Featured Creature: The Dirthag

In the forest dark and deep,
awaits the enemy of sleep.
In her hag hole far beneath,
under leafroot and earthen sheath,
the Dirthag lurks with baleful eyes
the toad and writhing snake her spies.
She waits with eager wringing hands
counting as each footfall lands.
With gnarled tree limb arms so fast
She makes that urgent gasp your last.
The Dirthag drags all to her cave
The fearful, ignorant, and brave.
When she has gnawed the bones all clean,
the Dirthag, she begins again.

{8x5.33  Digital Images created in Adobe Photoshop}

Psyche Delectus: Baël

Invisibility his gift,
his cup shreds the veil
and renders the astonishment of vision.

Featured Creature: Eagle of Vz Part II

Continuing the fiction from the Featured Creature post, Eagle of Vz:

The Eagle of Vz

Part II

As soon as the Eagle's spotlight eye landed on me, I took off.  I used the same trail I'd followed up to the house, but I still nearly broke my foot several times running helter skelter through the darkness.  As I leapt over a large root in my way, the angle of the hillside sharpened suddenly and I lost my footing.  I slid the last fifty feet.  I finally stopped, a cloud of dust swirling around me.  I jumped up immediately, knife in hand.  I had landed on the next street down and just several yards from a street lamp.  I could hear the beast screeching far above me.

From the Archives: Currents of Midnight

Here's a more recent bit of play where I was exploring brush options in Photoshop again.  This piece harkens back to earlier styles.  Not a whole lot going on here other than me playing with some color.  However I feel like I was able to get close to the effects of Prismacolor pencils within the Photoshop program and that in and of itself will be useful later on. 

{8x5.33  Digital Images created in Adobe Photoshop}

Featured Creature: The Bogeyman

He waits just on the other side,
calculating the turns of tide.

When the walls 'tween worlds are thin,

that's when the Bogeyman slips in.

He comes as shadow,

He comes at night,
He comes to fill you up with fright.
And when you overflow with fear
that's when the Bogeyman draws near.
A single touch to make you scream
and then he's gone just like a dream.
First he's there and then he's not.
He's hiding in the Bogey spot.

The Bogeyman isn't here or there,
The Bogeyman is everywhere.

{8x5.33  Digital Images created in Adobe Photoshop}

 

Psyche Delectus: Hunter

Within the cauldron of experience,
the masks of time are shredded
to reveal the true essence.

Featured Creature 2012-13: Last Bites Part VI, Dreaming the Dark Night

In June I took a departure from how I'd been approaching the Featured Creature posts.  In many of the fiction pieces associated with the Featured Creature posts, artifacts of mystical power had appeared and I wanted to take a more time to shine a spotlight on those objects and their individual histories.  Beginning with the Chaska of the Chaldean Abyss, I presented these items of power while continuing to push forward with the new color aspect of my work.  Sadly, June would not be as uneventful as May and complications began immediately on June first that would challenge my ability to move forward with any regularity.

Featured Creature: One Last Candle Before the Dark

As the Autmunal Equinox passes and we enter the dark half of the year, here's one last candle to celebrate the light.  This wraps up my month long celebration of the one year anniversary of the Featured Creature.  I hope you've enjoyed everything so far and will stick around for what's to come in 2013-2014.  Thanks for viewing and reading!

Delays and Apologies

The past two days have been crazy busy and I missed that I had left the most recent Featured Creature post, Eagle of Vz, in draft mode and it failed to post on time yesterday.  I didn't catch it until this afternoon.  My apologies for the delay.

Featured Creature: Eagle of Vz

The following is a continuation of the fiction begun in the Featured Creature Spawn of Vz Post:


"I had just finished spreading the salt in a circle around the house when the flames began to show through the windows.  I took a small vial from my pocket and moved to each of the four directional points on the circle.  I sprinkled a splash in towards the house at each of the points. The tincture of blessed oils and water would seal the little bastard in and make sure the fire did it's work.  I had to stick around until I was sure that the spawn was dead, but I needed to be far away when the fire department arrived.  I stepped away from the house and picked up the duffel bag I'd brought with me.

From the Archives: Dark Corner

When I drew this, there was a person I was working with that I strongly disliked.  I often imagined dark things growing in the corners of our office due to the poisonous environment.  The building was older and had a slight musty / moldy smell and our section of the building got very little sun...lots of dark corners.

{8x6.17  Ball Point Pen}

Psyche Delectus: The Red King

He waits.

Skin Crawling Update: That is not dead which can eternal lie...

Although Skin Crawling Comics didn't make its Indigogo funding goal, all is not lost. There are plans afoot that are paving a future for SCC, but I can't say at the moment what those plans are, but I'll share more as things coalesce.  In the meantime, if you haven't already, please check out Skin Crawling Comics on Twitter, Facebook!