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JoshuaI would like to tell you about Joshua. Not because he is particularly unusual, or anyone of note. But rather, because he is not. I would like you to bear his utter ordinariness in mind as you read what follows. Joshua is just another person, and although by the time you have finished reading this you may develop a feeling in the pit of your stomach that tells you differently, I urge you to resist that feeling. Joshua could be anyone. If the stars had been aligned differently, or the genetic crap-shoot altered just so, he could have been you or me.

Joshua had the look of a thing delicately made. At 17 years of age, his skin was pallid to the

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Submitted: June 5, 2012
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Penguins of Madnessby *GregStevens

Traditional Art / Drawings / Fantasy

This is the first in a series of charcoal pencil drawings on rice paper that are inspired by scenes or images from stories by H.P. Lovecraft.

This scene was inspired by the following passage from "At The Mountains of Madness". The main characters are exploring a tunnel or cavern in an ancient city they have discovered in the antarctic:

Suddenly, a bulky white shape loomed up ahead of us, and we flashed on the second torch. ... It was only a penguin - albeit of a huge, unknown species larger than the greatest of the known king penguins, and monstrous in its combined albinism and virtual eyelessness.

Their size reminded us of some of the archaic penguins depicted in the Old One's sculptures, and it did not take long for us to conclude that they were descended from the same stock--undoubtedly surviving through a retreat to some warmer inner region whose perpetual blackness had destroyed their pigmentation and atrophied their eyes to mere useless slits.

The blindness of the penguins I tried to show by having their eyes not only slit-like, but also pupil-less. I took some liberties with the background: I have the penguins in a tunnel that is lit at one end, which I don't think is accurate to the story but which makes for a nice picture. This is why I say that the image is "inspired by" the description in the story, rather than it being a picture of the scene in the story.

Technical Details:

Charcoal pencils (soft, medium, and hard black, medium gray, and hard white) on 12.25" x 9" hand-made (not by me) rice paper.

Initially I did a pencil sketch of the concept on regular paper, before moving to the "good" paper.

When I photographed this piece, I deliberately left a border around the paper, because I like the effect of the irregular edge of the rice paper. So before you decide that I am "sloppy" or whatnot, please know: the fact that I leave a rough boundary between the edge of the drawing and the edge of the paper, and the fact that I've photographed outside the edge of the paper, are entirely deliberate and for the effect. If I have this framed, I intend to have it displayed this way as well: mounded on black back-board instead of matted so that the border of the paper can be seen.

This Series:

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*Fradga Jun 18, 2012 Hobbyist Traditional Artist

It is marvelously creepy, beautiful and disturbing.

~chaddyd Jun 16, 2012 Professional Digital Artist

lovely

*GAGBAGCHEN Jun 6, 2012 Student General Artist

~DaDonYordel Jun 6, 2012

DAT GROTESQUE PEGUIN!

*systemcat Jun 6, 2012 Professional General Artist

I like the odd quality of the head which can be noticed in the penguin facing towards the viewer. It doesn't look to have a beak but a mouth of some sort.

*GregStevens Jun 6, 2012 Hobbyist General Artist

Hmm... actually, that penguin is meant to be looking to the left, where a thin beak (mostly in shadow?) is visible. What you are seeing facing the viewer head-on is the penguin's eye-slit.

Or at least, that's how I meant it... it might not be that clear.

*systemcat Jun 6, 2012 Professional General Artist

No, I'm aware of where you put the eye-slit. But yeah, my comment was directed at the thin beak you stated to be mostly in shadow. Sorry

.

Was it hard to draw on hand-made rice paper? I've never worked with it before.

*GregStevens Jun 6, 2012 Hobbyist General Artist

Well, part of the reason I use very rough pencil strokes is because the entire effect HAS to be kind of "rough" -- some of the texture of the paper will show through your own lines no matter what you do. As long as you think of that as the effect you are going for (rather than as a "problem" LOL), you're good.

The bigger challenge was not the paper, but the charcoal pencils. I wore gloves while doing this, to not get fingerprints on the paper from charcoal dust. I washed my hands every 10 minutes or so, and I was constantly trying to be aware of where I was touching the paper to not smudge things.

I also used a spray fixative, as well: twice during the process of working, and once at the very end, to prevent smudging.

*Celestialhost Jun 5, 2012 Hobbyist Writer

Amazing how he makes penguins seem sinister.

~tanksmallcape Jun 6, 2012 Hobbyist Writer

I was thinking the exact same thing lol

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