Magic Circle of Flight

This was an illustration for a magic scroll containing the Fly spell in a DnD tabletop game.  Just right click and open in a new tab to download the full-sized version.  It should be easy to repurpose for all sorts of things.

 

Magic Circle

Here's an occult summoning circle for dressing up paper props.  It's intentionally clean so you can distress it as required.   Just right click and open the link in a new tab to download the full sized version.

Below the base version are two different takes on how it could be used.  The first is how it would look tinted by watercolors on parchment.  The second the "energized neon" look popularized by the Arcane Circles Photoshop brush set from ObsidianDawn.  I've been surprised by how widespread this style of presentation has become over the years, to the point that it's been adopted by Marvel in their upcoming "Doctor Strange" movie.
 

Magic Circle

Another piece of magic circle clip art for use in paper props.  Just right click and open in a new tab for the full-sized version. It's a clean image, so you can apply weathering and effects, as in the example below, as you see fit.

Magic Circle

A magic circle I banged out while experimenting with replicating the look of hand drawn figures.  Just right click and open in another tab for access to the full sized version.

Vegvísir

The Vegvísir magical stave, for the Viking Mythos project. I was going for something clearly Norse in origin, but slightly twisted in interpretation.  As we all know, evil is spiky so...yeah.  You can download the full sized version by right clicking on the image and opening the link in a new tab.

This is a clean version since I was too lazy to roughen it up in Illustrator.  For some reason the program determines the level of distortion based on the size of an element, which means long lines and large symbols get jagged while smaller details are barely touched.  When I have time I'll go through and give it the appropriate level of distressing.

The staves, or runic sigils, are the most visually striking elements of Norse magical practice.  I plan on working up a small library of re-interpreted versions for use on items and documents.

Elder Sign

A quick and dirty Elder Sign.  I was trying to get the slightly faceted look of one inscribed into wood or stone with hand tools.

Dagon Sigil

The Trident of Dagon.  There's some obvious influence from the version used in Stuart Gordon's film, but that's mostly from coming at it from the same angle of using organic forms.  The odd shape of the central spike is a callback to the mitres worn by the priesthood of Dagon.  It still needs some tweaking, but I'm happy with the basic form.

Have You Found the Yellow Sign?

"What is it?" I asked. 

"The King in Yellow." 

- Robert W. Chambers, "The Yellow Sign"

"True Detective" has come to an end.  I won't spoil the finale, other than to say I really enjoyed it and that we finally get a clear look at the show's conception of "The Yellow Sign".  Or at least, again trying to avoid any spoilers, one interpretation of it.  A friend wanted the symbol as a screen background, so I banged one up based on a screencap.  Given the interest in the show I thought you might enjoy it as well.  Here's the plain working version along with a colorized take.  Just right click and open in a new tab to download the full sized PNG files.  These are, of course, for personal use only.

I do have to admit that I got caught up in the speculation around the show and spent a few hours looking for any potential deeper meaning to the symbol.   If you're curious, it doesn't seem to correspond to a golden section, a Fibonacci Rose, or the arrangement of the stars in the Pleiades, home of Carcosa.  There are two possible correlations.  The figure does appear to mimic the proportions of the tiles in a Penrose Triangle, but slightly askew.  That seems rather appropriate.  The other possible correlation I can find is that it does form a rough match to the Pleiades with the addition of another star to the center- the view you would get from the opposite side of the constellation looking toward our sun.

Update:  An anonymous commenter points us to this disturbing FBI document from WikiLeaks.   The triangular spiral symbol is apparently associated with pedophiles. Because what the show really needed was yet another level of ickiness.

Coiled Wyrm

This was a design I did for a version of the Ponape Scriptures based on moko tattoo designs from the South Pacific.  Just right click and open up in a new tab to download the full sized version.

The plain version looks a bit too modern, but once it's distressed it's a quite nice embellishment.

Magic Circle

Another magic circle for your occult props.  Just right click and open in another tab to download the full sized version.

Someone dropped me an email asking why I don't distress these designs.  They're intentionally clean in order to make customization easier.  You can always degrade an image, but it's impossible to clean up one that's been aged.  With a basic image you can bleed the line work to give a more hand-drawn appearance, layer on texture, and hand color the design any way you want.  Here's an example using the image above.

This took about ten minutes to do in Photoshop, but you could do it equally quickly using something like GIMP.  Keep in mind that I'm a hack with no real natural talent.  Someone who actually knows what they're doing could do a far better job in the same timeframe. 

Arcane Circle

Today we have an arcane circle for dressing up eldritch scrolls and such.  Just right click and open up in a new tab to download the full sized version.

Glass of Leng

An occult design for dressing up scrolls and such.  Just right click to open up the full sized version.

Sigil of the Three Lobed Burning Eye

This was originally done as a banner symbol for a friend's tabletop army, but it's equally useful as a sigil for padding out all sorts of mythos tomes and such.  Open it up in another tab for the full sized version.

Circles of Power

We've discussed before how difficult it is to craft a prop tome. Actually binding the book isn't that difficult, but getting to that point requires collecting a huge amount of material to fill the pages. That's why I was so happy to get an email from Nick Storm pointing me toward Clint Warlick's collection of summoning circles. They're a great resource for anyone crafting eldritch scrolls or tomes. Because of the clean presentation they can be used as-is as book plates or processed with some erosion filters for a more rustic appearance.

The Yellow Sign, Redux

I fiddled around with the "Yellow Sign" sigil and made a few changes to the design. The whole discussion about it's symbolism and history can be found over here. Click through for the full sized version.



And here's a look at it out in the wild, so to speak.

The Yellow Sign

This is a roughly inked version of the Yellow Sign, based on the design from the early printings of "The King in Yellow" by Robert W. Chambers. The depiction of the King on the cover of those editions has been copied by hundreds of artists, but only a handful have used the inverted torch featured on both the front cover and the spine. Based on it's historical usage I think there's a strong case to be made that it's not just a random decorative element, but a depiction of the Yellow Sign. You can find more information on the subject, including the Sign's uncanny resemblance to an inverted Rod of Asclepius, in the Arkham Sanitarium post from earlier this week.

Before anybody asks, yes, I'm familiar with the three armed design created by the very talented Kevin Ross. He's a wonderful artist and I greatly admire his work, but he's open about the fact that his depiction is solely the product of his imagination. I prefer this alternate interpretation solely because of it's historical ties to Chambers' work.

Summoning Circle

Just the thing to dress up a last minute scroll: a handy summoning circle from kaitou-kage on deviantART.

Occult Seal Clipart

Just the thing when you need a quick and dirty occult image to slap on a scroll. Click through for the full sized version.

Inked Mi-Go

This is a sylized depiction of a Mi-go for a scroll I'm working on. It's a little smooth as-is, but I've been moving towards doing weathering effects to the final printed image instead of using Photoshop. The end results of real abrasive aging are, predictably, far more realistic than the computer generated version. Click through for the full-sized version.

Generic Critter Clip Art

Another drop-in piece of clip art for your occult documents, this time a vaguely alien-esque parasite. Click through for the full-sized version.