In getting ready for my Spectrum booth this coming May (check out the event here), I’ve been working out which pieces of art to bring with me. One of the ideas that came up, which I’ve had before, is to combine three of my smaller inks into one framed set.
I had two previous H.P Lovecraft oriented pieces, The Deep Ones and Cthulhucraft, so I decided a third one would work out great. After some research, I settled on Lovecraft’s snake god, Yig, first mentioned in his story, The Curse of Yig.
As with many of his creatures, there’s not a lot of visual information to go on. Being that the creature is one of the Ancient Ones, gods of Lovecraft’s mythos, and the father of serpents, I decided to move forward with that idea.
I felt that, there being many different kinds of snakes, that I would create a creature that had parts of several of them. That way, in theory, the god could pass down those traits. I wanted to avoid the easy way out, just a snake-like man with big fangs. I mean, sure, there are lots of fanged snakes. There are also snakes that have sets of teeth and no fangs. Snakes with hoods, designs, even horns, and if this creature was their father he needed to have many different, shared traits.
Here he is, emerging from the darkness. Yig, Father of Serpents, is 5″ x 7″, ink on 140 lb. Cold Press. Click on the image for a larger version:
