Cthulhu art query

[carolinec]

OK, let's see how good you are on Lovecraft. Someone I know from the Pantechnicon forum (www.pantechnicon.net - get a free plug in there!) does some artwork and has to draw the Great One (Cthulhu I mean, not Lovecraft) for some reason or another. He's wanting to know the original written Lovecraft source in which the Great One is described. Someone thinks it might be in "The Haunter of the Dark". I must admit, my Lovecraft knowledge is pretty sparse. Is this the original written source for a description?

Apparently, this guy doesn't want reference to other artists' interpretation of it - he needs Lovecraft's original idea.

Can anyone help with this please? Cheers.
;D

[Dr Terror]

How about The Call of Cthulhu:
www.dagonbytes.com/thelibrary/lovecraft/thecallofcthulhu.htm

[jkdunham]

charlesblack said:

How about The Call of Cthulhu

What he said.

In "The Call of Cthulhu", the likeness of Cthulhu is described in some detail;

"a monster of vaguely anthropoid outline, but with an octopus-like head whose face was a mass of feelers, a scaly, rubbery-looking body, prodigious claws on hind and fore feet, and long, narrow wings behind. This thing, which seemed instinct with a fearsome and unnatural malignancy, was of a somewhat bloated corpulence, and squatted evilly on a rectangular block or pedestal covered with undecipherable characters. The tips of the wings touched the back edge of the block, the seat occupied the centre, whilst the long, curved claws of the doubled-up, crouching hind legs gripped the front edge and extended a quarter of the way down toward the bottom of the pedestal. The cephalopod head was bent forward, so that the ends of the facial feelers brushed the backs of huge fore paws which clasped the croucher's elevated knees."

"It seemed to be a sort of monster... of a form which only a diseased fancy could conceive. If I say that my somewhat extravagant imagination yielded simultaneous pictures of an octopus, a dragon, and a human caricature, I shall not be unfaithful to the spirit of the thing. A pulpy, tentacled head surmounted a grotesque and scaly body with rudimentary wings; but it was the general outline of the whole which made it most shockingly frightful."

Then later you have descriptions such as; "The awful squid-head with writhing feelers", "the green, sticky spawn of the stars", "the mountainous monstrosity flopped down the slimy stones and hesitated, floundering at the edge of the water... It lumbered slobberingly into sight and gropingly squeezed Its gelatinous green immensity through the black doorway into the tainted outside air of that poison city of madness."

"The Call of Cthulhu" is pretty much a one-stop shop for all your Cthulhu needs.

[sean]

Yeah, 'The Call of Cthulhu' thirded.

Although you say that other artists renditions of the betentacled cutie are not needed, maybe one of Lovecraft's own sketches of Cthulhu may be worth a look:



Looks like he's stopped for a fag break!

[sean]

f*g - as in cigarette, you bloody f**k**g thingy of a censoring machine!

edit: I didn't type 'thingy' there either...

[dem]

Just had a tinker with the proboards built-in swear-o-meter and I am happy to report that you can now say 'fag' with impunity, well, just so long as you don't use it as a term of abuse toward a fellow poster you can, 'dyke' similar! Apologies to Sean for any distress!

[sean]

Its too late. I'm completely traumatised. I may never recover...

[carolinec]

Thanks, chaps - that's brilliant! I'll pass the info on to the person concerned.

Sean, where did you locate that sketch on the web? It would be nice to be able to give him a url for it (and any similar ones). By the way, I think you know the person concerned - Joshua Rainbird?

[sean]

Its a pic I've had on my 'puter for a while, so I just uploaded it to photofuckit. It'd probably be easiest just to send him a link to this thread.

(hello Josh, if you're reading later!)