Psyche Delectus: The Spider Wizards of Ith

Dread sorcerers of the Winterlands,
Their cloaks deny

the shape of their intent.

They walk as men do,

triumvirate terrors of the snow.

They pretend fireside intimacy,

in truth seeking only succor

from the sanguine cup of a heart.

Where they pass

only wind and bones live henceforth. 

Beware the Wizards of Ith!

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.

Night of the Cauldron: Part VII, Scythe of the Reaper

Continued from Night of the Cauldron: Part VI, The Scarecrow's Lantern

Night of the Cauldron

Part VII

Scythe of the Reaper

Traci watched with horror as the mechanical grim reaper peeled itself off the fence and climbed down toward her and her father.  The reaper's fake teeth chattered as it crawled.  It cackled endlessly now, no longer waiting for Traci to come near.  It was coming to her.  As it moved, it's scythe knocked the Jack O Lantern off the edge of the railing.  The large pumpkin rolled across the deck and finally came to rest near the cauldron.

Suddenly, she was moving backward, away from the reaper and green glow of the cauldron.  Her father had opened the sliding glass door and pulled her inside the house.  The door slid closed with a soft hiss just as the reaper's skeletal fingers danced across the glass.  Traci's father quickly pushed the lock button and dropped the security bar down into the door's track.

The reaper flattened its plastic face against the glass door.  Much like a bird, it seemed unable to see the glass.  It pushed forward, perplexed by the unseen obstruction, biting at the air.  Traci noticed that its movements had become less mechanical.  It seemed almost to slither now as it sought passage.

Night of the Cauldron Extension

 

The last chapter of the Night of the Cauldron event has taken much longer to write than I originally thought.  As I was writing the final sequences, the scene tripled in size.  As a consequence, I'm adding one more chapter to accommodate the length of the finale.

Psyche Delectus: Bird Shaman

He knows the silence of air,
the mystery of wind.

Night of the Cauldron: Part VI, The Scarecrow's Lantern

Continued from Night of the Cauldron: Part V, Bone Chimes Spider

Night of the Cauldron

Part VI

The Scarecrow's Lantern

Henry watched the headlights of the cars blur as they passed in the firetruck.  He could already see the green glow of the Woodsboro subdivision from the highway.

"Where's this at again?"  He asked Seth, the driver.

"Near the corner of Elm and Myers."  They sped up the exit ramp.  Several cars before them moved quickly into the emergency lane.  Henry double checked his coat and helmet.

Henry wasn't sure what they were going to find at the site.  The dispatcher's relay of the emergency calls had been confusing.  Some people had called about a column of green fire and other calls reported animal attacks and dangerous Halloween pranks.  Animal control had already been alerted and paramedics were on their way as well.  His truck and the one following would arrive first.

Hallowscream 2013

Here's this year's issue of Hallowscream!  Go to the Hallowscream Page for a free download of the creepy goodness or check out their Facebook page to show your support!

Exhumed: Partial Skull

Following along with Halloween and All Saints Day, here's a skull I dug up for this weeks Exhumed.  This Partial Skull was one of the first pieces I began playing with when I began exhuming my older works.  As I played with the color and transparency in this piece, I began to realize that a lot more was possible and just let the Photoshop paintbrush guide me.  Once I added the yellow highlights on the right side, the lightbulb went off in my head and I knew I had to explore this style further!  In working on this piece, I also realized that I am a total geek for color effects.  :-)

{8.33x8.38  Sharpie and Ballpoint Pen with color added in Adobe Photoshop}

Night of the Cauldron Delays

The last two pieces for Night of the Cauldron are going to be delayed a couple of days.  These two pieces are taking a bit more time than I anticipated, but I'm plugging away at them and will hopefully have them both to you before the end of Day of the Dead.  In the meantime here's a teaser for the next piece.

Soon.

From the Archives: Winged Skull

Here's some recent sketch play from Adobe Illustrator.  I discovered a beautiful thing called the blob brush tool.  It allows for much more organic vector images.  It's a beautiful thing.

{Digital Images created in Adobe Illustrator}

 

Night of the Cauldron: Part V, The Bone Chimes

Continued from Night of the Cauldron: Part IV, The Pumpkin Bogey

Night of the Cauldron

Part V

The Bones Chimes

Theo walked along behind his brother and sister.  Martin and Stacey rushed up the sidewalk to the next house for another batch of candy.  They giggled as they ran.  Stacey was dressed as a bright sunflower and Martin was the Red Power Ranger.  They disappeared behind a large framework of orange lights in the shape of a Jack O Lantern.  He heard them yell "Trick or Treat!" followed by laughter.

Theo sighed.  He wore no costume of his own, embracing the designation of adult for the evening.  He had planned to dress as Batman, but he had also planned a different Halloween night altogether.  Just before sunset, his mother had thrown him the wrench.

"You've got to take Martin and Stacey Trick or treating Theo.  I'm sorry, I know it sucks, but they called me into work."

Night of the Cauldron: Part IV, The Pumpkin Bogey

Continued from Night of the Cauldron: Part III, Ghosts of the Tree

Night of the Cauldron

Part IV

The Pumpkin Bogey

Alicia paced back and forth through her room as she put on her costume.  Eric had been hiding beneath his sister's bed for at least fifteen minutes waiting for the right moment.  He'd snuck in when she'd gone to the bathroom and slid quietly underneath.  He had to stifle his giggles several times while he waited, holding his hand tightly over his mouth.  He'd put on part of his own costume for the scare, a pair of fur covered latex werewolf claws.  He'd be rinsing the taste out of his mouth all night, but it was worth it.  Finally, Alicia stopped pacing and stood in front of her chest of drawers.

Eric jutted his arm out from under the bed and grabbed Alicia's ankle.  He growled like an angry dog as he did so.  Alicia screamed and leapt onto the bed.  Eric laughed and pushed himself out the opposite side.  He flew out the door before Alicia could catch him.  He was in the kitchen is seconds, Alicia just steps behind him.

Psyche Delectus: The Robe of Mysteries

All our tomorrows emerge from within.

Night of the Cauldron: Part III, Ghosts of the Tree

Continued from Night of the Cauldron: Part II, The Turnip Lanterns

Night of the Cauldron

Part III

Ghosts of the Tree

Jimmy ran down the sidewalk to the next house.  His bag of candy sloshed at his side, knocking against his furry chaps.  As he ran, his cowboy hat flew off his head.

"James Wallace!"  His mother called, using the tone that meant he'd better stop whatever it was he was doing and wait for her instruction.  He ran back to pick up his cowboy hat.  He scooped it up and tried to get it evenly back on his head.  Soon his mother was beside him.  She leveled the hat and pushed it down firmly in place.

"Much obliged ma'am" he said in his best cowboy voice and grinned up at her.  His mother smiled and directed him back towards the next house.  He walked slowly in front of her with his legs bowed and his hands firmly on the toy guns at his sides.  They both laughed.  "Gotta go rustle up some candy!"