Inktober 2018 - Week 2

Day 8 "Star" - Having just been reading about the old rogue recently in Stephen Volk's excellent new book The Dark Masters Trilogy (see here for details), I was reminded of one of Aleister Crowley's magickal laws "Every Man and Woman is a Star"

Day 9 "Precious" - I think this one speaks for itself!

Day 10 "Flowing" - This one was inspired by Tolkien's own wonderful illustrations, chiefly his cover for the original edition of The Hobbit

Day 11 "Cruel" - "Oh, he was a cruel child for certain, but he had to pay in the end, and after.’ ‘After?’ said Uncle Oldys, with a frown. ‘Oh yes, Doctor, night after night in old Mr. Simpkins’s time, and his son, that’s our Mr. Simpkins’s father, yes, and our own Mr. Simpkins too. Up against that same window, particular when they’ve had a fire of a chilly evening, with his face right on the panes, and his hands fluttering out, and his mouth open and shut, open and shut, for a minute or more, and then gone off in the dark yard..."

from The Residence at Whitminster by MR James

. Day 12 "Whale" - and with me being me, I had to add "in spaaaaaaaaaaaace!" If any of you hoopy froods know where your towel is, then you'll guess the inspiration for this one...

Day 13 "Guarded" - A misspent youth devouring Fighting Fantasy gamebooks suggested this one... See the little goblin, see his little feet..."

Day 14 "Clock" - very much inspired by Ionicus book covers

The round-up of the first week's drawing can be found here!

INKTOBER WEEK #3

Day 16  - "Uninvited Guests" - another homage to old school RPG art

Day 17 - Crooked House with Mark Gatiss as the Curator

Day 18 - I think I'm calling this one "Black Goat Kaleidoscope"

Day 19 - Ghastly McNasty, Editor at Large #inktober2017

Day 20 - A regular face at the Great Library of Dreams...

Day 21 - Misty

Day 22 - another piece inspired by MR James
"One thing I did notice in the carving on the well-head, which I think must have escaped you. It was a horrid, grotesque shape — perhaps more like a toad than anything else, and there was a label by it inscribed with the two words, “Depositum custodi” - "Keep that which is committed to thee"...

from The Treasure of Abbot Thomas

Day 23 - The Stain of Vampirism - this piece was very much an exercise in seeing what suggested itself from some random splashes.

INKTOBER WEEK #2

Day 8 - "When It Was Moonlight..."  - I just can't resist the Ionicus style at the moment! Although there's more than a touch of MR James about this one too..

Day 9 - "Morning Stroll, Pnakotus, 400 Millions Years BC" -

This time I was having a go at doing something in a Gahan Wilson style, and hence opted for a little drawing of one of the Great Race of Yith who according to HP Lovecraft's The Shadow Out of Time lived on Earth in the millennia before man...

Day 10 - Nothing clever, just an undead fella! 

Day 11 - "Vincent in Blue"

Day 12 - "Delvers in the Dark" - a little homage to old school RPG art

Day 13 - "He seemed to be a tall thin man — or was it by any chance a woman?— at least, it was someone who covered his or her head with some kind of drapery before going to bed, and, he thought, must be possessed of a red lamp-shade — and the lamp must be flickering very much..." from Number 13 by MR James

Day 14  - The Inhabitant of the Lake - a pen and water colour inspired by the writings of Ramsey Campbell 

Day 15 - The Rose Garden 

"It was not a mask. It was a face — large, smooth, and pink. She remembers the minute drops of perspiration which were starting from its forehead: she remembers how the jaws were clean-shaven and the eyes shut. She remembers also, and with an accuracy which makes the thought intolerable to her, how the mouth was open and a single tooth appeared below the upper lip. As she looked the face receded into the darkness of the bush..." from The Rose Garden by MR James

INKTOBER WEEK #1

Hello folks! This year I thought I would have a bash at the annual artistic malarky that is #inktober! I've meant to for a couple of years now, but as October is something of a busy month around here at the Great Library of Dreams I usually end up forgetting. However this year, I did remember, and so then here is the first week's worth of doodles and sketches! 

Day 1 - a little piece inspired by The Tractate Middoth by MR James

Day 2 - a little sketch I entitled "The Witch At The End of Your Bed" 

Day 3 "Late Night by the Fireside" - Thought I'd have a bash at a spooky scene like the ones Ionicus used to do for the covers of ghost stories for William Kimber books. You can see a fine selection of Ionicus cover over here at The Common Swings. On reflection I think this one came out more like Roger Hargreaves, but never mind! 

Day 4 - See the little goblins...

Day 5 "Hallowtide at Exham" - Another attempt at something in an Ionicus/Kimber style! This one was getting closer to what I wanted, and very much a homage to the Ionicus cover for Halloween Hauntings edited by the late great Peter Haining

Day 6 "Tiptoe Through the Tombstones" - another somewhat Ionicus inspired piece, with a touch of Alfred Bestall too

Day 7 - Another piece inspired by MR James - 

"The whispering in my house was more persistent tonight. I seemed not to be rid of it in my room. I have not noticed this before. A nervous man, which I am not, and hope I am not becoming, would have been much annoyed, if not alarmed, by it..." 

from The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral by MR James