Hannes Bok

Hannes Bok - Pickman's Model, H.P Lovecraft, FAMOUS FANTASTIC MYSTERIES December 1951: Aeron Alfrey photostream

   Recently there was a post on Boing Boing of some great sculptures by Jordu Schell, showcased over on a blog called Monster Brains. Once on that website however, the image reposted above immediately caught my eye, as it actually was a favorite t-shirt of mine back in high-school, but I had never known who made it.

   Turns out it was the work of Hannes Bok, pseudonymous name of American illustrator Wayne Francis Woodard (1914-1964), who along with being an author and painter, created some truly wonderful pen & ink pieces. Evoking both Lovecraftian themes and Francisco de Goya, this piece is a good example of stippling technique (some other ones here and here). Interestingly, Bok was the very first artist to be awarded with a Hugo Award for his work for many prominent sci-fi pulps such as Weird Tales, and cover art on novels by Robert E. Howard and John W. Campbell, JR.

   Check out more samples in this impressive gallery of his work on Monster Brains.