Time Off to Push the Bounds of Sanity
I've got some time off accrued from previous projects at work, so am spending it on getting the monsters drawn, as well as some other stuff (like trying not to play the Binding of Isaac). I've gone for the non-figurative monsters first to warm myself up for the more challenging nether horrors and so far I'm fairly happy with the results.
That's 3 monsters done of a total of 12, and my burn rate is about 2 a day. I expect this will drop off a bit in the holiday madness, but I should still be able to complete all the illustrations well before the new year. The instruction booklet will be a bit trickier since I need to decide on the layout. Essentially it needs to be as graphic as possible, without relying on large blocks of text. The more sub-divided and visual, the easier it is to read, which is especially critical for something like a rule book that needs to be concise and clear.
Layout and Stuff
I'm still experimenting a lot with the formats and layout. A big question is how all of this will print, and what, if any, effects or filters I should be using with the text.
Bleeding and colour change are two concerns, but up to a certain degree I won't know until they're actually printed. What are shown here are the RGB versions, CMYK should give me a cleaner look, but I might have to sacrifice the over saturated look a bit to get a faithful print.
Not a big deal since it doesn't conflict with the style - I might even desaturate the otherwise gaudy colour schemes anyway.
Sanguisuge
This is a giant eldritch leech which can teleport around the stygian depths to wrong foot escaping heroes. It's not based off any particular Lovecraft creature, but is a conglomeration of ideas from a few different books; The Laughter of Dark Gods (the soft and terrible creature in the lake) and in The Lord of the Rings - the other terrible creature in the lake that tries to kill the fellowship in front of Durin's Gate.
Neither of which really describe the monster, I just found the imagery compelling.
Leviathan
The name doesn't really describe the creature very well, and is stolen from the Hellraiser series so will probably change. The monster is like a living crystal which grows as it consumes the souls of its victims - who then become part of it.
So I'll probably make a conglomorate word from latin - Soul Keeper translates to Custos Animae... Custanimae... hmmm....
Witch Thief
The most generic of the monsters so far, it's a flying octopus with eyes instead of a throat. It's basically Lovecraft's greatest fear and the basis for most of his elder gods.
I'm not a big fan of seafood either. Although octopus is great in Peruvian cuisine.
Other influences are the film Grabbers and the game Eternal Darkness.
