Friday, October 31, 2008
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
My Children!
Back in April I shared some old photos of props I'd made over ten years ago and sold on Ebay. At the time I was heavily involved with a murder mystery dinner theater company and an associated Cthulhu LARP. As soon as we were done using a prop I usually sold it to help fund the production of even more props.
Imagine my surprise when I discovered that there's a photo set from Eric Augustson up on Flickr featuring some of those items. Keep in mind that these pictures were taken back when most people were still using dial-up internet services, so they're shockingly small compared to the kind of bandwidth devouring shots I post these days. Here's a sampling from the set:
The R'lyeh Tablet. Sculpey over armature wire with an inset glass gem. This is the front side.
A close-up showing the Elder Sign under the glass.
The back side of the tablet. I used a metallic green blend of Sculpey for the tablet and then coated it with about ten layers of clear acrylic. It wasn't until I was done that I realized it was so slick there was a good chance anyone handling it was going to drop it.
One of my "Ammonite" style Cthulhu idols. I still use this basic pattern with Cthulhu's head flowing out of a seashell shape because I think it looks interesting. The traditional "fat squid sitting on rock" depiction of Cthulhu is great, don't get me wrong, but I've always liked alternate interpretations.
If memory serves, the distance between the single eye in front and the back of the coiled seashell shape was only about 2 1/2 inches. This particular idol was an insanely detailed mass of tentacles.
From the front.
A faux-coral Cthulhu statuette. It took hours to create the thousands of pores in it using a tool crafted from toothpicks and a rubber band.
A copy of the Ponape Scriptures. The cover was finished in the faux-leather technique David Lowe used in his "creepy books" tutorial I linked to last month. The cover embellishment is a large glass gem surrounded by a Sculpey adornment.
A tribal-style Cthulhu sigil I came up with while fooling around with the Tattooz1 dingbat font. Most of the graphics in this particular book were created using combinations of characters in that font.
Check out the rest of the pictures in the set. You won't have the wave of nostalgia I had looking at them, but there's some interesting stuff to look at.
Imagine my surprise when I discovered that there's a photo set from Eric Augustson up on Flickr featuring some of those items. Keep in mind that these pictures were taken back when most people were still using dial-up internet services, so they're shockingly small compared to the kind of bandwidth devouring shots I post these days. Here's a sampling from the set:
The R'lyeh Tablet. Sculpey over armature wire with an inset glass gem. This is the front side.
A close-up showing the Elder Sign under the glass.
The back side of the tablet. I used a metallic green blend of Sculpey for the tablet and then coated it with about ten layers of clear acrylic. It wasn't until I was done that I realized it was so slick there was a good chance anyone handling it was going to drop it.
One of my "Ammonite" style Cthulhu idols. I still use this basic pattern with Cthulhu's head flowing out of a seashell shape because I think it looks interesting. The traditional "fat squid sitting on rock" depiction of Cthulhu is great, don't get me wrong, but I've always liked alternate interpretations.
If memory serves, the distance between the single eye in front and the back of the coiled seashell shape was only about 2 1/2 inches. This particular idol was an insanely detailed mass of tentacles.
From the front.
A faux-coral Cthulhu statuette. It took hours to create the thousands of pores in it using a tool crafted from toothpicks and a rubber band.
A copy of the Ponape Scriptures. The cover was finished in the faux-leather technique David Lowe used in his "creepy books" tutorial I linked to last month. The cover embellishment is a large glass gem surrounded by a Sculpey adornment.
A tribal-style Cthulhu sigil I came up with while fooling around with the Tattooz1 dingbat font. Most of the graphics in this particular book were created using combinations of characters in that font.
Check out the rest of the pictures in the set. You won't have the wave of nostalgia I had looking at them, but there's some interesting stuff to look at.
"At the Mountains of Madness" Elder Thing
The "At the Mountains of Madness" project continues to plod along.
The latest prop photograph I've been working on is a shot of one of the Elder Things. Someone with mad Photoshop skills could probably bang it out in a couple of hours, but that someone definitely ain't me. Nonetheless, I'm pretty happy with how it's progressing. Here's a shot of what I have so far:
The shading and contrast between the various elements still needs work, and there are quite a few things yet to be added, but it's slowly coming along.
The latest prop photograph I've been working on is a shot of one of the Elder Things. Someone with mad Photoshop skills could probably bang it out in a couple of hours, but that someone definitely ain't me. Nonetheless, I'm pretty happy with how it's progressing. Here's a shot of what I have so far:
The shading and contrast between the various elements still needs work, and there are quite a few things yet to be added, but it's slowly coming along.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Another "At the Mountains of Madness" Prop Photo
Technically, there's no way this photo could have been taken, but I'm still inordinately proud of it.
Sigil Of The All Seeing Eye
This is another graphic for dressing-up your occult documents and such, the "Sigil of the All Seeing Eye". As always, click through for the full sized version.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
This Week's Crass Commercialism, Featuring Miskatonic Madness!
I'm an idiot.
I was planning on tossing the last of the Miskatonic expedition patches up on Ebay tonight, but while I was revising the listing I learned my feeble feedback of "7" isn't high enough for a Dutch auction. Bleh. I didn't even think to check that ahead of time.
On the bright side, I finally replaced my horrible scanner shot of the patch with some much better pictures featuring some of my other ATMOM props. I still suck as a photographer, but I think the documents and items I've collected look pretty cool like this.
Clockwise from top left we have a brass surveyor's transit (meant to duplicate the one in the photo directly below it), Lake's preliminary sketch and notes on the anatomy of the Elder Things, a brass solar compass, 1914 pattern brass binoculars, three core samples from Pabodie's drilling rig, a navigator's compass, a photo of one of the dog teams transporting part of the drilling equipment, two crinoid fossils, a photograph of two expedition members taking solar readings, and another photo of one of the dog teams. Underneath everything is my aged and weathered period map of Antarctica.
If you'd like to create a similar display you'll find most of what you need right here. The photo's featured in the above layout are over here, while there's another set here. I haven't posted my 1920's era Antarctica map, but I do have an engraved map from 1855 that would make an awesome background for a shadowbox display. And, of course, you can buy a Miskatonic patch over here, or find it, along with a copy of my "Contact Deep Ones" scroll, on Ebay.
If you like the display make sure you stop by during the week. I have something I think you're really going to like.
I was planning on tossing the last of the Miskatonic expedition patches up on Ebay tonight, but while I was revising the listing I learned my feeble feedback of "7" isn't high enough for a Dutch auction. Bleh. I didn't even think to check that ahead of time.
On the bright side, I finally replaced my horrible scanner shot of the patch with some much better pictures featuring some of my other ATMOM props. I still suck as a photographer, but I think the documents and items I've collected look pretty cool like this.
Clockwise from top left we have a brass surveyor's transit (meant to duplicate the one in the photo directly below it), Lake's preliminary sketch and notes on the anatomy of the Elder Things, a brass solar compass, 1914 pattern brass binoculars, three core samples from Pabodie's drilling rig, a navigator's compass, a photo of one of the dog teams transporting part of the drilling equipment, two crinoid fossils, a photograph of two expedition members taking solar readings, and another photo of one of the dog teams. Underneath everything is my aged and weathered period map of Antarctica.
If you'd like to create a similar display you'll find most of what you need right here. The photo's featured in the above layout are over here, while there's another set here. I haven't posted my 1920's era Antarctica map, but I do have an engraved map from 1855 that would make an awesome background for a shadowbox display. And, of course, you can buy a Miskatonic patch over here, or find it, along with a copy of my "Contact Deep Ones" scroll, on Ebay.
If you like the display make sure you stop by during the week. I have something I think you're really going to like.
Insanely Great Zombie Makeup
Nomad over at the FXLab forum has posted a tutorial on how to create some amazing zombie makeup. What makes it even more impressive is that it's done mostly with off-the-shelf materials like plastic wrap, available at any grocery store, and liquid latex, found in the molding and sculpture sections of most craft stores.
I've been experimenting with prop photos created using makeup and costumes, so this jumped right out at me when I saw it.
I've been experimenting with prop photos created using makeup and costumes, so this jumped right out at me when I saw it.
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