Propnomicon: Designing the Elder Things

Saturday, August 31, 2013

Designing the Elder Things

Philip Obermarck was kind enough to send me a heads up about this excellent article at Slate. Rebecca Onion brings us Lovecraft's original notes on the design of the Elder Things in "At the Mountains of Madness", one of seven pages involving the story being exhibited at the Providence Athenaeum.

After seeing this I have even more respect for the work artist Danny Cruz did on the Dyer sketches.

2 comments:

Dr. Theda said...: Cool post good Sir... We have been playing "Spore" and this is one of the "Creatures" that we created for our game...; August 31, 2013 at 11:14 PM
CoastConFan said...: I hadn’t seen that particular piece of H. P. Lovecraft writing so thanks for the image and the link. Lovecraft could really cram a lot of text onto a small space as witnessed by some postcards he sent:

http://www.miskatonic-university.org/category/inquisitor-news/lovecraft/ and

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c3/Lovecraft_postcard_to_CAS.jpg and

http://dirtywings.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/hplovecraftpostcard.jpg (I really liked the “Spawn of Dagon” salutation in this one.; September 1, 2013 at 8:42 AM

What's All This?

Propnomicon focuses on horror and fantasy props of interest to fans of H. P. Lovecraft and players of the "Call of Cthulhu" role playing game. That includes items directly inspired by Lovecraft's writing, DIY information for creating your own works, printable paper props, and source materials related to the 1920's and 30's, the "classic era" of the Cthulhu Mythos. Beyond that, the proprietor of the blog also enjoys pulp action stories, classic supernatural horror, mad science, and the occasional foray into more modern interpretations of the Mythos.

All of the original material here is free for the taking under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.

Propnomicon is an Amazon affiliate site. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. It doesn't cost you anything, and helps defray the cost of the goofy stuff I buy on Amazon.

DIY Propmaking Resources

A Fun Blog- Mike J's blog of prop references and projects. Lots of movie weapons and lesser known film and media props.
Blind Squirrel Props- the home of professional propmaker Mike Iverson. Detailed build logs for media and video game props.
Cartographers' Guild- a forum for fantasy cartography. Filled with great advice, mapmaking tutorials, and a library of free symbols, textures, and fonts.
El Dodo Albino- Spanish language site with a variety of prop projects.
Folkenstal Armory- amazing recreations of the arms and armor of the Elder Scrolls videogames.
Indy Gear- a site dedicated to Indiana Jones and the plethora of props found in all four movies. Be sure to visit the forum for advice, ready to print items, and inspiration.
MRX Designs- crafting some wonderful steampunk and horror props.
Props by Eric Hart- professional propmaker with New York City's Public Theater
Punished Props- Professional propmaker Bill Doran. Shares in-depth looks at his projects and techniques.
The Brass Goggles Steampunk Forum- The "Tactile" sub-board in particular is a goldmine of ideas.
The H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society- the group that almost single-handedly revolutionized CoC prop creation. Free PDF's of prop documents, an amazing adventure archive, and great merchandise.
The Replica Prop Forum- heavily skewed towards reproductions of movie props, particularly "Star Wars". Still, the DIY material is priceless.
Volpin Props- video game props from Harrison Krix. Excellent craftsmanship and build logs.

Other Stuff

Ancient Vaults & Eldritch Secrets- ol' skool gaming spells, magic items, and commentary.
CoastConFan- CoastCon, and some amazing Lovecraftian art and photography.
CthulhuWho1's Blog - Lovecraftiana and Dark Fantasy, including recordings of Lovecraft's stories.
Goomi's Unspeakable Vault- the lighter side of the Mythos.
Make - "Make" magazine's blog of DIY resources.
The Art of Darkness - a blog of horror art, and stuff.
The Skeptics Dictionary- debunking every flavor of woo-woo known to man.

Saturday, August 31, 2013

Designing the Elder Things

2 comments:

Statcounter