Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Fairies are as cruel as children.

Participated in ConceptArt.Org's Character of the Week (CHOW #146) challenge. The competition for this round is like... woah, intense. Be sure to cast your votes for your favorite entry at: [link]. (You need to be registered and logged in to vote.)

This week's topic:
'Queen Titania'
Titania is a very proud creature and as much of a force to contend with as her husband Oberon. Due to an enchantment cast by her husband's henchman Puck, Titania magically falls in love with a rude mechanical (a lower class laborman), Nick Bottom the Weaver, who has been given the head of an donkey by Puck, who feels it is better suited to his character. Full story: [link] (Source: Wikipedia)


On my entry:
I wanted to portray as closely as possible what I felt fairies were like, so here's Queen Titania and Nick Bottom('s head).


Fairies are as cruel as children.

In my imagination, fairies are innocent and whimsical as well as selfish, remorseless and vengeful. They're very much like children. In this painting, I took some liberties with the original story and character from Shakespeare's play, and wanted to create a "fairytale gone wrong" image. I tried to keep her quite childlike and innocent-looking, and I hope I succeeded in making the painting feel little disturbing. (I've always found innocent children in horror movies/ghost stories extremely creepy and scary, and I want to put a bit of that in here.)

I recently acquired the book "FABLES: Covers by James Jean" (present from sister - best art book ever), and his work was on my mind the whole time when I was trying to create this image.

Disclaimer:
Um, I do not promote animal-cruelty.

Tools:
Photoshop CS3, Wacom Graphire4

WIPs & Close-up:

Painting this was an exciting, fun, stressful, excruciating and rewarding experience. On the side note of things, I cut my hair! I've discovered my love for short hair and I can't see myself growing it out anywhere in the near future. Sooo much less hassle and it feels amazing- all nice and breezy. C:



So what else did I do in year 2009? Pretty much nothing. Asdfsfsdfsfsda. I can't believe it's February already. Oh, I updated the look of my website. [link]

11 comments:

  1. great stuff! didn't know you posted at conceptart.org. I've got a sketch thread there that hasn't been updated in ages. I like your take on the concept. Love the way you did the face and the hair. Been a big fan of james jean since I first saw his art. The guys work is magic. Lookin good with the new hairdo too, hope the updates keep on comin :)

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  2. Hey Cok3ster! I created a CA account like maybe, a week ago? I'm going to be jumping around in various comms doing challenges and stuff. You gotta update your sketchbook! Link pl0x.

    It makes me glad that you like my work. And you're right about James Jean- so many of his pieces took my breath away...

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  3. Saw this on CA and wanted to drop a line here -- I really enjoyed the usage of the peacock tails. Great job overall and good luck on the poll!

    Looking forward to more of your entries/posts :)

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  4. Hey shou', thanks for dropping by! It's great to hear that you like my work and I'm working hard to post more often. :D

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  5. I SEE SHORT HAIR! :D awesome work my dear.. the fairy looks disturbing to me in a good way.. loves it! XD

    btw, i think weng yee is going to KILL me! i got test this sat and nex sat.. T.T omg how..

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  6. haha er.. i'm referring to her bday btw.. miao miao.. XD

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  7. I say we pretend we forgot all about her birthday! >:D

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  8. o.O she will kill us both if we forgot her bday.. hmmm.. i'm having tests on saturdays til first week or march.. let's meet up that time instead for a post bday celebration.. sounds good? T.T need to ask weng yee dulu..

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  9. oh i recently had my hair cut really short too, and even colored it, and yes, i have to say goodbye to long hair. feeling so much fresh-er with short hair! ^_^

    sorry for rambling on with non-art related stuff. looking at your works, i feel i should try harder in attaining different brush textures, using them. huhu!

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