GARY SCOTT BEATTY's Brave Encounter With The NECRONOMICON

EDITOR'S NOTE: GUEST COLUMNIST AND INDIE COMICS CREATOR GARY SCOTT BEATTY GIVES US A GLIMPSE INTO HIS CREATIVE PROCESS, INCLUDING A VISIT TO THAT INFAMOUS FICTIONAL DOCUMENT AND SOME ACTUAL BOOKS AS WELL

For the upcoming Welcome to Dunwich, I needed (of course!) a page from the Necronomicon. Miskatonic University is famously hesitant to allow inspection of the ancient relic, let alone cell phone photos, so I started with Mark Bloodworth art and a 13th century Bible in Latin to assemble this facsimile. Here are the steps I used. The Muskegon Museum of Art had an exhibit of ancient Bibles last year and that's the look I was going for here: timeworn and mysterious, but daemoniac. Mark's drawn and inked art was a fantastic starting point. I separated out two more colors so the page would appear to be printed with three plates, like it would have been in the woodblock printing era before cast, moveable type. I looked through one of my favorite references for old things, the Internet Archive's digital library, and searched for the oldest Bibles. I found a 13th century French Bible in Latin that was digitally workable. Note to all: I never lift art unless it is firmly in the public domain (I'm safe here with 13th century). Even then, if I am presenting it as my own, the art is reworked to be nearly unrecognizable from the source material. You should do this, too. Don't steal art. I needed two things from that Bible: words and page grunge. For the words, I used several pages that could be cleaned up sufficiently and pieced them together to form columns of type. I have no idea what this says. It could be a spicy shakshuka recipe or a spell to allow elder gods access to our celestial sphere. Or both. After much screwing around to clean up and messing with the levels, I layered it over what I had and cut away letters to wrap around the art. I used blank pages from the Bible with the right amount of grunge to them and pieced them together with feathered edges so they'd be seamless. I messed with blending and levels to get the look I was after. After overall assembly, the art was imported to Illustrator, where I added the word balloon. Anna is going to be quite surprised when she discovers what she has been sent. You will be able to peruse this art in Welcome to Dunwich, chapter (book?) two. I'm not sure yet how or when this publication will be released, because I have some options these days, but stay tuned to these very emails as I draw, ink and color my way through this noisome beast of a story. +++ How do YOU want to experience Welcome to Dunwich? Digital or printed? Four floppy comics or one graphic novel? Through a publisher or Kickstarter? Reply and let me know. +++ It's a strange Halloween week coming, but you know what to do. Enjoy the young ones having their holiday. Grin at the bullshitters out there and know the powers fear you. That's why they're always trying to get in your head. The choices are easier than they'd have you believe. Find your clarity in peace. Make time to laugh. Have a happy. In glorious service to our Aazurn overlords, Gary Scott Beatty StrangeHorror.com