the Great Library at Celaeno

Acrylic 30x18"/ 76x46cm

This is a box cover illustration for the currently being kickstarted Cthulhu Wars Onslaught 2 game expansion by Petersen Games.  It depicts the Great Library at Celaeno, one of August Derleth's contributions to the Cthulhu Mythos.  In a nutshell, it is a vast alien library located near a star named Celaeno.   More at wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Books_in…

As there is limited information and description of the place, this is one of those instances where I was allowed to run more freely with my imagination.  A little while back, a fellow DA watcher pointed out that I gravitated toward certain palettes.  A quick look at my gallery will quickly reveal my fondness of pthalo blue, I cannot deny! So, I inverted some of my images in photoshop to see what my compliment/negative palette and decided to use this 'alien' color scheme to depict this alien library.

I've created a video slideshow containing sketches and the painting in progress: youtu.be/nmPwRjf1jcE

petersengames.com/cthulhu-wars…