Psyche Delectus: Invisibles Day 2013

The dark half of the year is in full swing and Odin and his wild hunt are coursing the land.  Even though we still have a dark month long trek to the winter solstice, this day has become a hallmark to me for the re-ignition of failing light.  It marks a variety of events both personal and global, microcosmic and macrocosmic.

On November 23rd, 1995 Grant Morrison involved the readers of his comic book series The Invisibles in a group act of sigil magick.  Check out the original letters page to see how the idea was initially presented.  Join me today in my annual celebration of The Invisibles Hypersigil! 

Exhumed: If Flesh Could Crawl

The original piece was part of larger set, but didn't necessarily match up stylistically.  Working in color, I wanted to move the piece more towards my original vision: A molten figure singing in a pit of fire.  The fiery emotions here have built up to a point where they are consuming everything.

From the Archives: Loose Demon Sketch and Figure Poses

Here are some super loose marker sketches from some time ago.  Either the marker I was using had a brush tip or I was having a spastic sharpie day.  I do not recall.

Featured Creature: The Mask of Mephistopheles

Excerpted from Marge Hollander's Digest of Demons and Devils:

This golden horned mask was commissioned by the nineteenth century Italian actor Arturo del Volto.  In 1831, under the patronage of an unknown nobleman, Arturo was paid to facilitate the creation of the mask at a local smithy in Umbria.  The mask was to be used as a special costume piece for the role of Mephistopheles in a production of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust at the Teatro delle Visioni.  It is wondered by many occult historians if Arturo made some deal with his own devil due to the apparent curse of tragedy and death that followed the mask after its forging.  Arturo would wear the mask only once.

Accounts of the mask's creation indicate that odd materials were added to the forge during the casting process.  Timber was brought for the forge fire that gave off an unpleasant smell when burned and bystanders remarked on the odd color of the flames once it had been added.  During the casting, the process had to be halted multiple times.  The flames within the forge were burning so hot that they threatened to consume the forge itself.

Psyche Delectus: Armor

It was ever
only a separation
from wholeness.

Exhumed: The Black Sun

This image was originally posted on my other art blog, Trail of Breadcrumbs, but I feel that its tone and meaning work better here at Zombie Bites.  Here we have a personification of the Black Sun, an Occult as well as Alchemical symbol.  When coloring this piece, I felt like the image needed some moody lighting to set off the brooding aspect of the piece.  I wanted to give the piece the feeling of a much larger space so I added a mist effect by layering a series of soft gradients throughout the image.

{8x7.28, Sharpie with color added in Adobe Photoshop}

Night of the Cauldron Gallery and Recommended Listening

I wanted to share all of the Night of the Cauldron pieces in one post so that they could easily be viewed together as a set.

From the Archives: Zombie Profile Sketch

Here is a super loose graphite sketch of a zombie in profile.  At the time I drew this I was experimenting with a different technique from my normal style.  I was turning the pencil sideways from my regular hand position I use in an attempt to draw more loosely.

Featured Creature: The Eilium

Albert was chasing a young woman in a flowing gown.

She had been walking slowly down one of the aisles of the store where he managed the lawn and garden department.  She had smiled when she saw him and waved.  He was having an uncomfortable conversation with his boss about why the ducks from the live duck display kept escaping and wandering about the store.  His boss held a duck under one arm and was quickly turning a bright shade of magenta.

After seeing the young woman, he wandered away and his boss faded into the background like a muted watercolor.  He followed the young woman into the body of the store, past automotive, past the toy department.  She was walking along leisurely and turned a corner where Albert couldn't see.  That's when he'd begun running.

Albert almost caught the young woman several times, but she always giggled and turned another corner before he could grab hold of her arm.  Soon he felt he'd lost track of her completely, until he began finding pieces of her gown strewn about the isles.  He'd picked up the first piece gently as if he'd were touching the petal of a delicate flower.  He followed the trail collecting the torn pieces of gown as he went.

Psyche Delectus: Within the Ultraviolet Catacombs

The surfaces belie the depth of the truth.

Night of the Cauldron: Part VIII, The Tree of Death

Continued from Night of the Cauldron: Part VII, The Scythe of the Reaper

Night of the Cauldron

Part VIII

The Tree of Death

The pumpkin faced reaper leveled its baleful gaze upon Traci.  It moved to her and lifted her face in it's skeletal hand, examining her with the same detachment it had viewed her uncle's body.  She tried to pull away, but it held her fast.  The creature stunk of earth.

"Tt tt,"  The reaper released her face and walked about as if it were smelling the air or listening to some silent melody.  As it turned its back to her, Traci reached over and wrapped her hand around the length of the shovel. 

"Remember this night,"  The reaper gestured to the green air, "Though surely it is not likely that you can forget it."  It chuckled and touched the tip of the scythe blade into the green column of flame.  It stood silently for a long moment, watching the flames dance around the scythe's tip, much like a child burning ants with a magnifying glass.  Small sparks flew upward, dancing into the green fog.  Through it, a firetruck's siren clearly blared.

From the Archives: Flower of Sorrow

More recent sketchwork from painting in Adobe Photoshop.  This is my digital painting of a friend's psychic SOS I received at 4am one morning.  At the time I couldn't figure out where this was coming from.  When I started asking around the next day, I found out about my friends problem.  Things are much better now but at the time they were intense and sorrowful.

{Created in Adobe Photoshop}

Featured Creature: Worm

"It moved through water like a bullet.  That horrible maw opened up like a balloon and I knew that the man who had fallen overboard was lost.  I couldn't see that it even had a mouth until it ate him.  I watched the thing swallow him in two even gulps.

In the moonlight, we could see the black waters were becoming full of the things.  Their white shapes darted about just beneath the surface.  If I didn't know better I'd say they were glowing.  There were so many of the things moving about underneath, the boat started to rock.  When they started hitting the underside of the boat we didn't waste any time.  We cut our nets loose and turned the boat toward land.  The Captain ran the engines as hard as he could without burning them out.