The Lapsing of Time

Not everyone may know this, by I am a Photographer by trade. I am not currently working in said profession, but I do still enjoy dabbling when the chance arises. My latest purchase was a time-lapse controller, and I've spent the last few weeks learning how to utilise this new tool.

Beginnings...

The day the remote arrived, I set up my camera pointing out of my study window while I went to work. This is what resulted:

There are several problems with first attempt. But it was more a test of the remote's use than anything artistic, so I wasn't too concerned.

Next...

This next video was my first actual artistic test. Shot from the back of my house, I let the camera run from about midnight to midday, and then clipped it to the most interesting segment--that being sunrise:

Unfortunately, it was an overcast day, so it wasn't an overly dynamic scene. Another mistake I made was to use auto white-balance, which made the colouring flicker.

Learning...

Looking for a more dynamic scene, I found a day that had sporadic cloud-cover, and set my camera out in the backyard:

My only complaint with this attempt was that I think it's a little too fast.

If At First You Don't Succeed...

Unhappy with my last attempt at a sunrise time-lapse, I jumped at the first cloudless night I had, and once again set my camera pointing out the back room window:

I was a lot happier with this one. You can see the stars setting and the sun creeping its way across the landscape.

Getting Creative...

Finally happy with my understanding of the process, I decided it was time to try some creative applications whilst on vacation. The first was a sunset:

I got really lucky with this one, in that there were sailing boats passing by in the foreground, adding that little bit of excitement to the scene.

The next was taken from our room's balcony:

I really like the motion of the cars in this one. Not only can you see them flying by in the foreground, but you can see them coming down the hill in the background. On top of that, the waves coming in make the whole scene feel alive. I couldn't have been more happy with how it turned out.

Where To Now?

I haven't had any ideas lately of where to go next, but then again, I have started back at work and have been focusing on getting to the gym and writing in my free time, so haven't been actively brainstorming. I think I would like to try something with my macro lens next. Possibly a plant, or the clichéd melting ice cubes? Who knows...

My Top 10 Comic Artists

Art can make or break a comic in my eyes. If the art is bad, then the most amazing story in the world isn't going to get me to read it. So in tribute to this great responsibility, I present to you, in alphabetical order, my current Top 10 Comic Artists...

J. Scott Campbell

It’s no revelation that comic characters are all about the cultural ideal. The men are either tall and muscular, as in Captain America, or slim and toned, as with Spider-Man. At the same time, the women are uniformly slim and buxom. This is where J. Scott Campbell comes in. Even though he has worked on titles such as Gen 13 and Danger Girl, it is fair to say that he is better known for his pinups. Those such as this:

Clayton Crain

Though not to everyone’s tastes, I found Crain’s work in X-Force to be amazing. I really like the dark, dirtiness that it has. Just now, in researching this article, I’ve seen that he has a Ghost Rider mini, so I may just have to check that out.

David Finch

Now sadly DC-exclusive, I originally fell in love with Finch’s art in New Avengers. Then when I started reading Moon Knight, I discovered that his style suited Moon Knight’s dark, gritty world even more. Once he (and Charlie Huston) had left the title, it was just never the same…

Alex Maleev

I’ve only recently discovered the marvel of Alex Maleev, once again, thanks to Moon Knight. I was very impressed with his work in the new Moon Knight #1. I had heard from some that his art is “too muddy”, and from what I’ve seen of his Scarlet and Spider-Woman work, I would probably agree. However, he only did the pencils and ink on Moon Knight, so this may be where the problem lies--perhaps it’s his colouring that is leading people astray.

Ed McGuinness

When I was starting to get back into comics, I downloaded the Marvel iApp, and Hulk #1 was on there for free. I read it, and loved it so much, primarily due to Ed’s art, that Hulk became my favourite character (though has now been taken over by Moon Knight). There was just something about the semi-cartoonish style that really appealed to me.

Steve McNiven

Steve McNiven is a new-comer to the list. Having just read Civil War, I found I not only loved the story, but the art as well.

Jefte Palo

Another Moon Knight discovery, Palo drew the arc “Down South”. Most Moon Knight fans consider this the worst arc of the series, but I really liked it, thanks in no small part, to Palo’s art. I’ve since learned that he also did the Taskmaster mini, which I’ve heard a lot of good things about, so that’s another one to add to the list.

Paul Pelletier

I was never a fan of the cosmic comics… until I read Guardians of the Galaxy! Man, that it one fun read, and the art lives up to the story. Anyone who can make a raccoon look badass must be a damn good artist ;)

Humberto Ramos
I first encountered Ramos’ work when reading any issues I could find in which a favourite of mine, Blindfold, made an appearance. This included the arc “Blinded By The Light” in X-Men, which Ramos drew. I loved the over-the-top cartoon style. It just felt so dynamic and fun.

Kevin Walker

Yet another newcomer to the list, Walker won me over with something simple: How he drew Man-Thing! Man-Thing is one of those crazy characters that can be drawn any way, and normally looks ridiculous, but Walker makes him look so so cool. His rendition of Ghost is also the best I have seen, and with the help of writer Jeff Parker, has not only made both of these characters favourites of mine, but also made Thunderbolts my favourite current title.

The Horror in Clay

—Part II—

As part of an on-going effort to find an artistic medium I feel comfortable in, I have recently started sculpting, and I'm writing this series to track my progress...

And A Shape Takes Form...

So the next step from the wire armature seen in Part I was to simply encase the frame in clay. As you can see below, doing this makes it much easier to visual the end product:

From here it's time to start adding some details. I decided to start at the torso and work my way out. I don't have a very good understanding of anatomy, but I figured that working on a fantasy creature such as this, it would not matter too much if the physique was slightly off. So in this picture you can see that I've added back, neck, and shoulder muscles, as well as a spine:

I also detailed the under-side with pectoralis muscles (a.k.a. "pecs") and a rib-cage. You can also faintly see abdominals as well:

Once I was satisfied with the torso, I moved out to the arms. These turned out to be quite difficult as the clay kept twisting around the smooth wire inside it, so I'll have to find a way to counter this in the future. After the arms were as good as I could get them, I started on the head...

Because the creature is simply called The Three-Lobed Burning Eye, I wanted to make sure that I put as much detail into the head as I could, so I started with the Lovecraft-obligatory tentacles:

As you can see, I also whipped up some claws just so I had them made in advance.

And Time Goes On By...

All of the above happened in the space of 4 days back in June, but due to my re-found love of comics and writing (thanks, in part, to Thoughtballoons), my sculpting activities were put on hold...

So here I am, 6 weeks later, on holidays, and I've just decided to start back on it. I felt I at least needed to get the head finished, so in the time it took for Muse's Absolution to once again play through, I had finished off the beast's head, which now includes the titular three-lobed eye:

So now all that's left are the wings and tail...

See you in Part 3!

The Horror in Clay

—Part I—

As part of an on-going effort to find an artistic medium I feel comfortable in, I have recently started sculpting, and it occurred to me tonight that it would make a good blog topic to show my progression as I go.

Beginnings...

As a frequent browser of DeviantArt, I had come across various sculptures before, and so looking back on some I found that the most common medium was a product called Super Sculpey. My first instinct was to buy some off Amazon, but as it turned out, they cannot ship it to Australia. I'm not sure why, but nevertheless, I had to find another supplier. I found it at my local art supply, though it was $39 ($33US) for 454g (1 lb)—much more than the $25US it would have cost from Amazon!

Anyway, one night after work, with Muse's Absolution playing on my iPhone, I sat down and just started playing with a piece. By the time the album had finished (roughly an hour), I had created this:

Though obviously no masterpiece, I was quite happy with the result of this first ever sculpting attempt, and was inspired to continue.

The Next Step...

Due to my Lovecraftian proclivities, it did not take a mind-reader to know that I would be wanting to create one of his beasties as soon as possible. As shown in my previous post, I have seen many renditions before, yet one I found very few images of was the Haunter of the Dark (aka the Three-lobed Burning Eye). Coincidentally, there had been talk of this very creature on the H.P. Lovecraft Literary Podcast forums only recently, which only fuelled my desire to create its image. So I set about drawing a few sketches...

First was a rough isometric:

Then I did some slightly more detailed plans:

As can (hopefully) be seen, I had the creature simply "perched" on the ground. However, after a few days to stew over the idea, I realised that this pose was really very boring, and even though this is to be my first ever full sculpt, so should be fairly simple, I still felt it needed a bit more... character.

Through most of the related story, the narrator only knows of the creature due to its motions in a small room above his head, so it came to me that I should try and make it kind of low, as if stalking or listening through the floor-boards, and so I came up with this modified front-on sketch:

From this, I then drew the armature "skeleton" pose design:

It might appear slightly confusing, but they are actually the isometric, side, and top-down views of how I wanted the armature wire to look.

Which then brings me to tonight, when I got home from work and actually made the armature:

You can see in this photo that I have made one wing out in front, low to the ground, while the other is upright, supporting the weight. At the back is the arch of the body/tail, that will continue to snake along the ground (the foil is there to bulk out the body a bit as well as hold the wire together a bit tighter).

And so there you have the lead up to what will eventually become a clay sculpture of Nyarlathotep/The Haunter of the Dark/The Three-lobed Burning Eye. I hope someone out there has found this interesting and that you will keep an eye on my progress and the sculpture takes form.

See you in Part 2!

Mythos Art

As I've mentioned before, the thing that keeps me hooked on Lovecraft is actually not his stories (as I've read them all now), but their potential for being used in various other media. There are not many Lovecraftian films being made, so when they do sprout up, they are fairly easy to get a hold of and watch. This infrequency means that they do little to quench my thirst. One outlet I've discovered, however, has the regularity to make up for this: Art!

With tools such as Google Images, and sites such as DeviantArt, you can find all sorts of Mythos-related imagery. Every once and a while I do just that, and thought I would share some of my favourites with everyone. In alphabetical order, here they are:

—Beings of Ib—

Though I do like "The Doom That Came To Sarnath", I wouldn't say it was one of my favourite stories. However, this picture is particularly well-made, so won me over.

—Cthonian—

These creatures are pretty simplistic—worms with tentacles—but again, the quality of the artwork was enough for me to be impressed.

—Cthulhu—

As you can imagine, being Lovecraft's most famous creation, there are endless pictures of the ol' Cthulhu. Here are a few that I think are particularly noteworthy.

And a few scupltures:

—Dark Young of Shub-Niggurath—

These creatures, although not actually Lovecraft's creation, are probably one of my favourites. With their 3 legs, multiple mouths, and mass of tentacles, just are just so creepily cool. I have a few pics of these guys, but only one is of a decent standard. If you're a fan of the Mythos, you've more than likely seen it around.

—Dhole—

Much like the Cthonian, there is not much to this beast, but I just think this image really sells it.

—Dimensional Shambler—

This is another of my favourite creatures, not so much for how they look—wrinkled ape—but what they do. They are described in the Mythos as appearing from another dimension, abducting someone, and then returning back to their dimension, with no known reasons or motives. Creepy!

—Flying Polyp—

These creatures, from "The Shadow Out of Time", are just plain weird, and I've found that the majority of renditions look much like this one from a well-known book.

—Gug—

The Gugs are from Lovecraft's "The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath" and are particularly interesting due to their split arms and vertical mouth. I've seen many pictures of them, but most are rather poorly done. This is probably the best of the lot.

There was also a cool 3D model I found I liked due to the pose and thought of it being in a computer game of some sort:

—The Haunter of the Dark—

Though not an image of the actual "haunter", I believe this image captures the essence of the story more than any I've seen.

—Mi-Go—

The Mi-Go are another favourite, again, due to their strangeness. This is probably the best (and goriest) rendition of one I've found.

—Yog-Sothoth—

One of the "Gods" of the Mythos, Yog-Sothoth is described as "only a congeries of iridescent globes, yet stupendous in its malign suggestiveness", so is pretty-much open to creative license, but these 2 images are the closest I've found to how I, personally, imagine it.

And so there you have some of my personal favourite Mythos imagery. If anyone has any of their own favourites to share, please feel free to leave a comment!