Lovecraft’s influence on the sketches for paintings

For the colour pencil sketches, I used the photos taken of my own models. I set the models in a natural environment and I took photos of them with my partner Dr. György Bebesi. Therefore, the figures are real life people, however, the environment has been rearranged in a way inspired by Lovecraft’s works. The drawings are not illustrations to the above author’s books, but sketches for large-size oil paintings. In the environment surrounding the figures, I attempted to present the creatures imagined while reading the books and convey the atmosphere of the stories.

Lovecraft’s works feature the Ancients, the Great Old Ones, the Elders, and representatives of the Glorious Race. In some places, these creatures take on terrifying forms, appearing with bat wings, armoured reptilian bodies, tentacles, hairy, insect-like torsos, five heads, etc. In some places they are spongy, liquid, and change shape. In some places, they are unnameable and undepictable, like anxiety, ancient panic, and cosmic terror, which still surround us today.

In some sketches, I drew a specific story, such as “The Crystal Labyrinth”. Ancient creatures build a transparent labyrinth to protect their treasures, the crystals, from intruders, greedy humans. Those who penetrate the transparent walls will never find their way out again and will pay for their recklessness with their lives.

In another sketch, the Monsters experiment on humans, sucking the colours out of their world. Plants die out, animals and humans become extinct, leaving only grey ash behind.

In the Cthulhu mythos, young girls are sacrificed to the Ancient One by sea peoples in exchange for abundant fish from the sea. The sea people, part fish, part frog, part human, return to the sea. They exchange their death for their transformation, for eternal life.

The stories take place in unusual locations, underground caverns, the “Mountains of Madness”, the polar regions, the depths of the sea, sunken cities, and islands filled with exotic, wild, fantastical creatures. Heroes and scientists reach these terrifyingly beautiful places during dangerous expeditions, and their encounters with monsters drive them to death or madness.

The dreamlike, imaginative world of Lovecraft’s works, reminiscent of the myths of ancient times, captivated and had a powerful effect on me. While reading the stories, I drew the creatures in a small sketchbook and made them visually tangible, that is, the way they appeared in my imagination.

ings

Colored pencil sketch 34 × 43 and  43 × 34 cm

ILLUSTRATION TO DANTE’S DIVINE COMEDY

1991 · paper, India ink · 100 × 70 cm

Illustrations to GYÖRGY BEBESI’S volume
“EMPIRE BEFORE COLLAPSE.

Portraits of politicians and public life characters from pre-World War I Russia”

2016. Publikon Publishers