hahaaaa... sad times... I had a friend who had recently shot himself, and while everyone else with this prompt drew birthday parties and other kinds of happy surprises, I drew this, you can only imagine how concerned my art teacher was. Also, the lack of sleep I had was wearing on me, I spelled surprise wrong so I had to go on paint and correct it. It was the beginning of the school year and my friend had killed himself just at the end of summer break, when I was so busy having fun in the sun, it was the most surprising event I have experienced. So I tried to paint a beautiful scene with bright colors with a depressing scenario so that it wouldn't really match up... aka surprise.
Ms. Nathan was a play production teacher with flair and a big personality. She wore colorful clothing and loud socks that never matched. Her joyful, chortling laugh filled the room—or the hallway—wherever she happened to be.
Staff meetings and PD days have always been strong invitations for observational drawings. Over the years, I’ve found that there are many boxes to check in a wide variety of systems. I often created my own boxes—and checked them with sketches of my colleagues.
This one goes out to the colorful Ms. Nathan.
After 1.5 hrs of experimenting...
It wasn't easy to decide on what body shape my character should have. Through an "intuitive approach" of shifting anatomical proportions, it was still decided to remain on an avian's concept instead of a wyvern's. Wyvern can be kept to the wyvern... The phoenix needs something more like an bird's, after all.
p.s: I also have to remember to keep the neck shorter...
I have had so many nightmares. But when you break them down, turns out they were never nightmares. It was just my subconscious trying to process what I have been going through emotionally. The brain doesn't register fictional, emotion is emotion. My emotions, my mind and my soul have been processing so much. But if fuels my comic and my art. So when I stand in the dreaming realm, I tell it to bring it on. I will just use the twisted and bizarre to create.
When I was a kid, I used to draw nonstop. As I got older, I got harder on myself. Now I only draw when I think I can make something big of whatever I'm doodling. I want to go back to the way I was before,
This portrait is the darkest in the series, examining the internal malice that persists even when communication is restricted, illustrating that evil doesn't require a loud voice.
* Visual Focus: The mask's mouth is horrifyingly held closed across the center by surgical thread and a needle, which only covers half of the wide, unnerving smile. The stitching reveals a set of sharp, feral teeth underneath. Disturbingly, a pair of prominent horns protrude from the top of the mask's head.
* Symbolism:
* The Stitched Mouth: Represents the idea of selective silence or the censorship of truth. The fact that the stitching only covers half the mouth highlights the "half-done" nature of modern morality. The revealed sharp teeth suggest that even in silence, the capacity for vicious, cutting, or "devilish" speech remains barely contained. Showed directly on the piece by the date being misleading.
* The Horns: A classic, unambiguous symbol of the Devil or pure malice. This is the figure's core identity—it suggests that even while hiding behind a neutral mask and being partially silenced, the individual's "tongue like the devil" and evil intent are still very much present, emphasizing the inherent corruption and hypocrisy behind the facade.
