drhoz.deviantart.com/art/The-Temple-of-Nug-and-Yeb-39866729
- http://drhoz.deviantart.com/art/Mad-Aurora-44871477
- http://drhoz.deviantart.com/art/Broodling-in-a-Bottle-203021813
- http://drhoz.deviantart.com/art/Navigator-Netzach-Benetek-269171042
- http://drhoz.deviantart.com/art/Eidolon-2-43677059
.
See more posts like this – click
.
.
.
