Tropes versus Lovecraft - Part 3: The Eye of the Beholder

Here’s my third trope of lovecraftian iconography (Part 1, Part 2), one that I have come across time and again. 

Virgil Finlay

I call it „The Eye of the Beholder“ (obviously not very original, but I couldn't think of anything better) and the Virgil Finlay illustration above is basically a subtler proto-version of the trope, while this great one by John Coulthart is more like the real deal:

John Coulthart

As with „Under the Surface“(UTS) the trope is not so much an interpretation of a specific scene from a given Mythos-story as it is an archetypical representation of the philosophical outlook typical to a Lovecraft story. In UTS, the pitiful ignoramuses above have no inkling of the real nature of their situation, the viewer is let in on the secret so to say, and can see the true horror of what lies underneath.
By contrast, here we are put into the situation of the puny figures in the foreground and are thus forced to identify with them, since like them we mostly do not see what it is that is staring at them (or us). Because we can see only its gigantic eye, a body part that is normally rather small in our view, we are forced to extrapolate the size of the being that is looking at us here. This has an effect similar to Lovecraft’s strategy of producing horror in his readers: Don’t show the monster - just give the audience enough info to set off their own imagination. Lovecraft himself does this in „The Shunned House“,  but instead of an eye the protagonist digs out a massive elbow in the basement of a haunted house, which, to be honest, always felt more comical than horrific to me. 
Another aspect that makes this trope effective is that a giant eye causes a twofold psychological reaction of both a visceral feeling of uncomfortable closeness and, perhaps more importantly, a recognition of sentience. I wonder wether the ending of „The Shunned House“ would have had more punch if there had been a giant eye which opened and glared at the narrator from out of that hole in the ground...

So here are some more examples. I've definitely seen others, but overall this one seems to be less common than „Under the Surface“.

Again, this post is not meant to critique any specific artist or piece of art. I don’t know most of the creators’ names but perhaps given the context of this post it’s perhaps not in their interest to be credited here anyhow. If any artist would like to be credited (or if they want their artwork removed) please let me know and I shall do so.

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NEXT PART HERE

Table Manners

Another sketch in white ink on black paper. (Sketchbook #76) It's somewhat based on the trope of unequal love in 16th century genre painting. But since i am so wonderfully non-judgmental, without its satircal approach. No financial gain was involved for this odd couple. He's a gentle soul, a romantic in an avantgardist's clothing, she is an atavism: part woman, part cat, lots of fur. 

The Twin Paradox, page 3-11 redone

Happily working on a new story, 'The Twin Paradox'. Left: old version, right: new version. Had to redraw this page for better pacing. Which isn't so hard/boring to do, once the decision is made. Usually, many details get improved while i am at it.
So the last panel was left out, but after this page two extra pages will be thrown in. This is from chapter 3 while i am already in chapter 5, but often i feel like re-editing older parts. The sketching phase is quite short for the sake of spontaneity, so i am willing to run the extra mile in a later phase of the process.

Ura

Domestic Bliss

Guillolotto

New work it's a small piece acrylic on a wooden panel with little bit of found wood and plastic like=

The Adolf Wölfli Experience Live

Manliness

The kitchen floor

I can't see the kitchen floor anymore! It's full of new pages!

"The Tax Evader"

I have been looking a lot at Felix Vallotton's use of black and white, and have done a series of drawings in this vein recently. This one is a bit of a jab at Jacques Tardi's rants against the death penalty (which of course wasn't so long ago abolished in France since he did those comic strips featuring the guillotine...) I figured my characters to be cheering. Well, maybe tax evasion would be the only crime left still punishable by Madame Guillotine in their world. We'll see...

Acid Vomit! Kickstarter Is Alive!

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I'm currently running a Kickstarter for my first art book Acid Vomit! Please check it out, share & enjoy.

An unflattering sketch of Joris-Karl Huysmans

Work in progress June 2019

There's a bunch more less realized ones on my personal blog.

Stalking and spying

Bike ride

The front of sketchbook #74, somewhat inspired by a photograph by August Sander.

Missing link

New sketchbook

Sketchbook #73. White ink on black paper.

Psychopathia Sexualis

Yes, Robert Crumb did his adaptation of this classic book in the 1980s already (and it's excellent, i may add) but that did not stop me from taking it as subject as well, for the next issue of underground mag KUTLUL. I bought my copy back in the 1990s in German and wrestled my way through the parts in Latin (which pays off because those are the dirtiest). Just remember it's intended for serious readers.

contribution à Psychoses menstruelles, fanzine sanglant

OH NO OH NO OH NO OH NO OH NO

Strapatsky

Study of one of the main characters in "1913 Forever", named Strapatsky. White ink on black paper.

Remix

Spontaneity is a great thing IMO, but sometimes there are just too many little things that didn't quite work out on this here comic page. The devil is in the detail (how trite that may sound). So, the version on top is the new one. Not a big change of plan, but an improvement, i hope. 

I don't do this kind of thing often, but when there is such a situation, drawing the whole thing over is actually less work then to "tweak" it digitally... I hate that. It never works and you don't win time. It's one of those things that will make me want to  burst out in a bitter old man's rant. Digital technology may make several things easier, but it is solely geared towards your convenience. So in the worst case, it leads to lazy artists cutting corners, or trying to do that. I for one happen to like to draw a lot, so, commercial artwork aside, i don't mind spending time on it. Creating is not something that you want to get over with as soon as possible, right? 

Dadaist poetry

From "1913 Forever", the sequel to Pola.

MUSLIMGAUZE

The music of Bryn Jones aka Muslimgauze was & remains of tremendous influence for me;

if it wasn't for discovering his method of layered analog collage, my pages would probably look very different. Talking to one of our colleagues here recently ( hola Muriel! ) who finds his output equally inspiring, we hit upon the idea of putting together a Muslimgauze tribute anthology.

So, any of you up to that?

We have no money, no publisher yet, so not even any bullshit promises of 'exposure' or such, not a single thing to offer beyond a reaffirmation of what good company we keep here.

Sign up in comments section.

"They offered hardship, poverty and danger as the only rewards for joining them. You see, they were not joking!" 

- a character in Lawrence Durrell's 'Monsieur, or, the prince of darkness' describing the Knights Templar.

Since when do they serve such plonk here?

Lovecraftian Cookbook

The Necronomnomnom. Well, I finished the art back in August, but the thing just got printed. I think we sold over 200 at the PAZ Unplugged convention in Philadelphia, and I did a drawing in the back of every book I saw sold.

I didn't write any of the really bad puns or any of the recipes- I was given the recipes and then I did a calligraphy version of them and just made up stuff to fill the page. The basic format of the book is that it's written like a tome of spells, somehow being gathered by a collector and the book itself. There are scrawlings, notes, and musings- most of which are scrawlings, notes and musings I made up as I went. I asked for some direction and there were things that came from the authors that needed to be on certain pages- like discreet shout outs to people who submitted recipes- but was basically given free reign. Somehow there isn't a single recipe with an octopus tentacle in it.

Rat illustration for screenprintatelier soliparty // cookbook release party

Work in progress update

There's a lot more on my personal blog. Since my drawings take very long, I've decided to do these work in progress updates more often. I'm working on many more but the ones I've chosen to show are the most presentable.

it's been a while

"Mr Bones"

back on painting

hey here! happy to find back my access, "login horror"

well, back on painting yes cause i did a few and continue, which's better than one here & then
i think i finally found a good way to color my cartoongory stuff
firstly by using small size panel of wood, 10 or 15cm wide or smaller
onto that i work more or less as illuminators did, using gum, animal glue & egg white, nothing vegan
plus natural colors handmade or not, medieval chemistry & a few experimental colors (such as nickeltitangelb, bleizinngelb or the chinese Han blue)
this iconic way, flat painting is better adapted to drawing than more modern way of painting (ie oily), well it's more or less like "gouache" or maybe acrylic painting, or a mix of that
also this makes me paint quite quickly which is good too!

if you like scientific side, i work here with 3 different sizer (in this order but sometimes 1 or 2 or 3 : animal glue, arabic gum, egg white)
animal glue fix the color for the light, it's opaque and close to water so the color is as it is from the powder
it's also unsoluble so you can work with layers, but opaque
then arabic gum bring enlightement, full color because of brightness, like sugar
as sugar the default is that gum is soluble so you can't work by layers, but this is a tool to work relief & volume by melting colors
then egg white is more brightness which increase translucency, closer to oil
with that you will down the colors but increase deepness
because of being insoluble it's protecting the underlayers but you can't mix colors
but the translucency give you opportunity to work with glazes, the dilution of color is infinite
when dry its opaque and flat but when painting you really approach oil realistic volumes