The Undeveloped Elias Photos

Finally we have sketches for another couple of Jackson Elias photos. I realized that, with the previous five illustrations, I had enough images to fill the available space on Elias’s desktop. Any further photos who just end up crowding the existing ones. It might have made for an interesting composition but it also would have meant that I’d have done a lot of detail work that would just be covered up. I love doing fiddly detail work and don’t mind if most of it goes unnoticed but having it be completely unseen would have been even sillier than normal.

The Jackson Elias Photos #3

Here is the third of the background photos that are part of one of my illustrations for the Masks of Nyarlathotep Companion monograph to benefit Yog-Sothoth.com. Masks is set during the Jazz Age – the period of history when HP Lovecraft was alive and writing. Part of the fun of doing illustrations for Call of Cthulhu was that a lot of the adventures were set in the 1920s and 1930s and I’m rather fond of the fashions of that time period. The idea that men wore suits and ties everywhere is kind of appealing. (As an idea anyway. Given that I don’t own even one suit myself I don’t know how I’d deal with the reality.)

The Jackson Elias Photos #1

Yog-Sothoth.com is a fansite for the Call of Cthulhu RPG. A while back, before I got frustrated with Chaosium’s abysmal payment policy, I was asked to contribute a couple of illustrations to their Masks of Nyarlathotep Companion monograph. I did two full page illustrations. Hopefully the monograph will be completed soon and I’ll be able to direct your attention to it.

In the meantime I’m posting some aspects of one of the illustrations. These may appear individually in different parts of the monograph but they created to be part of one of the full page illustrations. The illustration in question is the desktop of Jackson Elias, an important Non-Player Character in the game. A number of photos of Mr. Elias are part of the clutter on the desktop. Above is one of those “photos”.

Distinguished Company

Coming soon from Aklo Press, the AKLONOMICON!

I’m not sure when the publication date is yet but “soon” is a safe prediction. A table of contents for this massive book (edited by Ivan McCann and Joseph S. Pulver) was just announced. Take a gander –

AKLONOMICON TABLE OF CONTENTS

DAVE CARSON COVERS

ANDREA BONAZZI FRONTISPIECE

“CAPTURED IN OILS” BY SIMON STRANTZAS WITH ART BY IVAN MCCANN

“HOUSE OF THE RISING SUN” BY EDWARD MORRIS WITH ART BY STEVE LINES

“TRUCKEE STOMP”, “CRACK”, “FEDERAL MANHUNT..”, “FINISHED WITH SANDBURG” POEMS BY LAIRD BARRON WITH ART BY JD BUSCH

“THE GIRLS OF THE WORLD” BY LIVIA LLEWELLYN WITH ART BY KIRILL ROZHKOV

MIKE DUBISCH ART WITH TEXT BY JOE PULVER

“SWAMP DREAMS” BY ROBIN SPRIGGS WITH ART BY ROB SMITTS

“FLUTES” BY T.E. GRAU WITH ART BY PAUL CARRICK

“LETTERS TO G.G.” POEMS BY B.R. JORDING WITH ART BY JASON ROBERTS

“NIGHTMARES IN A PAMPINIFORM MIND” BY JORDAN KRALL WITH ART BY ERIC REINERT

“TIME AND FOREVER” POEM BY JOE PULVER AND TARA VANFLOWER WITH ART BY DANIELE SERRA

“NEVER CALL ANUBIS LOKI’S ROBOTS CHEAP SHIT” BY JOE PULVER, GARRETT COOK AND JORDAN KRALL WITH ART BY NICK GUCKER

“THE BOOK” COMIC BY MICHAEL ZIGERLIG

“HEAD SOUP” BY JOHNNY MAINS WITH ART BY IVAN MCCANN

“WHEN SHE SHINES, POEMS… LIKE CHALICES” POEM BY NOVA RUPERTUS AND JOE PULVER

“COUNTERCLOCKWISE” BY JEFF THOMAS WITH ART BY ERIC YORK

“BRIAN’S GIRL” BY GARRETT COOK WITH ART BY JACOB PARMENTIER

“SILVER NIGHT TRAIN” AND “THE GOD OF SUBURBIA” POEMS BY LIVIA LLEWELLYN WITH ART BY KIRILL ROZHKOV

“NYARLATHOTEP PAINTING” BY ANN KOI WITH TEXT BY JOE PULVER

“IN THE CAVE SHE SANG” BY T.E. GRAU WITH ART BY PAUL CARRICK

“KRISTAMAS AS AN EXHIBITION” PHOTOS BY KRISTAMAS KLOUSCH AND TEXT BY JOE PULVER

“ANA KAI TANGATA” BY SCOTT NICOLAY WITH ART BY JD BUSCH

“THE HANDS OF SOPIALE” TEXT AND ART BY J KARL BOGARTTE

“LORD OF THE HUNT” BY LIVIA LLEWELLYN WITH ART BY DANIELE SERRA

“DARK OUTCOME” BY STAN SARGENT WITH ART BY TOM MORAN

“IF COMPANY SHOULD COME” BY ED MORRIS WITH ART BY DAVID LEE INGERSOLL

“WHISPERERS” BY DANIEL MILLS WITH ART BY DAVID LEE INGERSOLL

“FAINT BAYING FROM AFAR” BY RICHARD GAVIN WITH ART BY DAVE CARSON

“ZYGOTE’S FABLES” BY ERIC YORK scattered throughout the anthology.

Stay tuned!

Section H Final


This the illustration that grew out of the sketch I posted yesterday. It’s not bad but, honestly, I think would have done a better piece (and finished it faster) if I’d done the whole thing in pen and ink or in pencil. I spent a ridiculously long time playing around in Photoshop trying to get the look and effects I wanted. Still, I learned a lot in the process. (Mostly that trying to do everything in Photoshop was doing it the hard way.)

Section H Sketch


The Day Job has been keeping me pretty busy. Busy enough that I’ve honestly been forgetting to post. It’s a lame excuse even if it’s true.

This is the original sketch for the first illustration I did for The Black Seal #1 back in 2003. I’d learned just enough Photoshop that I deluded myself into thinking I could use the program to create an illustration from this sketch. Tomorrow I’ll post the result and you can decide whether I succeeded.