This started as on of the typical full gymnast / ballerina poses to try and box the photo. I then realized I needed another dancer to do that. That worked but it was boring. Then as I was going through the color coordination of the outfits, I was, like, “what if I took the floor away? No one has gotten that shot before.” So I did, and did. Then I was reminded of the scene from ‘Scott Pilgrim Verses the World’ where Wallace is telling Scott that if he really wants the girl, he has to give into the ‘L-word’, to which Scott answers “Lesbian?” and Wallace says “It’s ‘Love’, I wasn’t trying to trick you.” So, I may have incorporated that into the scene. Lastly, I worked on the camera focus, aperture blades and whatnot. So, that’s the process, kind of ho-hum. The result is two interpretative dancers practicing for the stage in the future.
This is both fan art and a statement. It started as a momento of what I have always thought the perfect woman was, the Goth Girl, which goes back to high school. Hint, it was the Nerds who were totally interested in you, not that it mattered. There’s a girl, Desiree was her name, that I was infatuated with in high school, but was too afraid to talk to her. She disappeared after graduation. I have no idea weather she still walks the planet. so this is kind of a tribute to her.
It’s also a tribute to one of my favorite movies. Can you guess? Artax? Atreyu? The bog? Yup, it’s the Neverending Story, or Die Unendliche Geschichte, which is the book that is the origin of the movie. There may be some copyright stuff here but fanart should be covered by fair use.
Today’s doodle is a dyoptych. Technically, a dyoptych doesn’t exist, as it means two fold. In the art world a polyptych typically start with triptych, or tri-fold, a series of three paintings. I’m lazy, so I invented the dyoptych. What’s it about? Beyond the usual celebration of the human form, its an imagining of the Dervish, as portrayed in the DnD world.
Dervishes (aka Whirling Dervishes) in the real world are male (though it’s changing) and focus on the universal values of love and service, deserting the illusions of ego to reach God (Allah). In most Sufi orders, a dervish is known to practice dhikr (previous sentence) through physical exertions (dance) or religious practices to attain the ecstatic trance to reach God, but they are not weapon focused, that is pure fantasy.
Second Panel of the Dyoptych – focuses on the glitter, because there is no life without glitter.
In Role-playing Games (RPG) Dervishes are a dancing order, more like belly-dancers who carry weapons, who have an affinity for water (as noted in the Guild Wars video game), and are deadly assassins – the Mideast equivalent of Ninjas.
Here, an unnamed dervish, let’s call her Anya, dances in practice for a coming performance, drawing power from the water surrounding the holy site in which she dances, unlike the assassins or ḥašīšī ‘hashish-eater, also of Mideast origin and the genesis of the term assassin, she draws her power from music and form. Now, the music is totally in her head but is definitely Mideastern in origin (why substitute for a good thing :).
The second panel of the Dyoptych was accidental. I was positioning the Scythe and said to myself, “Self, this is a good angle for a picture.” Beyond being an artist I’m also an aspiring photographer.
What’s it about? Err, I don’t know. I may be a bit tipsy with creating this artwork – I do know that I started out with the idea of using the human body as a frame for what’s in the picture, so, goal achieved. She’s a regal woman constrained by the borders of the art, but she has power, as reflected in the claws on her tattoo – this won’t make sense in the morning, but who she is at night, with the moon behind her is not the limit of her power.
Heavily influenced by Pink Floyd, and Starry Olsa, whom I was listening to while creating this digital art. A woman in Dark Age Europe thinks wistfully on better parts of her life, perhaps when she was truly free, or when she had a true connection with another human being. Now, she’s comfortably numb. Cue guitar solo.
It’s the Vietnam War, but with magic! As someone who has studied Vietnamese (Hanoi dialect), one of the cool cultural components that comes along with the language is that the Vietnamese believe in ghosts of ancestors wandering around in the jungle – and, if you extrapolate this to the rich Asian lexicon of mythology (Hint, China mythology is way cooler than European folktales, watch the fantasy movies they are making), then something like this artwork falls within the realm of possibilities.
I put this together over a longer period of time than normal as I’m slammed at my day job, but managed to finish it up late last night.
If you didn’t know by now, a lot of my art is inspired by, and moves with, changes in music playlists. I never start with an idea in mind, I just create. I was listening to the 1980’s power-house, Michael Jackson, and my art skewed towards the decade of glam. Who was arguably the most iconic artist of the decade and my first favorite artist? Patrick Nagel. I channeled him and created a “what’s old is new again” composition. The difference? This is 3D. I accomplished the background with a bunch of primitive shapes. So, taking this month out in classic eighties style, I give you Billie Jean.
