Friday, August 29, 2014

M. R. James


"Gifted with an almost diabolic power of calling horror by gentle steps from the midst of prosaic daily life, is the scholarly Montague Rhodes James, Provost of Eton College, antiquary of note, and recognized authority on medieval manuscripts and cathedral history," wrote H.P. Lovecraft of author M. R. James and his ghost stories. 

This 5"x5" scratchboard portrait is based upon the 2012 postage stamp released by the U.K.'s Royal Mail as part of their "Britons of Distinction" series.

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Ambrose Bierce


The best guy to follow Poe is Ambrose Bierce, writer, critic, and war journalist who drew upon his experiences in the American Civil War for his short stories. He went missing while covering the Mexican Revolution at the age of 71. His story "A Season in Carcosa" inspired the fiction of Robert W. Chambers and H.P. Lovecraft, as well as HBO's recent series True Detective.

 5" x 5" scratchboard.

Monday, August 25, 2014

Edgar Allan Poe


I used the "Ultima Thule" daguerreotype of Edgar Allan Poe as reference for this drawing- if he looks particularly glum, Poe had tried to commit suicide by a drug overdose several days before he sat for this portrait in Providence, Rhode Island, in November 1848.

Friday, August 22, 2014

Robert E. Howard.


My Friday night portrait completes the Weird Tales triumvirate with Robert E. Howard, whose Conan the Barbarian stories gave rise to the whole sword-and-sorcery genre. The countless paperbacks and comic books I possess featuring characters this guy created remain a guilty pleasure.

Thursday, August 21, 2014

Clark Ashton Smith


Scratchboard portrait of Clark Ashton Smith, author and poet, painter and sculptor of the weird, and a contemporary of H.P. Lovecraft.

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

A scratchboard portrait for H.P. Lovecraft's 124th Birthday


I've been working on a series of small portraits done on scratchboard, and did this one of H.P. Lovecraft, 20th century American writer of weird fiction, on the occasion of what would've been his 124th birthday today.