Call of Cthulhu and Propnomicon

Short blog post today. I decided to highlight another favorite website of mine, Propnomicon. The name being derived from the infamous Necronomicon of yore, Propnomicon is a gallery of horror-themed props from across the internet. Updated monthly, Propnomicon showcases both amateur and professional sculptures, carvings, books, and crafts that embody the Lovecraftian spirit.

The type of props and projects you'll see are quite varied and you  might wonder why certain things like old photographs and admission sheets for an insane asylum might be doing in there. The answer is a game called Call of Cthulhu, named after the H.P. Lovecraft story. Call of Cthulhu is a live-action roleplaying game (or LARP) that uses a wide variety of props to set the mood for a scenario that will be played out by a group of people. It's basically one of those fun murder-mystery parties mixed with ancient evil tentacle-faced demons, the difference being a game of Call of Cthulhu requires a bit more in the way of props and design to be pulled off right. Propnomicon is a massive resource for people planning these kinds of games, as you'll be able to see my checking out their "Resources" label on the side.

Below are some of the more Cthulhu Mythos-related pieces posted in the last few months, excluding the seemingly-endless Cthulhu idol pieces:

An elder god idol.

A page from the Necronomicon itself.

An infernal polyhedron, lit through some mysterious internal means.

The Mighty Old One

This one is actually a light fixture.

Beyond the specifically Love-craft related props, they also have numerous fantastic and paranormal props as well. Some of my favorites:

A life-size mermaid fossil

The Mongolian Deathworm (For Megh)

And another

A preserved fairy

An alien fetus in it's containment capsule

Another, uglier fairy

The hand of Sasquatch itself

Propnomicon also features a slew of props from other media like video games, movies, and television. The recreations are always of top quality and fantastic workmanship.

I highly recommend checking it out (at propnomicon.blogspot.com, once again) and scrolling through a few pages, I'm sure you'll find something you'll like. There's a little something from everyone, and a whole slew of tutorials to be found as well. They even inspired me to create m' own cthulhu out of sculpey:

That's all for now! Have a good day. Sit down, relax, brew up some chamomile. Maybe eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, like you used to when you were a kid, back when you had time to relax and enjoy the little things. Don't worry about your chores, do them later. Today is about YOU, so enjoy yourself. Because you deserve it. You deserve Tazo® Calm™ Full Leaf Tea, a soothing chamomile blend with rosebuds and herbs, available only at Starbucks®.

John Kenn Mortensen Post-It Art

John Kenn Mortensen

Out of the HUNDREDS of millions of images I've seen on the internet, few can compare to John Kenn Mortensen in terms of creativity and instilling a sense of unease. The strange, uncomfortable feeling one gets from studying his art is hard to place, but is none-the-less as unique as it is unsettling. Many of his images are reminiscent of ancient Scandinavian woodcarvings of the terrible, unknowable things that lurked in the wild places of the old world, ready to snatch away a misbehaving child that has wandered just a bit too far from home.
Aside from being drawn exclusively in pen with phenomenal, detailed results, another interesting fact is that much of his earlier work was drawn on post-it notes, I have heard. He would have to be my second favorite artist, under my adorable and talented Meghann. But enough talk, let's see for ourselves:

There's a lot that these images do for me. The most obvious is the Sasquatchiness of this one, of course, but I picked it for different reasons. It has the children, a constant theme in Mortensen's art. As the writer and director of a children's television show in Denmark, he must have some pretty interesting content on the air. I wish I spoke Danish!

There is a pervading sense of loneliness in his work that goes along well with the supernatural focus he has. This isn't a world of human wants and needs, it's a darker place where humans don't seem so important. Everyone feels small, which is likely why he has the identifiable characters as children.

The monsters he draws are all unique, but at the same time they all have a very gross and Scandinavian look to them that kind of groups them all together.

A lot of his monsters remind me of traditional Scandinavian trolls and ogres found on older wood carvings. They have a classical feel to them.

Aww, they must love babies too.

The "Thing in a Jar" is a classic horror trope that I enjoy. More on that in my next blog post.

A lot of his earlier creatures were less offensive than what he draws now. I like them, but they seem closer to his children's work than his "good stuff".

The troll imagery is heavy in this one. I love trolls. Some of my best friends are trolls.

I wish I had more information on this artist. It's a rather strange situation. Out of all of the artists on the internet, this favorite of mine has little to no information on the web. There's a scant IMdB page about his television show and a few of his shorts, and a page about a book that is no longer in print.
Quite the enigma is Mr. Mortensen. I hope I will be able to find out more about him in the future. But until then, I'll be stuck with his blog which updates fairly regularly. If you haven't clicked one of my links to his site yet, click that one. You'll be missing out otherwise. He has hundreds of pieces online for free, and while I would love to post all of my favorites here, there are just too many. And they're all in higher definition than I have here.

John Kenn Mortensen, everyone. He's a keeper.

It feels gooooooooooooooood.

Megh's note: Mr. Mortensen also has a Facebook fan page here.