[edspengler]

I have been watching Extreme Ghostbusters recently with my kids and given that I have been working on the Ray’s Occult Display project, figured it would be appropriate to start a replica of Spengler’s Spirit Guide. I took some time today to develop a solid first draft of the cover artwork; front, spine, and rear. I envision the book being similar in size to my previous Magical Paths to Fortune And Power. Here are some shots of the preliminary work:


Here are some of the reference shots I looked at:


The book appears very plain on screen so I tried to add some subtle embellishments while remaining faithful to the original design. I incorporated artwork inspired by Ray’s Occult Books as this book would be a version published and sold by Ray’s Occult Books. I have some good ideas for the content, but it will take some time to develop. I will try to grab some of the archived web content that was originally posted by Sony to incorporate into the text…. not that I would claim credit for the archived content, but if included it would be a form of historical appreciation . This book would be authored by Egon Spengler and merely assembled by me. I look forward to working more on this.

[HeMan540]

Why can’t you trust atoms?
Because they make up everything!

[mrmichaelt]

They might hard to find, but even pre-EGB, coincidentally those Marvel UK RGB comics had a one pager also called Spengler's Spirit Guide each issue.

In your Dreams had a white and red variant of Spengler's Spirit Guide as well.

Idk about a 5 point star as it's on Magic Spells from Look Homeward, Ray and the Necronomicon. Though I believe if you can make the pentagram look carved instead of painted or drawn, it is of a protective nature in Icelandic myth.

[edspengler]

Idk about a 5 point star as it's on Magic Spells from Look Homeward, Ray and the Necronomicon.

Agree, I do recall the RGB Necronomicon. I do have the John Dee Necronomicon that was a kickstarter by Cultist Armory in my display and it does not have a pentagram but a sigil on its slip cover, so I was going with what I thought might look good in my display. I am totally open to revisiting the design as I have already made some edits since I posted this. I will give it some more thought, I welcome any critiques or suggestions to improve. Given the effort and costs of printing a book there will likely be several copies available and I would like it to be as special for someone else as it is for me.

[mrmichaelt]

Agree, I do recall the RGB Necronomicon. I do have the John Dee Necronomicon that was a kickstarter by Cultist Armory in my display and it does not have a pentagram but a sigil on its slip cover, so I was going with what I thought might look good in my display. I am totally open to revisiting the design as I have already made some edits since I posted this. I will give it some more thought, I welcome any critiques or suggestions to improve. Given the effort and costs of printing a book there will likely be several copies available and I would like it to be as special for someone else as it is for me.

Yeah, trying to get into the mindset of Egon. He would like the simple bare cover. But y'know, those Marvel UK pages had a portrait of Egon. If you could do that in place of the pentagram. Maybe a embossed effect on it. Idk.

[edspengler]

I revamped the artwork to reflect Frozen Empire Ray’s Occult Books styled motifs. A close friend mentioned “not every book on occult subject matter has to have a pentagram on it” which is so true, it’s just funny how that was the first thing that came to my mind. This comment is in line with the feedback from mrmichaelt who contributed to the previous book replica project. Here are some shots of the revised cover work:


I know the original book in the animated series had a simple cover, but I would want a real life version to pop a little more but still be a nod to the overall appearance of the original. I have also started working on the contents, it will take a good amount of time to curate and organize material as it will be a stand alone book that will not repeat material from Tobin’s Spirit Guide or other existing books, but this would be a wonderful addition to the occult books display. Stay tuned for more… eventually.

[edspengler]

So I have really gone down the rabbit hole. Part of the book will feature the web archive version of the 1997 Spengler’s Spirit Guide. I want to create a print version for historic preservation, including the associated artwork. However the image quality of the web archived artwork is pretty poor, so I am replicating it as best I can to have it look clean in the print version. It’s a rainy cloudy day, so I got these done so far…



They will be featured throughout the text as they appeared on the original site, here is a shot of the layout with images so far:



Still a lot of work to go, but hopefully this will be a really nice piece in the end.

[edspengler]

A few more shots of the creatures. Samhain is various layers that when combined create the desired effect. I took my time especially to highlight the black and have contrasts against bright colors.


Pretty tedious process, but I think I am finally happy with Samhain, I got so into it I let my coffee get cold.

[edspengler]

More creature work, again very tedious process and I end up sometimes going through multiple iterations.


Part of this task is also revisiting work I considered to be complete. I have been reworking drawings to improve depth and shadows:


So everything posted up to this point is merely an evolving work in progress. Lots of things going on in my personal life and I find this project to be somewhat calming.

[edspengler]

Here is a brief sample of how the overall text file and artwork are coming along:


There will be other material included too, I am almost done with Book One (recreation of online web blog).

[edspengler]

Preview of the Jersey Devil illustration and entry. I am particularly happy with how this particular illustration came out. I am almost through the web journal and will then start compiling “Book Two”.

[edspengler]

I have almost completed Book One, I just have to finish The Queen Mary illustrations from the original web journal. I wrote a first draft of the foreword by Ray last night as I was feeling somewhat inspired. I used some of the language from my Spengler Pack tribute write up, which I think fits perfectly as a tribute to Egon from Ray. I also wrote the introduction to Book Two. Book Two will be write ups on other subjects that are not found in Tobins or the new Spates (I hope). I intend for the write ups and illustrations for Book Two to feel like a continuation of the original web journal. Here are some preview shots of the foreword and the introductions to Book One (as taken from the web page) and Book Two (written by me).


Here is a shot of the table of contents, it will provide a reference to each entry and portion of the book. I am open to any special requests to include in Book Two. Just note that I am one person doing the work writing each piece organically. The last entries of Book Two are all on the same page because I have not written them yet and the headings are placeholders.


I do not see this book being very large, perhaps 100-140 pages at the maximum as it is supposed to be a companion to other references and it would be a matching piece to Magical Paths at 6x9 trade size. I see it having very similar details to Magical Paths such as the bookmark ribbon and black and yellow details.

[edspengler]

I have been working on book two as well as various art to add “interest” to some of the opening pages. Here are some sample images and how I currently have them incorporated:


The line work is pretty tedious and I have been updating it to make improvements.

[edspengler]

I am still working on the interior content, but I put together this mockup to show how the book is expected to appear. It’s really fun to see the project take shape!

[Kedex]

I'm loving this project! I'd love a copy.

[mrmichaelt]

I am still working on the interior content, but I put together this mockup to show how the book is expected to appear. It’s really fun to see the project take shape!

So heartening to see this part of the old EGB website being preserved in print form.

[edspengler]

Long awaited update on this project, it has taken some time but I finally finished! The book is split into two parts Book One and Book Two. Book One is the web journal with the recreated artwork, Book Two is ten articles written by yours truly on various subjects including original artwork, intended to be a possible continuation of the web journal had that happened.

All the files have been submitted to the printer, I have approved the proof and it will soon begin production. I can’t wait to get the first copies later this month! I will share pictures when they arrive!

[edspengler]

Just got the shipping notice from the printer, I’ll have the first copies in a few days, I’m pretty excited to see the finished product

[edspengler]

First copies arrived from the printer today and I could not be happier! It is similar in size and finish to Magical Paths. Makes a wonderful addition to the Ray’s Occult Books Display. Here are some pictures:




This has been a really fun project, I guess the biggest thing I have taken away from this hobby is realizing that we can visualize things and then make them a reality.

[mrmichaelt]

As I said earlier in the thread, I love that the old Extreme Ghostbusters website's Spengler's Spirit Guide was preserved in physical form and reading my copy in hand, reminds me going on the original website...was that the dial up days...and loving everything I read and seeing probably the closest thing to canon class system for the animation continuity. Though to this day, the one thing that irks about it is we never discovered what the acronym S.I.D.N.E.E. stands for (the Bermuda Triangle entity in the series finale) but at last we got a name for it from the website.

But I digress, reviewing Ed's book. It's a very sturdy hardcover - I think it's a bit more solid than the Magicians, Martyrs, and Madmen printing. Hard for me to find any fault with it but if I had to nitpick, and not really Ed's fault but 1 or 2 entries leads to a really short page. And I would guess if Ed reduced the size of the text to fit the entry into 1 page instead, it wouldn't print well. The class system image, well, you think do I keep it as it originally appeared on the website or do I try to blow it up and make it one page vertical or a two page horizontal spread? Hard choice to make but I appreciate he stuck with keeping it original.

Ed went above and beyond and expanded on it with his own set of entries dubbed Book Two. Reading them, it was like the website kept on going with new updates. He chose some interesting stuff from the Lovecraft mythos and some other famous haunts. The intro and outro pages also have some nice callbacks from across the Ghostbusters franchise so keep any eye out.

A Spengler's Spirit Guide has always been on my wish list and I can cross it off after nearly 30 years. I recommend buying yourself one!

[edspengler]

I’m so happy that you like it!