Today, we are talking to illustrator Jacob Glaser. Lovecraft fans might recognize him for his “Cthulhu Risen” poster available from the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society. Today, Jacob talks about his background, his interests and why he would like to be Cthulhu:

IFP: Tell us a bit about yourself. Are you self-trained? If not, where did you study, etc.?

JG: I started Long Beach State as an engineering student and made it most of the way through that program before I decided it wasn’t for me. I switched over to illustration pretty much based on my love of drawing my DnD characters and some really-bad comic strips I did as part of a ‘zine my friends and I started, but only distributed amongst ourselves. I knocked around at several companies, most of them not in a capacity that allowed for much drawing or development of my illustration career. I did, however, get to travel quite a bit (China, Brazil, several US cities) and eventually, I landed a gig with a start-up video game company that went belly up after just a few years and, at that point, I decided that if I was going to do the illustration thing, it was time. So, I have been full-time freelance for the last 2 years and have been having a blast.

As for personal taste, I love independent hip hop, indie rock, electronic noises, rusty stuff, tubes and wires, Terry Pratchett, politics, religion (I’m an atheist, but the concept fascinates me), science, Victorian/Edwardian era, WWI gear and weaponry, HPL, and, well, I guess I could keep listing, but I think you get the idea. I was cursed with curiosity and the feeling that I can somehow ‘understand’ the world and existence, but given I only have the span of one life, being an illustrator allows me to always be learning and confronted with new challenges and ideas.

IFP: What are some of your favourite artists?

JG: The idea of a ‘favourite’ is bothersome to me. I don’t have favourite things; I have different moods that are suited to all sorts of food, music, art experiences. I have some preferential tendencies, but even then, the list would be pretty long in terms of artists I like. I like artists who you can tell are truly feeling out the forms in their head and working the balancing act between analysis of form and feeling the texture and context of that form.

IFP: What are some recurring elements in your art?

JG: I don’t know that I have any that I consciously put there. Obviously, I prefer representational figurative illustration. The element I hope is always reoccurring is the idea of story, or a larger sense of a world/narrative larger than whatever it is I have illustrated. I like a combination of the cartoonish exaggeration and convincing shading and textures. I think this may be a question to ask in a few years when I have more of a backlog of personal work. Most of my current portfolio is art-directed and therefore, not a true expression of my personal taste.

IFP: You say you like the Victorian/Edwardian era. Have you done any steampunk work?

JG: I have a great love of what is now called “Steampunk”. The novels of China Miéville are a great modern example of it, but I think my enjoyment of steam and clockwork technology-based fiction probably has its roots in my grandfather’s workshop and watching reruns of The Wild Wild West (not the horrid movie but the original TV show) when I was very young. I try to work on anything that is Steampunk-based if I can and have worked on some movie pitches and a couple of games that have a Steampunk aesthetic. You had asked earlier if I had any themes running through my work and, if I was going to chose a genre to niche myself into, this would be the one.

IFP: You worked on the adaptation of “The Whisperer in Darkness”. Can you tell us a bit about that?

JG: Well, I came in rather late into the process. They were well into preproduction and my fiancée helped with building props, specifically, the Mi Go; she is why they got in contact with me to contribute. My task was simply to provide some of the sketches for Henry Wentworth Akeley’s field journal. There was quite a bit of back-and-forth since I had to work in a style that was not my own and they wanted the sketches to look as if an actual period naturalist would have made them. I looked to Leonardo’s drawings of nature for inspiration, as I would assume most naturalists of the period would have had access, knowledge, as well as admiration, for the man. I also experimented with different mediums and gave several different looks to the production team. I have yet to see the result, but look forward to seeing the film and how my work has been fitted into the journal.

IFP: How did you discover Lovecraft?

JG: My first introduction was through a friend in high school. I’ve never been a big fan of horror in the popular sense. I had a misconception that it was pretty much the hack-and-slash of popular film: Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th. The kind of gory horror and simple plots that made the movies more funny/boring than scary turned me off. Lovecraft and his brand of existential horror really brought about the wonderful and much-more-compelling idea of the fear that comes from forbidden knowledge. Knowledge that is not only horrific for the ugly misshapen horrors but for what their existence implies for humanity and the assumptions of our somewhat-orderly world. I have had a bit of a HPL rebirth recently, as a few of my friends have been doing a podcast dissecting his stories in order (hppodcraft.com). Having him reintroduced now that I’m a bit older and, I guess, considered an adult, gives a new perspective. I have to say I find the stories even more disturbing now than I did then. The first time around, I really had a diminished concept of how little I know.

IFP: What is your favourite Lovecraft story and why?

JG: Well, as I said, favourites are hard. I really prefer his Poe-inspired stories…the non-dream-cycle/Dunsany-inspired stuff. Actually, I do like “The Cats of Ulthar”, which I believe is considered to be part of the dream stuff. Anyhow, picking a favourite is difficult because there are a few stories I find I don’t like as much as some others, but no one stands out as a favourite heads above the rest. The first story I read of his that really had an impact, though, was “The Tomb” and, as the one that sucked me in, holds a special place of fondness for me. I think, though, that since he worked in short fiction, you really have to take his work as a continuum, and it is the larger world he paints throughout his prose that is the big attraction for me.

IFP: If you could be a Lovecraft/Mythos character or creature, who would you be and why?

JG: Hmm. Well, since most of the characters are pretty much very mundane, insane or horrid creatures from lost eons, it makes it a bit hard. Cthulhu, as the most widely known, has the best potential in terms of celebrity endorsement, but I hate sleeping in all the time and who knows when I’d get to wake up. After playing any number of Cthulhu games over the years, I cant say that anyone or anything makes out in the end. Abdul Alhazred, if I have to choose one, though, since it seems that, as the author of the definitive work on the gods and creatures of HPL’s universe, he’s the only one who knows (even better than HPL, one must assume), or is close to knowing, what is going on.

Bio: Jacob Glaser is a professional illustrator and student of art who lives amongst friends in Hollywood, Ca. After receiving his BFA in illustration, he worked at several companies as a staff artist and art director before becoming a full-time freelance illustrator.

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