The Peanut Gallery: Layin’ The Smack Down
Posted by Ross Rosenberg
Yesterday I called into question the effectiveness of illustrator Rowena Morrill in capturing the likeness of Wilbur Whateley for the cover of the paperback edition of H.P. Lovecraft’s The Dunwich Horror. However, ectomite Nick Herold was having none of my shenanigans and, strapping on his neck-beard, brought the pain, pointing out that the fault did not lay with Morrill or her editor but with Lovecraft and my own, preconceived notions:
That’s actually pretty accurate to Lovecraft’s description of Wilbur Whateley. If I may quote:
“Above the waist it was semi-anthropomorphic; though its chest, where the dog’s rending paws still rested watchfully, had the leathery, reticulated hide of a crocodile or alligator. The back was piebald with yellow and black, and dimly suggested the squamous covering of certain snakes. Below the waist, though, it was the worst; for here all human resemblance left off and sheer phantasy began. The skin was thickly covered with coarse black fur, and from the abdomen a score of long greenish-grey tentacles with red sucking mouths protruded limply.
Their arrangement was odd, and seemed to follow the symmetries of some cosmic geometry unknown to earth or the solar system. On each of the hips, deep set in a kind of pinkish, ciliated orbit, was what seemed to be a rudimentary eye; whilst in lieu of a tail there depended a kind of trunk or feeler with purple annular markings, and with many evidences of being an undeveloped mouth or throat. The limbs, save for their black fur, roughly resembled the hind legs of prehistoric earth’s giant saurians, and terminated in ridgy-veined pads that were neither hooves nor claws. When the thing breathed, its tail and tentacles rhythmically changed colour, as if from some circulatory cause normal to the non-human greenish tinge, whilst in the tail it was manifest as a yellowish appearance which alternated with a sickly grayish-white in the spaces between the purple rings. Of genuine blood there was none; only the foetid greenish-yellow ichor which trickled along the painted floor beyond the radius of the stickiness, and left a curious discoloration behind it. “
You smell that? That’s the burning smell of emasculating pwnage!
Categories: Comments, Tongue-in-cheek, Ectomite, Illustration, Lovecraft, The Peanut Gallery, Cthulhu Cthursday
Posted at 10:19 am on April 4, 2008
16 Comments -
The pwnage is not absolute. I don’t think the the dragon tail is very accurate.
Comment by eltiburo — April 4, 2008 @ 11:02 am
I find the dragon tail very questionable, as well as the actual head and face of Wilbur.
This guy was supposed to be able to pass for human when bundled up, yet where would he hide those horns? Also, those eyes are a DEAD givaway that something is not quite right. I suppose the starfish on the head could’ve been hidden by a wig or a large hat. I’m sure some would notice if he never took off his hat, even in-doors.
The pattern on the chest, while it IS technically reticulated, doesn’t much resemble that of an alligator or a crocodile. Also, there is no fur on those legs. Where’s the fur?
The eyes on the hips are also problematic. The description is “On each of the hips, deep set in a kind of pinkish, ciliated orbit, was what seemed to be a rudimentary eye”. Those eyes seem to be well developed, almost bulging instead of deep-set, and are in no way ciliated. Pink and ciliated would look more like this…http://www.pcdfoundation.org/images/Johnny’s%20cilia%20pic.jpg
Finally, the tentacles around the midsection. The description says “a score of long greenish-grey tentacles with red sucking mouths protruded limply. Their arrangement was odd, and seemed to follow the symmetries of some cosmic geometry unknown to earth or the solar system”. These are obviously radially symmetrical and lack the sucking mouths.
I don’t want to diss on this art too much, but I have to point out the obvious errors that prevent this from being specifically Wilbur Whatley. Please, don’t feel bad. There is no pwnage. Pwnage is denied!
Comment by Wookie — April 4, 2008 @ 12:38 pm
Wookie. Slinging the pwnage. Checkmate.
Comment by otep — April 4, 2008 @ 2:17 pm
Ahh, the descriptions of creatures meant to be alien yet completely anthropomorphically nonfunctional. Incapable of living in any environment we know. Not that this is a bad thing, but I find more realistic and capable, yet still alien, creatures much more scary.
Comment by Kouroth — April 4, 2008 @ 3:03 pm
I call Completely and Utter Bullshit. John Coulthart’s illustration of Wlbur Whateley, seen below, is the only one that has ever come close to depicting exactly what Whateley looked like upon his death. The Rowena painting is an honest attempt, but it fails miserably in getting wrong many details perfectly obvious from Lovecraft’s description and, furthermore, adding a completely superfluous and absolutely idiotic snake for a tale.
Here’s what Whateley really looks like:
Comment by Derek C. F. Pegritz — April 4, 2008 @ 3:41 pm
I agree with Wookie that Wilbur was able to pass for human — albeit an atrocious & horrifying human — when clothed. It seems to me that the illustrator based his description on the two paragraphs alone & took some artistic liberties as well. Mr. Lovecraft did describe Wilbur’s face in detail which that creature does not resemble.
Mr. Pegritz, that illustration you linked to more closely resembles Wilbur as I imagine him, but even then it lacks the saurian limbs. Nice find tho’.
Comment by Evil Jim — April 4, 2008 @ 4:47 pm
I cannot speak for the more outlandish features of Whateley, but I can offer that John Coulthart clearly had the same mental image as I did. From descriptions rendered earlier and later in the tale, such an alien form could almost be excused, but at the time of Whateley’s death in the story, Lovecraft’s description put me in mind only of an exceedingly tall, rangy, twisted and warped humanoid twitching, writhing and melting away on the floor.
Comment by Jakkar — April 4, 2008 @ 6:45 pm
http://www.johncoulthart.com/images/whateley.jpg
Comment by otep — April 5, 2008 @ 1:53 am
I did a concept design for Wilbur last quarter. This is what I came up with.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c376/aribus_/Wilbur.jpg
Comment by AutomagV — April 5, 2008 @ 3:30 am
I have to say, both the Coulton and AutomagV’s Wilbur drawings are closer to the text than Morrill’s. Both of them remember that Whateley is supposed to look human, at least, while the coat’s on. Coulton’s is a bit less precise than Lovecraft’s words, but does a much better job with the tail, giving it merely an underdeveloped orifice than the snake-fanged full-on mouth of Rowena Morill’s depiction.
I was just trying to point out that Rowena Morrill wasn’t just throwing together a random beastie, but trying to depict one of Lovecraft’s characters.
Then, to hide my involvement, I shaved off the neck-beard.
Comment by Nick Herold — April 5, 2008 @ 4:46 am
I agree. Both Coulton and AutomagV’s versions are probably a lot closer to what Lovecraft had in his mind. Although, you have to look at the context of both Lovecraft and Morrill. Morrill drew/painted that version in the mid to late 70s…which is why it looks fairly like it belongs on a stoner van. What did the dark art–painting not magick-would have HP been into? If I can remember he talks about it a lot in his writings but I am much too lazy to start pulling books off shelves. It is lively that Wilbur is contextually more turn of the century in looks…I can’t believe I just wrote this…
Comment by eltiburo — April 5, 2008 @ 3:58 pm
Like most illustrators who attempt to render Lovecraft imagery, Rowena Morrill falls prey to the tendency to portray grotesque detail as design elements… visually flattening and simplifying irregularities of anatomy with easily recognized boundaries and landmarks. Part of what makes Lovecraft’s tales so lurid and frightening is the murky element of the unknown… the random madness of the unthinkable… so a clean-cut rendering of a critter with carefully delineated parts seems somewhat pedestrian compared with it’s literary counterpart.
What makes Coulton’s version so grotesque is it’s attention to the fragile fleshiness of it’s host, and it’s horribly irregular deformity. This seems to jive more closely with the words of description found within the story… at least in my humble opinion.
But what do I know…?
For now… it’s back under the bridge with me… there are legions of children to frighten before daybreak…
G
Comment by Gregorus Rex — April 5, 2008 @ 5:06 pm
this reminds me of something from the old DragonLance books.
Comment by Canis Canem Edit — April 5, 2008 @ 6:46 pm
AutomagV, I applaud your concept design of Wilbur. If you have or create more Lovecraftian artwork I hope you share it with Ectomo.
Comment by Evil Jim — April 6, 2008 @ 2:33 am
Thanks Evil Jim. Here’s a sketch I did of the sideview. http://s31.photobucket.com/albums/c376/aribus_/?action=view¤t=side-1.jpg
Comment by AutomagV — April 6, 2008 @ 3:16 am
AutomagV, looks to me like you got it just about spot on. I find Morrill’s picture to fall into the classic trap of so many Lovecraftian illustrators.. It’s just plain wrong. However, I don’t wish to put the blame on the artist in this case.
HP wrote specifically about the anatomical features of his creations and in great detail. Unfortunately for many book cover artists during the first Lovecraft revival period they had to contend with publishers and editors who themselves had a precise idea of the college and pulp markets to whom they were selling.
Hence the above illustration. But at least Wilbur isn’t chowing down on nekkid folk http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y218/haloofflies/hpl.gif .
Comment by j2dk — April 8, 2008 @ 1:53 am