Solent Insight Sessions - Calling out Cthulhu: Reinterpreting a controversial classic

Lecturer Jon Trayner will explore how artists from the 1930s to today have illustrated the strange and unsettling world of H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos. From early pulp magazine art to modern books, comics, and digital illustration, you’ll see how creatives have imagined Lovecraft’s mysterious monsters and eerie atmospheres.

But there’s more to it than tentacles and shadows.

While these stories are famous in science fiction and horror, they also contain harmful stereotypes and outdated ideas. This session will look at how contemporary illustrators deal with that challenge. How do you work with influential stories that have complicated histories? Can art question, reshape, or improve them?

This session is ideal for college-level students who:

• Enjoy horror, fantasy, or sci-fi

• Are curious about visual storytelling

• Want to see how illustration connects with culture and social issues

• Are thinking about studying art or illustration

You’ll gain insight into how illustrators respond creatively to challenging material - and how art can evolve with the times.