SAN loss
June 1, 2011 8:20 AM Subscribe
Yog-Blogsoth This blog will be an attempt to draw all the creatures Lovecraft ever wrote about or mentioned. (Poss NSFW - drawn nudity, Def NSFSanity)
There is never any love for the sentient polyhedrons! So glad to see my fellows represented.
posted by Weighted Companion Cube at 8:26 AM on June 1, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by Weighted Companion Cube at 8:26 AM on June 1, 2011 [2 favorites]
Not "Blog-Sothoth"? Really? Too bad.
posted by penduluum at 8:31 AM on June 1, 2011 [6 favorites]
posted by penduluum at 8:31 AM on June 1, 2011 [6 favorites]
The Lovecraft Mythos, last refuge of the true nerd (as opposed to the hipster-nerd).
posted by jnrussell at 8:33 AM on June 1, 2011
posted by jnrussell at 8:33 AM on June 1, 2011
I was a lot more scared reading about the creatures than I am looking at them now. For some reason they almost look cute now, especially the cthulhu.
posted by francesca too at 8:39 AM on June 1, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by francesca too at 8:39 AM on June 1, 2011 [1 favorite]
Greatest blog name of all time!
posted by ignignokt at 8:41 AM on June 1, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by ignignokt at 8:41 AM on June 1, 2011 [2 favorites]
Without being able to see the scale, they all look little and cute to me.
posted by hermitosis at 8:45 AM on June 1, 2011
posted by hermitosis at 8:45 AM on June 1, 2011
Aw, poor Headless Moon Calf.
posted by Artw at 8:46 AM on June 1, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by Artw at 8:46 AM on June 1, 2011 [1 favorite]
Greatest blog name of all time!
No, actually the worst missed opportunity of all time. Penduluum is right. The right name would be "Blog-Sothoth." I wonder if that was taken.
posted by The Bellman at 8:50 AM on June 1, 2011
No, actually the worst missed opportunity of all time. Penduluum is right. The right name would be "Blog-Sothoth." I wonder if that was taken.
posted by The Bellman at 8:50 AM on June 1, 2011
I like that it retains the Yog.
Without being able to see the scale, they all look little and cute to me.
To me, most of them have a Monster Manual-level of menacingness to them, but there thing's like Nameless City Inhabitant which wouldn't look out of place with a "O HAY GUYS" caption over his head.
posted by ignignokt at 8:51 AM on June 1, 2011
Without being able to see the scale, they all look little and cute to me.
To me, most of them have a Monster Manual-level of menacingness to them, but there thing's like Nameless City Inhabitant which wouldn't look out of place with a "O HAY GUYS" caption over his head.
posted by ignignokt at 8:51 AM on June 1, 2011
Still waiting for BBBBbbbbbbrrrrrrrrroooooooowwwwwwwwnnnnnn JENKINS!
posted by robocop is bleeding at 8:52 AM on June 1, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by robocop is bleeding at 8:52 AM on June 1, 2011 [2 favorites]
Too bad Lovecraft never heard about the Burgess Shale formation.
posted by KokuRyu at 8:55 AM on June 1, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by KokuRyu at 8:55 AM on June 1, 2011 [1 favorite]
TBH I half suspect the Burgess Shale was invented by demented Lovecraft fans. "What now? Oh, let's give it a spiral mouth and yithian tentacles! And that bit that looks like it's legs is it's back!"
posted by Artw at 9:02 AM on June 1, 2011
posted by Artw at 9:02 AM on June 1, 2011
The Ibian bears a startling resemblance to a sickly-looking murloc from WoW, or at least someone wearing a murloc suit.
posted by misha at 9:05 AM on June 1, 2011
posted by misha at 9:05 AM on June 1, 2011
Not even Lovecraft is immune from Bacon Cthulhlu and other bullshit.
posted by Artw at 9:18 AM on June 1, 2011
posted by Artw at 9:18 AM on June 1, 2011
Man, being into metal was de rigueur for the late-'80s middle-school nerds I hung out with. I guess you could call us self hating (at least as much as anyone else in middle school) but...
posted by idiopath at 9:19 AM on June 1, 2011
posted by idiopath at 9:19 AM on June 1, 2011
Man, being into metal was de rigueur for the late-'80s middle-school nerds I hung out with.
This one time, we found a geode in the back yard...
posted by Artw at 9:24 AM on June 1, 2011 [2 favorites]
This one time, we found a geode in the back yard...
posted by Artw at 9:24 AM on June 1, 2011 [2 favorites]
I would really love to see Jesus get the Dagon treatment (Dagon was transmuted from a handsome and revered Sumerian fish-man god of fertility, agriculture etc. to some kind of squicky disgusting man-fish).
The tradition is to turn The Other's god into some sort of slobbering beast representing all that is despicable or frightening (see Lovecraft's version of Dagon, Ba'al/Beelzebub, influence of Pan iconography on the Christian depiction of the Devil etc. - hell Zelazny even did it to the Buddha IIRC). So what would the othered Jesus look like? It's probably out there already I guess.
posted by idiopath at 9:33 AM on June 1, 2011 [3 favorites]
The tradition is to turn The Other's god into some sort of slobbering beast representing all that is despicable or frightening (see Lovecraft's version of Dagon, Ba'al/Beelzebub, influence of Pan iconography on the Christian depiction of the Devil etc. - hell Zelazny even did it to the Buddha IIRC). So what would the othered Jesus look like? It's probably out there already I guess.
posted by idiopath at 9:33 AM on June 1, 2011 [3 favorites]
It's a naked slenderman.
Great.
I was fine with this whole thing until this was pointed out.
Never sleep again. Never sleep again. Never sleep again. Never sleep again.
posted by hippybear at 9:36 AM on June 1, 2011
Great.
I was fine with this whole thing until this was pointed out.
Never sleep again. Never sleep again. Never sleep again. Never sleep again.
posted by hippybear at 9:36 AM on June 1, 2011
I was a lot more scared reading about the creatures than I am looking at them now. For some reason they almost look cute now, especially the cthulhu.
Lovecraft illustrations are always disappointing, but this was all the more so. I think that they're more fun for the artists trying to capture shadowy figures of the imagination than they are for the viewers, who are only limited and held back by seeing phantasms so literally visually represented.
posted by Stagger Lee at 10:09 AM on June 1, 2011
I actually liked the treatments of the more well described creatures from Dreamquest of Unknown Kaddath. I think that the artist did most of them justice. Though the horned traders didn't look as ominous as I had hoped. Or maybe they were more humanoid in my imagination.
posted by Severian at 10:14 AM on June 1, 2011
posted by Severian at 10:14 AM on June 1, 2011
Still waiting for BBBBbbbbbbrrrrrrrrroooooooowwwwwwwwnnnnnn JENKINS!
Here's the li'l guy!
Fucking Dagon cultists.
::squints a three-lobed eye::
posted by FatherDagon at 10:20 AM on June 1, 2011
Here's the li'l guy!
Fucking Dagon cultists.
::squints a three-lobed eye::
posted by FatherDagon at 10:20 AM on June 1, 2011
There's nothing cute about the mutant penguin there. Truly worthy of the idea of deformed, giant, albino, primitive beasts, good for the artist!
posted by Iosephus at 10:39 AM on June 1, 2011
posted by Iosephus at 10:39 AM on June 1, 2011
I'm gonna call foul on some of these - not only are there a whole bunch from iffy collaborations, there's a bunch of them in there that are stright up Clark Ashton Smith or Ramsey Campbell. Boo!
posted by Artw at 10:50 AM on June 1, 2011
posted by Artw at 10:50 AM on June 1, 2011
Well what do you know, Lovecraft did write about women, afterall! Well, no, not really, even the female monsters are just mentioned in passing.
posted by Nelson at 10:51 AM on June 1, 2011
posted by Nelson at 10:51 AM on June 1, 2011
This is very useful for me. I'm running an Amber PBEM and now I have some Chaos critter-type illustrations to point people at.
posted by immlass at 10:52 AM on June 1, 2011
posted by immlass at 10:52 AM on June 1, 2011
Asenath Waite was a woman! Sort of.
posted by Artw at 10:54 AM on June 1, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by Artw at 10:54 AM on June 1, 2011 [1 favorite]
Not every Cthulhu is horrifying. But this one looks kind of, well lazy.
posted by MrFTBN at 11:03 AM on June 1, 2011 [4 favorites]
posted by MrFTBN at 11:03 AM on June 1, 2011 [4 favorites]
BTW, If you like these I can thoroughly recommend the Ian Culbard adaptation of At The Mountains of Madness.
posted by Artw at 11:08 AM on June 1, 2011
posted by Artw at 11:08 AM on June 1, 2011
Like any good hipster, I liked Cthuhlu better when he was old school and underground underwater (yeah I have no proof that Cthuhlu was based on Kanaloa, but hey god with cephalopod imagery and fits the pattern).
posted by idiopath at 11:15 AM on June 1, 2011
posted by idiopath at 11:15 AM on June 1, 2011
Here's the li'l guy!
Needs more beard.
Well what do you know, Lovecraft did write about women, afterall!
Keziah Mason was a woman. Wholly villainous, and only doing further harm to Lovecraft's representation of women (they can be non-existent or villainous -- take your pick) but there she was.
posted by Zed at 11:20 AM on June 1, 2011
Needs more beard.
Well what do you know, Lovecraft did write about women, afterall!
Keziah Mason was a woman. Wholly villainous, and only doing further harm to Lovecraft's representation of women (they can be non-existent or villainous -- take your pick) but there she was.
posted by Zed at 11:20 AM on June 1, 2011
er, that sentence was supposed to go something more like "further harm to Lovecraft's reputation regarding his representation of women."
posted by Zed at 11:23 AM on June 1, 2011
posted by Zed at 11:23 AM on June 1, 2011
Keziah Mason was a woman. Wholly villainous, and only doing further harm to Lovecraft's representation of women (they can be non-existent or villainous -- take your pick) but there she was.
Oh come on. They can also exist as perverted motherhood figures, and give birth to the black young of shub-niggurath. (See: The Dunwhich Horror)
posted by Stagger Lee at 12:20 PM on June 1, 2011 [1 favorite]
Dude, the father was Yog Soggoth. Shub-niggurath is a chick.
posted by Artw at 12:28 PM on June 1, 2011
posted by Artw at 12:28 PM on June 1, 2011
Dude, the father was Yog Soggoth. Shub-niggurath is a chick.
And what a chick.
posted by Stagger Lee at 12:36 PM on June 1, 2011
I thought it was shub-niggurath because the terrible offspring was black and goat-like.
The mythos can get a bit tangled up.
posted by Stagger Lee at 12:38 PM on June 1, 2011
The mythos can get a bit tangled up.
posted by Stagger Lee at 12:38 PM on June 1, 2011
Lavinia Whateley was a woman. (And an albino and the mother of the malformed Wilbur and the SON OF YOG-SOTHOTH. And her soul was devoured by whipporwills.)
posted by JHarris at 1:53 PM on June 1, 2011
posted by JHarris at 1:53 PM on June 1, 2011
Shub-Niggurath has many manifestations, surely. She can be both goat and chick. (Next easter, it might be fun to dye four Peeps black and microwave them for a few seconds to congeal them together. I'm sure the local church egg hunt would love to give those away as prizes!)
posted by JHarris at 1:56 PM on June 1, 2011
posted by JHarris at 1:56 PM on June 1, 2011
One of the reasons I feel these just don't look so scary is because we have no scenery. They're out of their elements and pathetic, much as we would be if we were thrown into the primordial soup.
First thing this guy should have done is create some freaky, weird backgrounds for his creations.
posted by misha at 2:39 PM on June 1, 2011
First thing this guy should have done is create some freaky, weird backgrounds for his creations.
posted by misha at 2:39 PM on June 1, 2011
I recently saw the South Park Lovecraft episode and was surprised at how gorgeously animated their Cthulhu was. The recent Scooby Doo one was great too.
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 3:39 PM on June 1, 2011
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 3:39 PM on June 1, 2011
I bet they don't get Shoggoth right. (Yes, we named our kitten after a Lovecraftian monster. Is that so wrong?)
posted by lollusc at 4:08 AM on June 2, 2011
posted by lollusc at 4:08 AM on June 2, 2011
This is more than a little tangential, but SF Bay Area folk might like to know that Jason Thompson, who did this comics adaptation of the Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath, the Lovecraft story prominently featuring cats and travel to the moon, will be at the Cartoon Art Museum this Saturday, June 4, at 5:30 PM hawking his new graphic novel King of Comics vol. 2. I intend to be there.
posted by Zed at 1:59 PM on June 2, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by Zed at 1:59 PM on June 2, 2011 [1 favorite]
Oh, good grief. King of RPGs. Don't know how "comics" managed to make that last minute substitution there.
posted by Zed at 3:02 PM on June 2, 2011
posted by Zed at 3:02 PM on June 2, 2011
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posted by Threeway Handshake at 8:26 AM on June 1, 2011 [6 favorites]