“Summon” by UrbanKnightArt
Welcome to the first installment in an ongoing series spotlighting original horror creations. The first piece we have is an illustration titled “Summon” by UrbanKnightArt on DeviantArt. Be sure to read out exclusive interview with the artist as well.
What was your inspiration for “Summon”?
Honestly, it was just one of those illustrations that developed itself as it went. Most of my art I don’t plan out ahead, I have a base idea, and then I let it emerge as I draw. I wanted to use my goat monster (‘The Eyeless One’ as I refer to him) in a scene with a human, just to put his size and presence into perspective.
What sort of tools did you use for the piece?
Pigma Micron pens for the sketch and details, and Winsor & Newton ink and a brush to fill in the bigger spaces. I use paper around 140gsm to be able to take the ink.
Do you have any projects you are working on?
Yes! The illustration is foreshadowing for a graphic novel I launched recently, titled ‘Terms and Conditions’. The best way to describe it would be a Lovecraft inspired Faustian story, about a girl who gets involved with these creatures from a dark parallel world. It mainly focuses on character progression and the darker side of the human existence, through both humans and how these creatures perceive and live alongside humanity.
Being my first graphic novel, it’s certainly a learning curve, but it already made me grow a lot as both an artist and a writer.
Do you have any particular horror themes you like to explore in your art?
I enjoy creating creatures and stories that are related to the occult.I always had an interest in exploring unsettling themes and monster designs, but never really had the confidence or means to up until the past few years. I’ve been trying to push my designs and illustrations more and more as I get braver with the topic and my ideas. People usually have strong feelings and opinions about occult themes, which makes for interesting insights and conversations. I enjoy making an impact.
Do you have any particular horror films/books/movies you particularly love?
As cliche as that sounds with horror artists, H.P. Lovecraft is definitely among my biggest inspirations. Other books that I still hold dear are The Silence of the Lambs and the Hannibal series by Thomas Harris, and some of Stephen King’s work. With movies I prefer some of the old classics, such as An American Werewolf in London, The Fly, The Thing, and the Alien series. I also enjoy horror video games, particularly inspired by the mood and designs of the Souls series.
Have you ever experienced something supernatural? Anything you would like to experience?
Nothing grandiose or noteworthy, honestly. There were a few instances that left me to wonder, but I still have an open mind about the supernatural. I mean, as humans we’re surprisingly not that perceptive! As for wanting to experience… as long as it’s not a ten foot monster out for my blood, why not!
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For more of UrbanKnightArt’s work, you can follow them on social media such as Instagram, Twitter, and DeviantArt. You can also check out the webcomic Terms and Conditions.
If you have an original creation you would like us to spotlight here on Haunted MTL please let us know!
So I’ve decided to revisit some of my bereaved Gothic celebrity drawings and resurrect The Mourners, since we’re in the thick of spooky season… And I’m not talking pumpkin spice, though it is nice. Maybe it’s the weather, or maybe it’s the despairing existential angst, but lately I’ve been feeling a bit haunted so I thought I’d take a trip down memory lane with you by posting a bunch of art here. So without further ado…
I wanted to focus on more of the details of the sculptures this time. The craftsmanship of these works still astounds me. When royalty commissioned such works, the artists may have devoted much of their lives to realizing these pieces to fruition. They were very time involved processes.
Here are some more details of hands and clothing that I found interesting. Remember that these sculptures are less than 12 inches tall for the whole of the human form. So they are very intricate for their size.
And feel free to check out more of Jennifer Weigel’s work here on Haunted MTL or on her writing, fine art, and conceptual projects websites.
The gorse bush seemed taken aback. It bristled and exclaimed, “A bush!”
“I am so very sorry, my Lord, I can explain,” the goblin cleric bowed in reverence, eyes glued to the ground. Everything about his body language was submissive and nervous.
“Of all the useless… How is it that I got reincarnated as a bush?!” The shrubbery prickled, growing more and more agitated. “I should have come back as a great King, or an Angel, or a Demon, or a dragon, or something even grander… Hell, I’d have settled for returning as the undead Lich King Tyrant Boss-Man you all came to know and love and revere. But no, that wasn’t in the dice. And now here I am, A Bush!” The spiky leaves trembled and rustled as they spoke, both emphasizing and decrying their verdant stature.
“Well, we were in a rush to revive you, after that run in with the goody-two-shoes 20th level adventurers and the awkward retreat,” the goblin knelt before the bramble-vine. “All of our best clerics, necromancers, and acolytes were tapped for spells or had perished in the great battle. Those of us who got out of the caves were lucky to escape with our lives and make it to this little clearing on the mountainside. And we desperately needed your guidance. We still do…”
“That doesn’t explain why I’m a bush now,” the gorse stretched to its full height, about two-and-a-half feet of thorny rage. “And a Gorse Bush at that! Before too long I’ll have a stand of satyrs piping along with a centaur drum circle, all strumming up some fertility ritual at my feet… er, roots…”
“Well, I’m multi-disciplinary you know.” The goblin spell-caster muttered and meekly shifted to his other foot, bracing for the inevitable, “Sometimes I get the cleric and druid magics confused a little.”
“Confused a little?” the bush growled, “Confused A Little?!” The bush’s rage turned to magic as it burst into flames. “I’m A BUSH!!! That’s not just some modest little cleric-druid spell translation issue!”
The goblin shrunk from the blaze, “But my Lord, you are a mighty bush. The greatest bush, really terrific… The gorsiest, bushiest bush in all of shrub-dom… Other bushes? Losers! We all agree, your Lordship.” The trembling goblin horde in the scrubland shadows at the edge of the small clearing nodded emphatically in response, fearing their bushy leader’s wrath. And rightfully so…
A tongue of flame erupted like a lightning bolt from the gorse and zapped the goblin cleric-druid where he stood, leaving nothing but a smattering of ashes drifting towards the ground. The flame erupted through the goblin horde in a huge explosion that engulfed everything in its wake, leaving a circle of scorched earth covered in a fine layer of sooty ash, smelling a bit like cordite.
The bush sighed and took note of its surroundings, sulking. It waited for some would-be adventurer to wander up the mountainside to find it there, where they could revel in its awkward awesomeness. Seasons came and went, and time seemed to stand still for nigh eternity as the gorse bush seethed beneath its crown of thorny brambles. Perhaps it should have convinced the goblin cleric to transplant it to a more trafficked location first.
If you enjoyed that bit of snarky fantasy, check out Ppppffffttt my previous Poised Potion Poison Potential story.
And feel free to check out more of Jennifer Weigel’s work here on Haunted MTL or on her writing, fine art, and conceptual projects websites.
You’ve almost made it to the end of the finger spiders here at Haunted MTL! Because I made A LOT of unfulfilled requests for a spider out of fingers, I will continue this snarky little AI art series with NightCafe and Canva through the month of September… In case you missed out, here are the other parts of this series:
Images: Overall design aesthetic of fashion / design advertising spread in muted tones with four AI art rendered images of spiders, built spiders, and spiders on hands, with any given number of legs on spiders and fingers on hands as you’d expect from AI interfacing at this time. Prompts used from top left to lower right include: hand that is a spider; spider legs as fingers; fingers becoming spider; spider all fingers.
Text reads: Creepy Crawlies Finger Spiders Keep Trying! Yeah, I’m sure you don’t remember being bitten. Because of the ways they warp time and space, and the natural chemical reactions involved, the AI art generated finger spiders’ bite isn’t typically felt. They are still attached to you, feeding… You have to get them off… Keep trying!
Images: Overall design aesthetic of fashion / design advertising spread in muted tones with four AI art rendered images of spiders, built spiders, and spiders on hands, with any given number of legs on spiders and fingers on hands as you’d expect from AI interfacing at this time. Prompts used from top left to lower right include: spider leg fingers; spider made out of hand fingers; hand spider picking banjo; fingers as spider playing banjo.
Text reads: Creepy Crawlies Finger Spiders That’s All Folks! Well, I guess that’s that then. It’s been nice knowing you. Enjoy your new form. Nothing left for it but to play the banjo…
All of the AI art images used in this series were generated on Thursday, June 13, 2024. If you want to see more freaky spiderness in art here on Haunted MTL, check out Bitten and Soul Catcher. More AI art graphic narratives from Jennifer Weigel have explored Little Red Riding Hood and Into the Deep Woods. Oh, and the Tiny Brain Computers exploration. To see more such devolutions into AI generated art, check out the Will the Real Jennifer Weigel Please Stand Up? blog.
