I just read the Call of Cthulhu for the first time. I have long known OF the mythos, but had never actually read it. It so thoroughly creeped me out that I had to draw him to get him out of my head.

Just let me say that it is a marvelously crafted piece of writing, and that I generally don't read horror because it generally does nothing for me. But after I finished reading tonight I tried to go to bed... and found that I was creeped out quite thoroughly, imagining that there was something just behind me, in that spot between my shoulder blades impossible to see... and I found that the feeling was quite familiar, almost to the point of deja vu. When I figured out why I was more creeped out than before-- it is the feeling from the worst nightmares I had as a child, the dreams in which I ran and ran and ran, but was never caught, and I knew I would never get away. I almost wished I was caught, in those dreams, that it would end. Anyway, it was not a good thing to be reminded of in the wake of Lovecraft's wonderful tale.

So here is Cthulhu, waiting at the bottom of the sea for the day he will awaken. Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn. In his house at R'lyeh dead Cthulhu waits dreaming.

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When I first sat down to create the Great Priest of the Old Ones, the challenge I saw was how to make him dark enough. I had thought to start with a black background and sketch him out in grey, with green highlights. I'm chicken, though; I started with a sketch in black and white. I added the shadows as a separate layer, mostly because I wasn't sure what to do with his body and hands. Then I put the blue behind it and he started to take the form I had wanted. I added the grey next, and finally the green, an eerie glow from above.

My favorite part of him is his face. It is so very inhuman... particularly the eyes. What does an Old One dream, as he waits for the stars to align that he may rule again?