Theo

(C) Skywalker

Added 2022-09-30 21:23:37 +0000 UTC

Commissioned in the ink style and developed into a painting on-and-off over the course of 2 months, this picture has taken a great deal of patience out of me. Shifting stars and clouds around hundreds of times and trying to find a way to work out the feeling I wanted to see, I have now decided that the image has reached sufficient coherence. Personally I like it, but it’s not an easy relationship. There’s the intent to develop it into a print, something that is intended to represent me, sell my skill. But this remains a little too rough to do that.

Others, to whom I am grateful for their help, have made suggestions ranging from criticisms of the exaggerated pose I chose to the not-so-softness of the cloud-shapes. Both choices had been made with intent; to show tension. The predator is nearly hidden, he’s unnatural, the composition rotates toward his unbalanced center. His toes are splayed, as if he is anchoring himself on a drift of cloud in the starry void. One criticism that I especially enjoyed was directed at the brightness of the lower underbelly, as for some, it apparently makes Wyrm’s chest and neck appear like distended open maw. It gives the thing a pretty striking reading that just so happens to fit with the idea of Wyrm stalking his prey. It’s a shadow of the fear being projected. Kind of. So that can stay! Maybe it came from a subconscious choice, since my reason for the change from bright cream to brown was the distracting effect of a huge bright area below the focal head, and I never wanted the main jaw to stand out. I’m giving myself too much credit xD

Ultimately, rather than adjust this image to make it more suitable for a target customer, I would prefer to delve into the atmosphere Wyrm and me were looking for. To find something at the back of my mind that may help me push it further, rather than tune it back to normal. For that tho, I’m taking some time off it. It may not look the part, but it took several hundred Euro’s worth of time beyond the amount I asked for. Thanks go to Wyrm for his patience and allowing me the artistic freedom necessary.