Andrew Ritchie's Azathoth

I've been a fan of BOOM! Studios for a while. In their earlier days they published a masterpiece of Lovecraftian horror called Fall of Cthulhu, the delightful anthology series Cthulhu Tales, and the worth-a-read Necronomicon. They have gravitated away from Mythos stuff, but they're still quality publishers (Hexed comes to mind immediately).

Andrew Ritchie was a staple contributor to BOOM!'s Mythos titles. Necronomicon was drawn by Andrew Ritchie. Fall of Cthulhu's first volume, The Fugue, featured Andrew Ritchie's work. Cthulhu Tales had some stories illustrated by Andrew Ritchie.

Ritchie is known for his eerie, corpse-like characters and monsters mixed with old-school comic book colors. "The Beach" from Cthulhu Tales is a good example. Michael Alan Nelson, who wrote Fall of Cthulhu, creates a typically horrifying story, but Andrew Ritchie's art will freak the hell out of you. Seriously. It will stay with you for a while.

Anywho, I'm a fan of his work, so I naturally contacted him to do a pic of Azathoth's throne. He already drew Azathoth in Necronomicon:

After a while, he agreed, and sent me the result today.

One word: wow.

Elder City Sketches II.

As stated formerly, the City of the Elder Things Gilman visits in his dreams is very important, since it makes him realize that his "dreams" are real. I specifically requested our faithful designer, KingOvRats, to make the designs similar to the late H.R. Giger. Here were the first designs:

The balustrade (top),  a dwelling (left), and an industrial mine (right).

Just now he posted some more designs. I like them even more!

A castle with an observatory/watchtower (top), a random building (middle), and a temple (bottom).

I originally wanted to make these in Photoshop, but now I think a full model (with Photoshop additions) is in order...

Elder City Sketches I.

The Elder Thing city (which evidently lies in a triple star system somewhere between Hydra and Argo Navis) that Walter Gilman travels to is a crucial turning point in the story. When Gilman wakes up, having broken off a miniature statue of one of the Old Ones on a distant planet in his dreams, he finds the statuette in his bed. This is when he starts acknowledging that the frightful inter-dimensional vistas of his nightmares are not just nightmares.

Art director (that's what I'm calling him now) KingOvRats has just released the first sketches for the city.

Need I say more?

Depicted? A tower's balustrade (note the miniatures), a home, and a inousjpy/mine (by the way, I cannot read what that says, so don't laugh at me for writing...that. Note: just found out it reads "industry".).

Not much to add, other than that this is FREAKING INSPIRED.

One last note - we've been pretty slow on production, but it's happening, trust us. I have put a lot of effort into this beast and I'm not going to stop. We will tackle this story and make it good. Believe it.

Lone Animator Blog Coverage

Richard Svennson is posting about his contributions to the Witch House on his blog. He finished the one on the Octopus today. Check it out for some more behind the scenes imagery and a proper detailing of the process!

"Here's one of those collaborative projects: the video-horror-musical 'The Dreams in the Witch House', based on the rather good tale by H P Lovecraft."

First Abyssal Set

Richard Svensson, the Lone Animator, has started to work on a puppet. I'm not fully sure which one it is, but its only half-sculpted. We might have some photos tomorrow.

That said, I asked him about backgrounds/sets on Tuesday. I had sent him the sketches for the inanimate structures of the Abyss, of course drawn by KingOvRats.

Richard kindly agreed to do it himself for us. In the end, he shot for the more organic structures. KingOvRats had told me he imagined the Abyss as a more bacterial structure, as seen below.

Now, I hadn't told Mr. Svensson that - but in the end, he came up with exactly that - Lovecraftian bacteria. In summation, the Lone Animator sent me a 2D mockup of what the Hyperspace Abysses might look like.

And it is amazing.

We thank Richard Svensson from the bottom of our heart. He created the perfect image.

Pete von Sholly and Others

In looking for more concept artists to jump onto the already talented team of Witch House, I have contacted several renowned artists in the past few months: most recently Jason B. Thompson (artist of The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath comic and movie), Devon Devereaux (artist of Hot Rod Horror and Graphic Classics contributor), ebe-1, and Pete von Sholly (artist of the utterly random, grotesque, and fabulous, including P.S. Publishing's Lovecraft series, Graphic Classics: H.P. Lovecraft; First Edition, History of Monsters, Capitol Hell, and other strange and limited collectibles). Less recently, Gris Grimly (Frankenstein, Edgar Allan Poe's Tales of Mystery and Madness) and Michael Zigerlig (friend of the late H.R. Giger and artist of The Call of Cthulhu) were contacted. Here are the results.

• Jason B. Thompson will be drawing the Twilight Abysses of Hyperspace in December.
• Devon Devereaux will be doing a pen, ink, and Prismacolor drawing of the meeting between Gilman and the Black Man, also in December.
• ebe-1 is too busy to work for us right now, but we're going to talk about it soon.
• We'll talk about Pete von Sholly in a minute. He did supply us with something awesome.
• Gris Grimly is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyy to busy to work for us, but he told us so in a very courteous manner.
• Michael Zigerlig is willing to do something once we have the proper funds.

So if you like creepy art by awesome artists, you're going to be in for a real treat in the next few months.

Now, here's the wonderful thing that happened with Pete von Sholly.

Mr. von Sholly has done an admirable job of resurrecting good ol' popcorn-munching monster movies, toys and pulp magazines in his work. When I contacted him, he was very polite and kind, saying that he'd be happy to help - but he'd need to decompress from Monsterpalooza first. Today, I contacted him again.

After giving him an outline of what I wanted, he told me that there was nothing new he could bring to the table. He had outlined all of the best scenes so well in his book version from P.S. Publishing that he had already said it all - already got the best bits.

What he did do was send me all six images from the book, and said I could use any or all for free.

The City of the Elder Things.

The Hyperspace Endpapers.

Hyperspace.

The bones of Brown Jenkin.

These are two thirds of what he showed us - the others just as fantastic.

I tried to make a Universal monster movie style poster out of the Elder Thing City drawing. It turned out TERRIBLE.

Mr. von Sholly made a few suggestions on this little mockup.

• Credit H.P. (I forgot)
• Don't put stuff all over it - let the art speak
• MAKE IT READABLE
• Remove cast names. Sounds kind of weak when everyone has the same last name

Here's the direction he suggested.

So I tried it out that way, arranging the words like Mr. von Sholly suggested. My only addition was the artist credit. It looks MUCH better, and Mr. von Sholly agreed.

But, in any case, I am eternally thankful for what Mr. von Sholly has given us.

Living Hindu Idol Evolution - a New Stage

Gregg Stockdale, amazing Witch House concept artist, has done something that adds a new stage to the

LIVING HINDU IDOL EVOLUTION

Stage One

Rough Design

The first rough design.

Stage Two

Original Design

The original, finished design: the first Michal sent to me.

Original Design Movements

The tentacles move in and out like tongues in a rolling movement. In a embryo-like position, it sits until disturbs when all limbs fan out and ROAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Stage Three

Distorted Incarnation

The second incarnation. KingOvRats believes its MUCH better in terms of form (i.e., the melting shape and the tentacles) and detail (the eyes, the head, etc.). I would personally prefer a combination of both from a directing standpoint...

Update Movement

Instead of fluently rolling the tentacles, Michal would like a more convulsive movement, similar to this.

Stage Four

Gregg Stockdale Combo

The stunning concept artist Gregg Stockdale is at it again! Since he could not make a Photoshopped image, he did the next best thing. He "cherry picked the best bits" from the two drawings - the tentacles and mouth of the first incarnation, and the underarms, body, and mouth of the second. Michal still has some doubts, but I think its looking good.

What do you think?

The Temple of the Crawling Chaos

In the story The Dreams in the Witch House, Walter Gilman meets the Black Man Nyarlathotep and signs the Book of Azathoth in the sealed loft above the attic. Well, we've decided to jazz things up a bit and set it at a great temple in deep space...the Temple of the Crawling Chaos.

And, without further adieu, I present Michal 'Majqello' Knapik's designs for it.

THE BLOOD GARGOYLE AND THE BLOOD SPHINXES

Above a great altar in the Temple where Nyarlathotep reigns, there is a gargoyle depicting the Haunter of the Dark. It is littered with the skulls of sacrificial offerings and vomits blood into a pool of sacrifice.

Lining the pathway up to the altar are sphinx-like gargoyles that depict Hunting Horrors (see "CREATURES"). Their three-lobed eyes, like the gargoyle above, are aflame and serve as torches. These daemons also puke blood into a stream that flows into pools of sacrifice and occasionally move. These represent how blood flows from every corner of space and time to appease the gnawing hunger of Nyarlathotep.

"Hunting Horror Blood Gargoyle Sphinx (could be title of a death metal song)"

CREATURES

The Hunting Horror off which the sphinx-gargoyles are based. It is supposedly related to the Haunter of the Dark.

Amorphous flute players accompany the Crawling Chaos at his altar: the Moon Beasts.

White, slippery and hideous are these creatures. Instead of faces they have short pink tentacles like those of a sea anemone, which writhe constantly while maddening notes erupt from their flutes.

More of an ornamental symbol throughout the temple, this is inspired by the traditional Wadjet Cobra: thusly, the Nyarlathotep Wadjet Cobra.

FORMS OF NYARLATHOTEP

The hooved Black Man, an incarnation of Satan (from The Dreams in the Witch House).

The Black Pharaoh Nephren-Ka, with tentacled imagery in his dress (from Nyarlathotep - a prose poem and a poem; The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath; and The Haunter of the Dark).

The Mad Faceless God (from The Rats in the Walls): an Azathoth-like shape that howls at Earth's center. Note the rats and the Moon Beast flute players.

The Haunter of the Dark (from The Haunter of the Dark). It is vaguely shaped as it cannot exist in light. The Three-Lobed Burning Eye can be seen on its "head".

Note: there will be another form of Nyarlathotep animated: the Howler in the Dark/Red Tentacle/God of the Bloody Tongue. KingOvRats has not drawn this.

THE ANKHS

Nyarlathotep is the Taker of Life and the Master of Death. The two Ankhs represent these. On the left is the inverted Ankh of Death, made of bones and corpses. On the right is the upright Ankh of Life, made of writhing tentacles.

THE EYES

The Eye of Nyarlathotep is a decoration around the Temple. It is designed like the Eye of Horus.

The Three-Lobed Burning Eye is that of the Haunter of the Dark. It burns on the altar, flaming, and evil. It is inspired by the "All-Seeing Eye" - a definitive symbol of the Illuminati.

THE POOLS OF SACRIFICE AND THE IDOLS OF BONE

 The rivers of blood that the Hunting Horror gargoyles/sphinxes puke flow into pools of sacrifice. In the pools are isles - platforms - made of bones and corpses. On the isles there is a bone idol of Nyarlathotep.

"Bone statue of Nyarlathotep in pool of BLOOD"

Well! That's the Temple of the Crawling Chaos for you! While Lovecraft didn't create this (and I'm not quite sure if he had this in mind when creating Nyarlathotep), I like it and I hope he would've liked it too.

I'll close off with a quote from the script: wherein Gilman reads a passage about Nyarlathotep in the Necronomicon. While it is of my own writing and is inspired by a certain passage from The Dunwich Horror which the true Lovecraft fan will know, the lore of the blood flowing towards Nyarlathotep from all corners of the universe and the Ankhs were completely based on Michal's ideas. Goodnight, everybody.

Nyarlathotep reigns beside Azathoth at the Throne of Chaos, and at the great Temple of the Crawling Chaos deep in space. His Sigils be the greatest of all, for he alone knoweth the secrets and powers of Life and Death. There are two Ankhs, one upright, the other, inverted, that represent the powers of the Crawling Chaos. The upright Ankh represents Life: constructed of tentacles, writhing and alive: the endless vital energies of Nyarlathotep symbolized, the heads of the Hydra ever growing. The inverted Ankh is one of Death, built of the bones of thousands and the screams of millions. The entire universe is in his grip. Blood from every corner of space and time floweth to him for his sake…the deaths of every single creature poured into a pool of sacrifice. He is the apocalypse, and when the time has come for the universe, he shall stand in that revolting graveyard and he shall laugh. He is Hell embodied into one being. Iä! Shub-Niggurath! The Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young! Thou shalt fear the Crawling Chaos, for he watches through the angles of reality. He is the Taker of Life and the Master of Death.

The Mark Foster Mission, Promotional Photography and a Parody Poster

Part I

 ( ~ THE MARK FOSTER MISSION ~ )
- - -
A Social Media Experiment

I recently posted the poster art by Mark Foster on a fairly well known social media page, and the response was...mixed. Many people adored it! Many people hated it. Some could not decide. The main judgement was that the typography was ridiculous and that the background needed more blurring. We'll be fixing all that AND superimposing planets, stars, and, naturally, abyssal structures into the background. Let us add the fact that the house may be re-done, it depends.

Part II

( ~ PROMOTIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY ~ )

- - -

A New Concept Artist

To the concept artist team, we welcome UK photographer and musician Gregg Stockdale! He shot some awesome photographs inside a derelict WWII airbase and added some creepy filters. Soon, he'll be photoshopping his way to Non-Euclidean madness by distorting the image and replacing the window with another image. Says Gregg of the images - 

...this is a rough layout for an idea I had earlier. I'm using the window image as a metaphor for the whole "portal" idea in the story, its like Gilman is looking through a window to another dimension in his dreams. Admittedly it is a subtle, almost tenuous idea, but I think it looks quite cool.

And it does. Here are the photographs, without the final effects set in.

He also offered up some of his music - tracks from a stunning ambient album entitled "Hag of the Tattered Vestments." While we could sadly not use this music in Witch House, we will be using it in another horror film - a short anthology picture entitled Fungi from Yuggoth which will feature adaptations of five Lovecraft stories - 

• The Beast, from The Beast in the Cave
• Dagon
• Nyarlathotep
• The Rats, from The Rats in the Walls
• The Whisperer, from The Whisperer in Darkness

After Fungi, we'll be taking on a very big and very secret Lovecraft film. We will also be making a few shorts based on folklore, and we will use his music there as well.

Thank you, Gregg! We appreciate it, and the photography looks awesome!

Part III.

( ~ A PARODY POSTER ~ )

---

A Geoff Davies Production

On a final sidenote, Geoff Davies, a Lovecraft fan, posted a parody poster in response to the Mark Foster Mission. I especially like the tagline - I find it hilarious.

You've got to love him.

Another Fantastic Addition to Our Creative Team

Yeah, we're getting carried away, aren't we?

The cartoonist, filmmaker, and friend of Richard Svensson, Daniel Lenneér (founder of Millroad Film), has joined us as the computer animator for the Abyss. He will be bringing the non-stop-motion designs of KingOvRats to life. As of present, these will be...

• The Arabesque Creature
• The Bubble Congeries and the Polyhedron

We will also ask him to animate other "inorganic" creatures in the Abyss when we have the designs for those.

Mr. Lenneér has worked on many other Lovecraft films (all of them notable), co-directing and co-writing (with Richard Svensson, another collaborator on our project) one of the greatest amateur Lovecraft films ever - The Shadow Out of Time.

His earlier attempts, Eye of Evil (with Richard Svensson) and Earthbound (this being a parody of the formula of an H.P. Lovecraft tale), are also wonderful. Another - the first ever adaptation of At the Mountains of Madness and a sheer masterpiece of entertainment - is Terror from the Abyss, which successfully combines Lovecraftian horror with comedy. Richard Svensson obligingly supplied a stunning stop-motion shoggoth.

We appreciate Daniel's cooperation and cannot wait to see what he will put together!

By the way, I've reviewed BOTH films here.

The KingOvRats Abyss - A Lot of Abyss-ness

Enjoy some Abyssal goodness, brought to you by KingOvRats!

Puppet Movement

Michal (KingOvRats) sent me some rough sketches for the movement of the Hindu Idol and sketches for the front and back of Brown Jenkin a while ago. He didn't want me to post them here because they were very very rough. Then he sent me more composed sketches along with a new one for the Octopoid Creature, but he did not want me to post it here until he posted it there.

This one was actually a nice story-board style sketch.

Michal imagines the movement of the Hindu Idol in a way that almost seems as if it is "unfolding." The entire body is in a ball, then opens up. The fan-like headdress unfolds, the tentacles erupt from the arms, and the tongues roll out from the mouth. It screams.

"Tee hee hee!"

THE BUBBLE CONGERIES AND POLYHEDRON MONSTER

Some downright lovely images of the Bubble Congeries and the Polyhedron Monster. Note that I did not put in the violet text.

Shuddery things, they are!

THE ABYSS

KingOvRats does not think he is great at environments or architecture, but kindly supplied a few sketches for the Abyss itself and the non-organic creatures. Both look fantastic.

The first is a labyrinthine, non-organic monster of the Abyss. The second is a web-like structure in the Abyss itself, where you can see the Octopoid and the Centipede in the darkness. I decided to put these two together as their singular images were much too small.

Thank you, Michal!