Many have been made before but this one will be mine...
Here's the famous passage from H.P. Lovecraft's 1928 story "The Call of Cthulhu" describing the world's Harbinger of Doom in statue form-
The figure, which was finally passed slowly from man to man for close and careful study, was between seven and eight inches in height, and of exquisitely artistic workmanship. It represented a monster of vaguely anthropoid outline, but with an octopus-like head whose face was a mass of feelers, a scaly, rubbery-looking body, prodigious claws on hind and fore feet, and long, narrow wings behind. This thing, which seemed instinct with a fearsome and unnatural malignancy, was of a somewhat bloated corpulence, and squatted evilly on a rectangular block or pedestal covered with undecipherable characters. The tips of the wings touched the back edge of the block, the seat occupied the centre, whilst the long, curved claws of the doubled-up, crouching hind legs gripped the front edge and extended a quarter of the way down toward the bottom of the pedestal. The cephalopod head was bent forward, so that the ends of the facial feelers brushed the backs of huge fore paws which clasped the croucher’s elevated knees. The aspect of the whole was abnormally life-like, and the more subtly fearful because its source was so totally unknown. Its vast, awesome, and incalculable age was unmistakable; yet not one link did it shew with any known type of art belonging to civilisation’s youth—or indeed to any other time. Totally separate and apart, its very material was a mystery; for the soapy, greenish-black stone with its golden or iridescent flecks and striations resembled nothing familiar to geology or mineralogy. The characters along the base were equally baffling; and no member present, despite a representation of half the world’s expert learning in this field, could form the least notion of even their remotest linguistic kinship. They, like the subject and material, belonged to something horribly remote and distinct from mankind as we know it; something frightfully suggestive of old and unhallowed cycles of life in which our world and our conceptions have no part.
The passage is packed with details but open enough for tons of artistic interpretation which is where the fun and frustration begins.
I've been a Lovecraft super-fan for a long time but also being a visual artist I am frustrated by most artist's interpretations of Cthulhu and the rest of the Lovecraft pantheon of extra dimensional beasts.
So being a prop fan I knew I would one day finally break down and sculpt my own version of the famous idol.
First comes research. I first began with the Lovecraft source material. In addition to the above passage describing the Idol itself there are a handful of descriptions of Cthulhu throughout the story. Some pertaining to other artifacts and some during the story climax where our heroes finally come face to face with the ancient god.
Also in addition to written descriptions of the Idol from the story we also have a couple hand-drawn sketches by Lovecraft himself in letters sent to friends and fans.
This gives me a good idea of the feel and form Lovecraft had in mind but since he wasn't a talented visual artist we can assume that these sketches are only a rough approximation and allows me to put my own spin on it while straying "Accurate".
Next I needed to figure out the overall look and feel of my Elder God and found a bunch of real-life reference that had similar properties to the creature in question.
In the text of the story he is described Cthulhu as "[SIZE=-1]a scaly, rubbery-looking body", "a somewhat bloated corpulence" and having "flabby claws" and is just crazy enormous so the image of huge rotund sealife came to mind. Cthulhu has also been sleeping on the [/SIZE]bottom of the ocean for millenia so a fat, sedantary look seemed appropriate. I also wanted something very alien and unhuman so I referenced a bunch of insects and microbiology photography too.
Below are some samples of what's in my reference folder-
Tardigrades are creepy-
Fat caterpillars are also creepy-
And crustacean arms and joints have a creepy design-
Also because the description includes the phrase "vaguely anthropomorphic" stuff like this can be found in my reference folder-
So I then start making sketches and developed my own design of Cthulhu...
Here's the famous passage from H.P. Lovecraft's 1928 story "The Call of Cthulhu" describing the world's Harbinger of Doom in statue form-
The figure, which was finally passed slowly from man to man for close and careful study, was between seven and eight inches in height, and of exquisitely artistic workmanship. It represented a monster of vaguely anthropoid outline, but with an octopus-like head whose face was a mass of feelers, a scaly, rubbery-looking body, prodigious claws on hind and fore feet, and long, narrow wings behind. This thing, which seemed instinct with a fearsome and unnatural malignancy, was of a somewhat bloated corpulence, and squatted evilly on a rectangular block or pedestal covered with undecipherable characters. The tips of the wings touched the back edge of the block, the seat occupied the centre, whilst the long, curved claws of the doubled-up, crouching hind legs gripped the front edge and extended a quarter of the way down toward the bottom of the pedestal. The cephalopod head was bent forward, so that the ends of the facial feelers brushed the backs of huge fore paws which clasped the croucher’s elevated knees. The aspect of the whole was abnormally life-like, and the more subtly fearful because its source was so totally unknown. Its vast, awesome, and incalculable age was unmistakable; yet not one link did it shew with any known type of art belonging to civilisation’s youth—or indeed to any other time. Totally separate and apart, its very material was a mystery; for the soapy, greenish-black stone with its golden or iridescent flecks and striations resembled nothing familiar to geology or mineralogy. The characters along the base were equally baffling; and no member present, despite a representation of half the world’s expert learning in this field, could form the least notion of even their remotest linguistic kinship. They, like the subject and material, belonged to something horribly remote and distinct from mankind as we know it; something frightfully suggestive of old and unhallowed cycles of life in which our world and our conceptions have no part.
The passage is packed with details but open enough for tons of artistic interpretation which is where the fun and frustration begins.
I've been a Lovecraft super-fan for a long time but also being a visual artist I am frustrated by most artist's interpretations of Cthulhu and the rest of the Lovecraft pantheon of extra dimensional beasts.
So being a prop fan I knew I would one day finally break down and sculpt my own version of the famous idol.
First comes research. I first began with the Lovecraft source material. In addition to the above passage describing the Idol itself there are a handful of descriptions of Cthulhu throughout the story. Some pertaining to other artifacts and some during the story climax where our heroes finally come face to face with the ancient god.
Also in addition to written descriptions of the Idol from the story we also have a couple hand-drawn sketches by Lovecraft himself in letters sent to friends and fans.
This gives me a good idea of the feel and form Lovecraft had in mind but since he wasn't a talented visual artist we can assume that these sketches are only a rough approximation and allows me to put my own spin on it while straying "Accurate".
Next I needed to figure out the overall look and feel of my Elder God and found a bunch of real-life reference that had similar properties to the creature in question.
In the text of the story he is described Cthulhu as "[SIZE=-1]a scaly, rubbery-looking body", "a somewhat bloated corpulence" and having "flabby claws" and is just crazy enormous so the image of huge rotund sealife came to mind. Cthulhu has also been sleeping on the [/SIZE]bottom of the ocean for millenia so a fat, sedantary look seemed appropriate. I also wanted something very alien and unhuman so I referenced a bunch of insects and microbiology photography too.
Below are some samples of what's in my reference folder-
Tardigrades are creepy-
Fat caterpillars are also creepy-
And crustacean arms and joints have a creepy design-
Also because the description includes the phrase "vaguely anthropomorphic" stuff like this can be found in my reference folder-
So I then start making sketches and developed my own design of Cthulhu...
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