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I recognize Sierra. He was one of Pterano's henchmen in the seventh Land Before Time. You sure brought back some fond childhood memories with that!

Idea for an OC/Race Design.
Isn't she a cutie?

Eve # 0013

Yes one of my recurring themes is Cyborgs. I love Cyborgs as much as I do faeries and tree nymphs and fantasy mushrooms. You will see them a lot in my gallery. But this one is one of my favorites. I had a great feeling of satisfaction when I was done. Why Eve 0013? Why not?

^Very nice! I was way into cyborgs and that sort of stuff as a kid. I remember being completely fascinated by the first Terminator film at probably 6 or 7. I also got interested in H. R. Giger's bio-mechanical artwork after seeing Alien and Aliens.

Gug Life (One was shown before I think.)

It was a paw, fully two feet and a half across, and equipped with formidable talons. After it came another paw, and after that a great black-furred arm to which both of the paws were attached by short forearms. Then two pink eyes shone, and the head of the awakened gug sentry, large as a barrel, wabbled into view. The eyes jutted two inches from each side, shaded by bony protuberances overgrown with coarse hairs. But the head was chiefly terrible because of the mouth. That mouth had great yellow fangs and ran from the top to the bottom of the head, opening vertically instead of horizontally.
—H. P. Lovecraft, The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath


The thumbnails above link to the larger images and show a creature of H.P.Lovecrafts "Dreamlands cycle" known as a Gug.
........Specifically a Gug, from the City of the Gugs, exploring the vaults of Zin.
Done in Pencil, and colored in Gimp more as a practice. I drew it a couple of years ago while having lunch at work on scrap printer paper.

To quote the wikipedia (for reference to those unfamiliar with Lovecrafts writing.)
The City of the Gugs
The City of the Gugs is a colossal, horrifying cityscape of soaring, cyclopean towers. It is the dwelling place of the gugs, banished to the underworld by a covenant of the gods. Its most prominent landmark is the Tower of Koth, which contains a legendary stairway that leads to the surface.
Close by the city is the cemetery of the gugs, its graves marked by huge stone monoliths. Ghouls often dine here; a deceased gug feeds them for almost a year.

The Vaults of Zin
The Vaults of Zin is a huge cavern in the underworld. It lies near the cemetery of the gugs and opens onto a large cave that "is the mouth of vaults of Zin, and the vindictive ghasts are always on watch there for those denizens of the upper abyss" (The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, Lovecraft). The ghasts who dwell in the Vaults of Zin prey on ghouls and gugs, and sometimes even one another.

Why I bring up Gugs
I bring up the Gug's because I'm back in a Cthulhu campaign roleplaying wise. It got me wondering what would have been the state of the "Dreamlands" during the prehistoric era of R.E. Howards Hyborian age. Both backgrounds share the same over arching backgrounds just in different era's. Cthulhu, Kull, Conan the Barbarian, Solomon Kane, Bran, it's all the same world as Lovecraft wrote in, just different times.

The Dreamlands are an extra dimensional place that's connected to the conscious world in Lovecrafts writings. A place that's always more primitive than it is in the waking world in comparison . So I imagine a mostly stone age dreamlands with perhaps a few places of starting bronze age society...as it's never been addressed in any "canon" source by any writer I know outside the "modern" viewpoint. Most sources say the gates between worlds is mostly in the New World, so it helps that it would not have physical contact with Hyboria. That said, I'd imagine Hyboria would have talented dreamers who could visit the Dreamlands. Especially with cultures such as Zamora, Stygia, and the Eastern Mystics.

Not sure where I'm going with this, but I think a redrawn "earlier" map of the dreamlands is one route and doing dreamland illustrations in a primitive era is another. I guess I'll pull out the sketchbook tomorrow, to late to start drawing now.

^ Can't wait to see that map. I knew Howard and Lovecraft were buddies in life, and I've seen Lovecraft-like names and concepts in some of the Howard stories, but I never knew they actually pooled their settings together into one big mythos.

Speaking of Howard, I got inspired to draw a little fan art of my own...


Hyborian Age Dragon
Through the thicket was thrust a head of nightmare and lunacy. Grinning jaws bared rows of dripping yellow tusks; above the yawning mouth wrinkled a saurian-like snout. Huge eyes, like those of a python a thousand times magnified, stared unwinkingly at the petrified humans clinging to the rock above it. Blood smeared the scaly, flabby lips and dripped from the huge mouth. The head, bigger than that of a crocodile, was further extended on a long scaled neck on which stood up rows of serrated spikes, and after it, crushing down the briars and saplings, waddled the body of a titan, a gigantic, barrel-bellied torso on absurdly short legs. The whitish belly almost raked the ground, while the serrated backbone rose higher than Conan could have reached on tiptoe. A long spiked tail, like that of a gargantuan scorpion, trailed out behind.
---Robert E. Howard, Red Nails

In the Hyborian Age mythos, dragons like this terrorized the southern jungles of the Black Kingdoms. In the story Red Nails, Conan the Cimmerian and his companion Valeria encounter one of them eating their horses near the ancient city of Xuchotl. Many illustators have interpreted the passage quoted above as describing some kind of carnivorous stegosaur, but that's not quite what I envisioned when reading it. However, since Howard does say that necromancers brought the dragons back to life using old bones in the jungle, I can see dinosaur fossils having inspired his portrayal of these monsters.

In retrospect I should have made the legs much shorter in keeping with Howard's description, but it was fun paying my respects to one of my literary heroes.

By Croms tears that's awesome. You work quick...I'm just picking up my sketchpad. You should be doing illustration Brandon, your extremely prolific, have very clean lines, vibrant color and can work crazy fast.

C.A. Smith, Lovecraft and Howard were in the same writing circle, it reminds me of roleplaying the way they wrote to each-other talking about their writings like it was real history. R.E. Howard wrote a few "modern" 1920s Cthulhu tales such as "The Children of the Night", "The Haunter of the Ring" and of course "The Black Stone" that includes the fictitious "Unaussprechlichen Kulten" by Friedrich von Junzt.

C.A Smith's ancient land of Hyperborea was in the "pre-human" era 100,000yrs before Conans era. All the same world, just different era's. That's why the [url=]Serpent Men[/url] are reoccurring enemies in all the writers tales. (275 million years ago: The Serpent People arise and found the first kingdom of Valusia. )

Howard's Conan tales are generally assumed to be from about 10,000BC, and the Hyborian era ended c. 9600 BC:

c. 9600 BC:When the Hyborian Age begins to end, as the nations and peoples of the era begin to fight. Aquilonia and Hyperborea battle, the Picts and Hyrkanians wreak havoc across the land, and the Vanir destroy Stygia. The Aesir settle in Nemedia, and the Cimmerians war against the Hyrkanians before retreating to the east. The Hyborians themselves are overwhelmed by another northern people. This is the time of the heroic Ghor Kin-Slayer of the Aesir, and the warlord Gorm of the Picts. ("The Hyborian Age," Howard; "Black Eons," Howard and Price)

What followed was this timeline (Edited to mostly cover how Stygia, became Khem then eventually Egypt as we know it.

c. 9550 BC: A final cataclysm destroys the Hyborian world and rises new land masses, moving the world into more or less its modern configuration. Portions of the Hyborian continent, Poseidonis, and Mu all sink beneath the waves. In later times, this event is remembered as the Great Flood. ("The Hyborian Age," Howard; "Timeline of the Cthulhu Mythos," Appel)

The Black Lotus is taken from the collapsing Stygia to the Plateaus of Leng and Sung, where it continues to be cultivated. In the remnants of Stygia, the Vanir found the country of Khem. ("Dope War of the Black Tong," Price; "Black Eons," Howard and Price)

The Brythunians emigrate to a land east of Khem and become the priests of Mitra, keeping their bloodline pure and separate from the local population. (The Winds of Zarr, Tierney)

The city of Sarnath is founded in Mesopotamia by another group of humans, near the Thuum'ha city of Ib. The people of Sarnath grow to dislike the people of Ib. ("The Doom that Came to Sarnath," Lovecraft; 9550???)

The province of Averoigne is founded by a people called the Averones (survivors of Atlantis) in modern-day France.

Between c. 9550 BC and c. 7000 BC: The First Dynasty of Khem falls. A race of human-alien hybrids takes their place, building the earliest pyramids. (Khai of Ancient Khem, Lumley)

c. 9000 BC: The men of Sarnath slaughter the Thuum'ha of Ib, and are visited thereafter by omens promising doom. ("The Doom that Came to Sarnath," Lovecraft; 9000??)

c. 8000 BC: Bokrug, god of the Thuum'ha, brings doom to Sarnath. ("The Doom that Came to Sarnath," Lovecraft; Encyclopedia Cthulhiana 2nd Ed., Harms)

Followers of the prophet Kish, who foretold Sarnath's doom, flee the city. The Testament of Kish, which tells of Sarnath's destruction, is written shortly afterwards- however, it is wholly lost. Kish's followers also translate the Book of Eibon into the Mnar language. (??; "History and Chronology of The Book of Eibon," Carter

c. 7000 BC: Khasathut, decadent sixth pharaoh of the Second Dynasty of Khem, is overthrown by Khai, a probable descendant of the Vanir. Khai brings about the Third Dynasty of Khem. However, the country has been doomed by the sorcerous battle with Khasathut to become a desert. (Khai of Ancient Khem, Lumley; ?Vanir)

c. 4200 BC: The Seven Cryptical Books of Hsan are translated into ancient Chinese. (Ex Libris Miskatonici, Stanley)

c. 4000 BC: The Seven Books of Tan, which may be one and the same as the Seven Cryptical Books of Hsan, date back to this time.

Bronze Age

c. 2613 BC: Nephren-Ka, a truly foul pharaoh, rises to power in Third Dynasty Egypt. He revives the worship of dark gods such as Nyarlat, whom he renames Nyarlathotep. He also finds the Shining Trapezohedron and builds a temple around it. The pharaoh Snefru overthrows Nephren-Ka, and his name is utterly erased from Egyptian history. However, the dark religions he rediscovered are not forgotten again. (; "Fane of the Black Pharaoh," Bloch)

Nephren-Ka and his followers flee to the underground catacombs of Kish, where Nephren-Ka sacrifices a hundred victims to Nyarlathotep. In exchange, Nephren-Ka is given the gift of prophecy, and he spends the rest of his days drawing the future of the Earth on the walls of his tomb. ("Fane of the Black Pharaoh," Bloch)

c. 2200 BC: Queen Nitocris, the Ghoul-Queen, rises to power in Sixth Dynasty Egypt. She revives the worship of Nyarlathotep once more, and uncovers the Shining Trapezohedron. She engages in many unspeakable acts during her reign, weakening her nation sufficiently to usher in the First Intermediate Period of Egyptian history. She leaves behind an artifact known as the Mirror of Nitocris. (??; "Imprisoned with the Pharaohs," Lovecraft and Houdini; "The Mirror of Nitocris," Lumley)

c. 2150 BC: The Black Pharaoh, sometimes called Khotep, lives at the end of the Sixth Dynasty of Egypt. ("Curse of the Black Pharaoh," Carter)

Between 2000 BC and 1750 BC: A reference to Leng is found in a papyrus written during Egypt's Middle Kingdom. ("Long Meg and Her Daughters," Finch)

Between 1991 BC and 1783 BC: Nyarlathotep is worshipped, in the form of the Bringer of Pests, during Egypt's Twelfth Dynasty.
Iron Age

Between 1783 BC and 1674 BC: The Thirteenth-Dynasty Egyptian high priest Luveh-Keraph, worshipper of Bast, writes the Black Rites in the Scroll of Bubastis.

c. 1733 BC: Nophru-Ka, a Nyarlathotep-worshipper, founds an Egyptian separatist movement. He tries to overthrow Pharaoh Khasekhemre Neferhotep I, but is slain by the ruler. Nophru-Ka's followers are later killed by Shudde-M'ell and his spawn, but his line continues on, eventually leading to the Brotherhood of the Beast.

Between 1640 and 1674 BC: Khephnes, who lives during the Fourteenth Dynasty of Egypt, learns the secrets of Nyarlathotep. He is also among those who temporarily exchanges minds with one of the Great Race of Yith. ("The Shadow Out of Time," Lovecraft)

c. 1674 BC: The Hyksos, a nomadic people who may have Stygian blood, take over Egypt. The first Hyksos pharaoh travels to G'harne and brings back the worship of Shudde-M'ell.

c. 1600 BC: Syro-Phoenician scholar Imilcar Narba translates the Book of Eibon into Punic."History and Chronology of The Book of Eibon," Carter

c. 1370 BC: During the 18th Dynasty of Egypt, Akhenaten raises the mummy of Nephren-Ka, who converts him to the worship of "Aten." Aten is in truth a disguise for Yog-Sothoth, imprisoned in nearby Mt. Sinai. (?; The Winds of Zarr, Tierney)

c. 1290 BC: During the 19th Dynasty of Egypt, the Zarr come to Earth to free Yog-Sothoth. As they do so, they attack the great cities of Egypt. Yog-Sothoth returns to his other-dimensional home. (The Winds of Zarr, Tierney)

This map I made is a Whole world Map of Conan's Hyboria with the included locations of the other writers. It's the first whole world map ever made for Hyboria with the new world included.

I made this in Blender:




Still works in progress though.

@ AutisticMillionaire

I figured you would appreciate my Hyborian Age dragon.

BTW, while we're discussing the Howard/Lovecraft/Smith mythos, I just got done drawing the line art for my vision of Nyarlathotep. I'll scan it in and color it tonight. For the moment I will say I based his appearance off the description in Lovecraft's original Nyarlathotep story, except I added a bit of a snake motif to his costume.

Amra's New Queen
With Belit of the Tigress fallen, a new pirate queen has arisen to haunt the Black Coast. She is not irredeemably pitiless however, for here she supplies sympathy to a still-mournful Amra the Lion (known elsewhere as Conan the Cimmerian).

Conan the Cimmerian (c) Robert E. Howard, but the black lady on the left is my own character.

Still in my Weird Tales fan art mood...


Nyarlathotep
And it was then that Nyarlathotep came out of Egypt. Who he was, none could tell, but he was of the old native blood and looked like a Pharaoh. The fellahin knelt when they saw him, yet could not say why. He said he had risen up out of the blackness of twenty-seven centuries, and that he had heard messages from places not on this planet. Into the lands of civilisation came Nyarlathotep, swarthy, slender, and sinister, always buying strange instruments of glass and metal and combining them into instruments yet stranger. He spoke much of the sciences of electricity and psychology and gave exhibitions of power which sent his spectators away speechless, yet which swelled his fame to exceeding magnitude. Men advised one another to see Nyarlathotep, and shuddered. And where Nyarlathotep went, rest vanished, for the small hours were rent with the screams of nightmare.
---H.P. Lovecraft, Nyarlathotep

I have to thank fellow artist AutisticMillionaire for the inspiration behind this piece of fan art. I'm very much a newcomer to the whole Lovecraft mythos despite its Internet popularity, but Lovecraft was a close buddy of Robert E. Howard whom I do like very much as a fantasy writer. In fact many of Howard's stories that I've read incorporate Lovecraft-like creatures, character names, and ideas of cosmic abominations. When designing Nyarlathotep's costume here, I decided to incorporate some Howardian influences by giving him a Stygian-style serpent motif. The snake-like object he's holding is not supposed to be a living creature but rather a scepter of green metal.

Very cool, using the Snake imagery! One of his many avatars is Set that he used both in Hyboria and ancient Egypt.

The Serpent crown is especially well thought out as was the use of the ancient green metal artifact he holds. I really like the costume and the black and deep blood red Shendyt he wears. It feels right, and add's an immediate danger to him.

Nyarlat, has many forms. Over 1000 and this is his form known as the Black Pharaoh.

Background on the Brotherhood of the Black Pharaoh
{The Brotherhood of the Black Pharaoh serves Nyarlathotep in his aspect as the Black Pharaoh. Its leadership is primarily of Egyptian descent, though in modern times it has become more inclusive of other nationalities. The cult has connections to the Church of Starry Wisdom, the Cult of the Bloody Tongue, and the Brotherhood of the Beast. It includes a subgroup known as the Children of the Sphinx that specializes in embalming mummies with the heads of animals.}

I think he's a great villain ever, even Steven King uses Nyarlathotep as he has stated numerous times that Randall Flagg is an Avatar of Nyarlathotep. Salem's Lot was set in the Cthulhu mythos...so ultimately that's also in the story world of Conan...just at differant era's.