Stephen Player
Fantasy Illustration
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You may use this text as the basis of any type of illustration you like.
Howl of the Werewolf
By Jonathan Green
Illustrations Brief
Just as a general note, the entire setting for ‘Howl of the Werewolf’ is like
something out of a Hammer Horror film, ‘Van Helsing’, ‘Sleepy Hollow’, or ‘Bram
Stoker’s Dracula’ – you know the kind of thing.
Just one note of warning. Throughout the book the hero is trying to stop transforming
into a werewolf at the next full moon. Many of the scenes I would like you to
illustrate are set at night. As a result, should the moon appear in any of these it cannot
quite be full just yet, only close to waxing full. The only full-page picture that should
have a truly full moon is picture 30, the final climactic scene when the hero battles
Count Varcolac, first of the werewolf bloodline, transformed into the ArchLycanthrope.
6 Filler illustrations
1) Defences against lycanthropy
Various items used in the treatment of lycanthropy, or to guard against werecreatures. They include a few sprigs of belladonna, a bottle of potion, a silver cross, a
magnificent magical sword and a flintlock pistol with silver bullets.
3) Garoul’s hand-paw
At the start of the book the hero cuts off a wolf’s paw that then becomes partially
human. This is the clawed, wolf-man’s paw, half way to becoming a human hand
again. It has been severed at the wrist and on one finger is a gold signet ring, bearing
the crest of a howling wolf’s head against a full waxing moon.
4) The Transformation
A series of three connected images of a man’s face as he changes into a werewolf.
The first shows him as an evilly grinning man, then there is the tortured face of the
part-man, part-animal, and lastly the snarling wolf.
30 Full page illustrations
1) Wolf Attack
It is night-time and our hero is facing off against a pack of mangy-looking wolves in
the middle of a wintry wood. At the front of the pack, in the middle of the picture, is
their leader, a huge black wolf. It is twice the size of any other wolf in the pack and a
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streak of grey fur runs from the top of its head down its spine. The wolf is snarling,
teeth bared, ready to pounce, evil intent burning in its eyes.
2) Ulrich the Werebear
We are in the woods at night again, but now the hero is being attacked by a Werebear.
The large, humanoid bear is still wearing the torn garb of a woodsman, having
transformed following an attack by the Black Werewolf. Snarling, with terrible claws
bared, the monster is ready to tear our hero limb from limb. The corpse of the Black
Werewolf lies on the ground behind the Werebear.
3) The Howling
It is night and we are looking across a blighted wheat field towards a straggly line of
trees and the dark silhouette of a watchtower in front of the treeline. In the
foreground, a smoking iron brazier has a fire burning within it. Drifting across the
field is a cloying mist. The tendrils of ethereal, white mist are taking on the form of
insubstantial wolf-like creatures, with savage dagger-length fangs and elongated
tearing claws. One of these spectres is coalescing in front of our hero, in the shape of
a grotesque, phantasmal creature. Everything about it is macabre exaggeration of what
a wolf should be in life; horrific dagger-length fangs, shredding scythe-hook claws,
blazing coal-eyes and an open howling maw.
4) The Headless Highwayman
It is night again and we are travelling on a lonely road across desolate, windswept
moorland. In the distance stands a coaching inn, a lone light flickering in one window.
Materializing out of the darkness, in a haze of green-yellow luminescence twenty
paces ahead is the figure of a phantom highwayman on horseback. It is as if the night
itself is solidifying and taking on physical form. In life he was a flamboyant, over-thetop character and dressed accordingly. A black cape streams out behind the rider and
he is wearing knee-length, black leather boots. He lashes the reins of his steed as it
tears along the road towards us, foaming at the mouth, eyes burning with eerie witchlights. As if that were not horrifying enough, there is something horribly wrong with
this apparition. The highwayman has no head. The spectre is aiming a flintlock pistol
at us and has a basket-hilt sabre sheathed at his belt.
5) Meg the landlord’s daughter
Inside the stable of a coaching inn, the landlord’s dark-eyed daughter is carrying out
an unholy ritual of summoning. The straw has been cleared from the middle of the
floor and there a sinister, esoteric symbol has been marked out. This large sigil is
marked with other runes and zodiacal-style symbols. Candles positioned on top of
crates and barrels around the esoteric circle light the scene. Meg, the landlord’s
daughter is kneeling at the centre of the circle, chanting. She is no more than eighteen
or nineteen, her long black hair a wild, unkempt mess and with grey-ringed haunted
eyes. On the cold, stone-flagged floor of the stable in front of her rests a human skull,
the grinning death’s-head staring out of the picture at us.
6) Black Shuck
We are on desolate, wind-swept moors at night time. In the distance is a chapelshrine, perched at the edge of a wind-blown spur of land, the worn path that leads to it
following the lip of a rocky escarpment that drops away to the left, one hundred feet
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to the undulating expanse of moorland below. On the path, between us and the shrine
is a monstrous hellhound. It is a midnight-black dog, but as big as a pony, its fur
bristling like a wild-cat. One narrowed eye burns red as the sun at sunset, whilst the
other is bulging, white and blind, like the orb of the moon. The dog’s slavering jaws
are lined with savage fangs and from its heavy paws sprout claws that look like they
could gut a man with one powerful swipe. The Shuck is about to attack.
7) The Water-Wyrd and the Daughters of the Drowned
We are now underwater, in a murky forest pool. Emerging from the weedy depths is
the horrific Water-Wyrd – think the mythical Jenny Greenteeth. The Water-Wyrd is
semi-humanoid and female and yet at the same time it reminds one of a sinister,
snaggle-toothed fish. Her bulging, glassy eyes are those of a trout whilst her gaping
maw is filled with needle-sharp pike’s teeth. In the background, circling in the water
behind the Water-Wyrd, are three beautiful maidens, their long green hair streaming
out around them like pondweed and veiling their fish-white pallid nakedness from
view.
8) Van Richten, Vampire Hunter
It is night once more and we are in front of a blazing campfire, made within the
tumbledown remains of a gamekeeper’s cottage, amidst untended fields running riot
with gorse and thistle. All that is left of the building is the ruin of the chimney and
fireplace and one sheltering wall. On the other side of the fire, at the threshold to the
cottage, stands an imposing figure. He is dressed from head to foot in black. He wears
a long leather coat, heavy leather gloves and sturdy black leather boots. On his head is
a tall, wide-brimmed black hat, on which shines a silver buckle that holds a scarlet
ribbon in place. Only the steely orbs of his eyes are visible beneath the brim of the
hat, the rest of his face being covered by a red scarf. The glint of firelight reflects
from the polished barrel of a flintlock pistol that the man has aimed directly at you.
From a sword-belt at his waist hangs a gleaming rapier blade.
9) Carnivale Master
We are outside the entrance to the Carnivale. Under a hung banner that is
embroidered with the word ‘Carnivale’ is a propped painted sign that reads ‘Entrance
fee 2 Gold Pieces’. Standing next to it is a wizened little man, almost Dwarf-like in
his proportions, barely a metre tall, with a large head, broad grinning mouth full of
blunt teeth, slightly pointed ears and spindly limbs. The Carnivale Master is dressed
in the most outlandish and brightly coloured clothes you have ever seen, topped off
with a battered, black top hat.
10) Murderous Puppets
We are at the Carnivale, inside the Puppet-Master’s wagon. Puppets appear to cover
every available surface. Glove puppets lie in piles on the bunk bed, whilst
painstakingly painted marionettes hang from the roof beams. Other incomplete
puppets, some operated by wires, lie unfinished on a workbench. A gaggle of
marionettes is moving jerkily towards you – and no-one is pulling their strings.
Wooden-jointed knights and sock-puppet dragons fight alongside grinning papiermâché skeletons and hook-nosed jester-clowns, all trying to swamp our hero with
their multitudinous numbers, their chiselled oak jaws clacking as they try to bite.
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11) Serpensa the Snakewoman
We are inside a canvas tent. A lamp hanging from the roof of the tent lights the scene.
A hideous creature, a horrific amalgam of snake and woman, is there. The upper half
of her body is human, although totally hairless, her fingernails long talons and her
face misshapen by strangely snake-like features. From the waist down her body is
entirely serpentine, and every part of her is covered with mottled brown and green
scales. The monster is fixing us with its orange-yellow ophidian gaze. A forked
tongue darts out between its lips, as her jaw stretches horribly wide, exposing two
long cobra’s fangs.
12) Golem Hulk
This scene is set at the top of a windmill which has been converted into a
Frankenstein-style mad scientist’s lab, in the middle of a thunderstorm, with lightning
flashing through the windows. The lab is crammed full with all manner of curious
pieces of equipment and mechanical contraptions. There are spinning globes that
crackle with the static charge of the storm raging outside and glass-cased gauges, the
needles within them quivering around the danger line. Thick bundles of copper wire
descend from the topmost part of the windmill and connect all the various pieces of
equipment to a tilted metal table on which rests one of the most bizarre and monstrous
things you have ever seen. It is at least half the height again of a man and almost as
broad across. It appears to be made from slabs of dead grey flesh crudely sewn
together and yet in places organic parts have been replaced with mechanical
apparatus. Around its ugly head is a band of metal secured in place with a number of
unsubtle bolts. Standing next to a bank of steel levers is a tall man wearing a long,
once-white lab coat, his eyes hidden behind thick-lensed goggles. Cowering behind
him is his hunchbacked servant. A lightning strike is being channelled through the
various conducting rods and wires to the tilted table on which lies the scientist’s
ungodly creation. The part-flesh, part-machine construct is being violently jolted by
the unbridled elemental power of the storm coursing through it.
13) Shiversprite
It is night-time in the forest and we are on a barely perceptible track that runs between
spindly-branched trees that encroach further and further onto the path, obstructed by
half-protruding root systems and knotty boles. There is a glittering hoar frost on the
ground and icicles hang from the branches of the trees, as if it is midwinter. Facing us
is a capricious elemental creature called the Shiversprite. It is no more than three feet
tall and looks like it is made out of ice itself, its hair upstanding icicles, its nose and
chin pointed and sharp, its body, arms and legs long and stick-thin. Its hands and feet
end in glinting talons of ice like eagle’s talons. Its mouth is spread unnaturally wide in
a shark-like grin, its teeth long as a man’s fingers and pointed like icicles as well. The
creature has its head cocked to one side, and is fixing the reader with its penetrating
icy gaze. The being’s teeth are never still, constantly chattering. A feral Jack Frost on
acid.
14) Reanimated Cadaver
We are in a shadowy surgeon’s operating room. In the centre of the room is a bloodstained table, with a filthy, bloodstained sheet thrown to one side, now half hanging
off the edge of the table. The naked, disembowelled corpse that was being dissected
on the table has now risen off it and is walking towards us, grasping for us with its
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bare hands. The corpse’s eyes have rolled up into its head. The illustration should
imply that the brain, heart and intestines have all been investigated. Lying on the floor
to one side of the table is an unconscious old man, the surgeon Doktor Kafka. He is
bespectacled, with a heavily-lined face. His pate is bald, and what little hair he has left
is white, wispy and wild. Behind the table on the other side stands Van Richten the
Vampire Hunter from illustration 8. He looks the same as before, only his face is no
longer covered by a mask and he has his rapier blade in his hand instead of his
flintlock pistol.
15) Stained Glass Knight
We are in a large, torch-lit chapel within a Vampiress’ tower. A columned nave leads
up to a cloth-draped altar on which stands a golden chalice set with glittering precious
stones. The flickering fire of the rush-light torches reflects from a number of
exquisitely-painted stained glass windows. The largest and most magnificent of these
is set back in an alcoved recess above the altar. It used to show a knight in full armour
kneeling in penance before a white-robed priest, his sword held out before him like a
crucifix. However, where the knight was there is now a hole in the window and the
priest in the picture is shown lying on the ground, slain. The stained glass knight is
standing in front of us, glass sword raised ready to strike, flat almost 2D shards of
glass taking on a 3D form. Other shards of glass are raining down around us.
16) Werebat and Vampiress
This scene shows the showdown with a Vampiress and her Werebat servant at the top
of her tower lair. If there is room to show any background, we are in a grand, highceilinged chamber, ornately decorated with heavy velvet drapes of black and red, the
dome of its ceiling painted with a zodiacal map of the heavens of Titan. A striking,
platinum-haired woman, dressed in crimson and black, her skin as white as ivory, is
cowering back against a high-backed carved wooden throne. We can just see the
points of her vampire fangs. However, in front of her and flapping towards our hero,
taking up most of the picture, is a just-transformed Werebat.
17) The Malice
It is night and we are amidst the ruins of what might once have been a church or
temple of some kind but which is now open to the sky. The Malice is manifesting out
of the air in front of the reader. It has a leering demonic face, the stuff of nightmares,
an amalgam of everything you have ever feared. Vile writhing bodies and hairy spider
legs break through tears in the leathery skin of the grotesque gargoyle face. The black
hollows of its eyes drip with maggots as the creature scuttles forwards like a spider on
multiple, distorted, wrongly-jointed legs that might be arms and grabs for the reader
with arms that might be legs ending in horribly taloned apendages.
18) Cockroach Monk
Our hero has just disturbed a mutated monk devouring a corpse in a charnel house
mortuary. Human skulls fill row upon row of recessed niches in the walls whilst
carved skeletal angels of death gaze down through hollow eye sockets from roof
bosses. Several raised stone slabs in the centre of the room bear the decomposing
bodies of black-robed monks. The monk you have disturbed is spinning round to face
you, the heavy cowl of its black robe falling back from its head in the process. What
is revealed beneath is a misshapen, insect-like head with cockroach mandibles that
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split the monk’s mouth open far too wide. He also has sickly-bulging compound fly’s
eyes. Two extra pairs of black, chitin-armoured, insect legs have unfolded from
beneath the mutated monk’s habit, in addition to the monk’s two more human arms.
19) Giant Maggot
Wallowing in a wide stone bowl-like pit full of slime, set into the flag-stoned floor of
what was once the sanctuary of an Abbey church, is a monstrous maggot that must be
twenty feet long from snout to tail. Its tiny blind-head end sways round, whilst its
moist white body ripples repulsively. Glutinous slime drools from the monstrous
maggot’s incessantly working circular mouthparts.
20) Aranaea the Spider-Queen
We are in a subterranean cave lit by glittering crystals set into its dark limestone
walls, the roof hung with stalactites, and stalagmites rising from the floor. This
strange luminescence sparkles from a myriad webs strung across the chamber, almost
like curtains or drapes. The light also glitters from genuine treasures. Gold pieces lie
scattered on the floor of the chamber, along with other, less valuable objects: battered
helmets, rusty swords and axes, rotten backpacks and gnawed pieces of leather
armour. Across the far end of the broad cavern is strung a large, intricate web
decorated with strings of pearls and precious stones. Squatting at the centre of the web
is a giant spider, but the monstrous arachnid form having grown from that of a human
woman. The abdomen of the monster is a swollen, hairy black pulsating sac with silkoozing spinnerets. From the waist up, however, the creature looks more human except
that she has a total of six arms and two legs which, although they begin in human
form become the long, bony black limbs of the spider, each ending in a cruelly barbed
chitinous claw.
21) The Vargenhof Beast and Katya Crimson Cloak
It is night once more and our hero has just burst into a clearing between the thick,
dark trees of a forest. Lying on the floor of the clearing is a young woman, wearing a
hooded cloak and close-fitting bodice and trews, her discharged crossbow fallen at her
side. Looming over her is a monstrous creature, thickly-furred and seemingly part
wolf, part bear and yet even with some semblance of a human about it. This is the
huge, hulking Werebeast of Vargenhof. A crossbow bolt protrudes from the meat of
its right arm. This is an important visual clue. Roaring, the Werebeast is preparing to
kill the young woman.
23) Scarecrows
It is a dull, grey day and our hero is wading through the rotten stalks of a wheat field.
Not far ahead is the perimeter fence of a dilapidated farmyard. Shrieking like
banshees, two straw scarecrows are bursting from out of the mouldering crop in front
of us. With sharp claws of splintered wood, the animated Scarecrows attack with
jerky, almost insect-like, movements. One has a sackcloth face, with ripped holes for
eyes, nose and mouth, the other a carved pumpkin head and a battered hat.
24) The Changeling
We are in a rundown farmhouse kitchen. In the background there is a blazing fire in
the hearth. There is also an empty baby’s cot with a blanket hanging out of it.
Capering around in front of us is the Changeling, which looks like a malevolent imp,
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a wolfish sprite covered in thick fur, with pointed lupine ears, needle-sharp teeth and
bared claws. A grotesque gargoyle smile splits the Changeling’s features as it fixes
the reader with darkly burning eyes. The creature has grown to about the size of a
Dwarf.
25) Werewargs
The hero is now wandering the rubbish-strewn streets of a village that is more home
to wild animals than human beings. Snarling and snapping at each other, two hideous
wolfish forms are emerging from around the corner of the street. They are
Werewargs, creatures that look like wolf-men, one walking on all fours, the other
walking on its hind-legs. We can make out tears in their scabrous hides through which
can be seen bare bone, green-grey internal organs, and exposed ribs. Balefires burn in
the eyes of these grotesque undead werewolves, cursed creatures trapped in a
decaying semi-lupine form and possessed of an insane animal hunger.
26) Witch and Giant Toad
We are in a castle kitchen. A wizened crone stands next to a large cauldron, bubbling
and steaming over a roaring fire blazing in the grate. At the witch’s feet hop, scuttle
and slither all manner of vile vermin – toads, newts, cockroaches, centipedes, snakes,
spiders and rats. There is a spell-book open on a stand next to her. But in front of the
witch, between us and the fireplace is a monstrous Giant Toad. It is the size of a pony,
pushing itself forward on its over-grown webbed feet, the tip of its tongue darting
from its mouth.
27) Wax Golem
We are in a circular turret room. The chamber has no windows but is lit by the light of
hundreds of candles, some fixed to wrought-iron candelabra, many stuck on top of the
melted remains of others. The guttering candlelight is also reflected back from a
circular black mirror on the opposite side of the room. In the middle of the room is a
Wax Golem, moving towards us. At first it might be taken to be a mound of discarded
candles. It is a great mass of wax, roughly humanoid in shape, plodding towards us.
Tallow-wicks still burn all over the top of it, liquid wax running from its melting
surface.
28) The Wolf Brides
We are now in a vast banqueting chamber. What was obviously once an exquisitely
laid table, with finest bone china, gleaming gilt cutlery and magnificent glittering
crystal centrepieces is now nothing better than a dog’s dinner. Platters of rotting food,
white with solidified grease, litter the soiled table cloth whilst the carcasses and bones
of many passed meals lie strewn across the table and the surrounding floor. It looks
like the last dinner guests had the table manners of wolves. There are three women in
the chamber, dressed in what were once fine gowns but which are now torn and
dishevelled. One of the women is still seated at the table, sucking the marrow from a
chicken bone, another is rising from her chair and the third, the closest, is advancing
towards you. They are wearing veils which have been thrown back to reveal their
hideous, wolfish faces, a hideous amalgam of human being and she-wolf. Unlike the
other werewolves their features are blunt, not having protruding lupine snouts. The
closest wolf-woman is hungrily licking a long pink tongue across visible canine fangs.
All three of the Wolf Brides are looking out of the picture at us.
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29) Count Varcolac
We are in an opulent chamber, fine tapestries bedecking the walls and Persian-style
rugs cover the floor, lit by crystal chandeliers. However, the tapestries are faded and
dusty, the rugs scratched and frayed. Framed by a tall window directly in front of you,
covered with heavy claret drapes, stands an ornately carved, dark wood chair, thronelike in its size and level of detailed decoration. Slouched in the chair, one leg
swinging over the arm is Count Varcolac, a ruggedly handsome man with a thick
mane of tousled grey hair hanging down to his shoulders, run through with a single
streak of lustrous black from the middle of his forehead. He is wearing an unbuttoned
jacket, exposing a ruffled shirt beneath, fine black trews and knee-length black leather
boots. His clothes have something of Old Russia about them in style. He is a hirsute
individual, his chest, arms and even his fingers being particularly hairy. He is playing
with a pewter goblet in one hand, and on his middle finger he is wearing a gleaming
gold signet ring. If any detail can be seen on the ring, it bears the crest of a howling
wolf’s head against a full waxing moon. Lying on the floor on either side of his throne
are two huge and evil-looking dire wolves. Varcolac is scratching one of the wolves
behind the ears, even as it bares its fangs at you in feral hatred.
30) The Arch-Lycanthrope
This picture is really picture 29 but a few minutes later. The two dire wolves are gone
and Count Varcolac has risen from his throne. He has now become the most terrible
and terrifying werewolf of all – the Arch-Lycanthrope! He has a broader chest, longer
arms and fingernails that have become claws. His face is a lupine muzzle, his ears are
pointed and wolf fangs have pushed through bleeding gums. His legs and feet have
changed shape, ripping free of his leather riding boots. I suppose the image I really
have here is your Werewolf, Martin, from ‘Revenge of the Vampire’. The drapes have
been pulled back from the tall window revealing the full moon clearly framed within
it.
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