Marie WheelerThis week we are closing out the year with Mi-Go, the Fungi from Yuggoth!
I have always visualized these creatures differently, but the more I read the more I realized I had it a little wrong. And then I really messed up and drew my Mi-Go more like a wasp than a crab. Who does that?
I’m not gonna lie, I’m pretty stoked about it either way as I feel the monster came out well and I used some of the drawing techniques I’ve learned in my new book, Urban Sketching: The Complete Guide to Techniques, by Thomas Thorspecken. I practiced cross-hatching. A lot.
The Mi-Go in Story:
So what are the Mi-Go and why have I always been so fascinated by them? The Mi-Go appear in the 1931 story, ‘The Whisperer in Darkness,’ and appear as extra-terrestrial in nature. Described as a cross between fungi and a crustacean, they use their bat-like wings to fly through space.
The Mi-Go were also referenced in, ‘At the Mountains of Madness,’ as a race at odds with the Elder Things and part of the reason for their demise. So that stuff is kind of boring, what is the real reason I think this is one of the most awesome of HPL’s creatures? Traveling brains.
Whaa!?!, you say?
Yep. The Mi-Go use their crazy lobster-claws to surgically remove the brains from the humans they encounter, put them into a special brain transportation vessel and fly them through space. The brain continues with a consciousness throughout and is able to see the universe. It’s the precursor to Futurama‘s Head Jars, apparently Ron Popeil used H.P. Lovecraft for inspiration.
The story is so fantastic and really is one of HPL’s greatest creations in my humble opinion. It really just pulls me in every time I read it and I can empathize with the fear of the main character and the apprehension of his correspondent. I won’t spoil it for you, but take a minute to give it a read or a listen. Totally worth it!
The Mi-Go in Art:
The artwork I created for this post used and initial sketch with my Staedtler pencil on watercolor paper. I’ve recently started using an pencil sketch with several of my watercolors so that I can get the basic shapes on the page and don’t end up with my subject in the center of the page. Not cool, man, not cool.
I then used Micron pens in Black and Sepia and in a variety of thicknesses to go over the pencil lines and start in with some of the cross-hatching for shading. Once I had all the lines down, I used my water brush to paint in my Inktense pencil colors, starting with Charcoal Gray to bring some extra shadow and depth to the scene. After I had in all the shadow areas, I used a variety of other colors to round out the scene.
If I’m critical, there are some areas where I clearly added too much detail and others where I could have added more. Additionally, my perspective is weird, but overall is much better than some earlier works, so that’s awesome. Also, apparently I can draw bugs better than goats, so that’s a win 😉
Next week we will look at the Night Gaunts…creepers, they are.
