So this character has gone through some crazy character development. I started his design a few years ago, well lets say hes matured and went through puberty. I'm so proud to see how far I have come.
Most of the painting is the glory of God all around. The very small Church in the background signifies our very small, very limited understanding of God.
In this scenario, Gattie Gator is being (possibly) coned or scammed into buying something from a smiling salesman. While her aquaphobic brother (hence the innertube) is about to be a snack for some furocious creatures. Will Gattie be save her bro in time? Or is he doomed to be a disasterous dinner special?
Lately this is how I have been feeling. Ever feel like like your the walking dead and feasting on the souls of others positivity. I need a cure. Part 2 coming.
4 of 5 of the characters I scrapped due to changing the tone of the story. This character is half mythic-a ziburinis but flames are purple and half human.
Isaiah 41:10 - "Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."
2 of 5 of my scrapped characters. He at one point had a deep background of a knight forced to retire due to an injury. After recovering works in auto repair shop. The world was a modern/futuristic fantasy. He's not a main character so not much for a love interest or friend.
I am delighted to share that I Am a Dragon! has been named to the Pennsylvania Center for the Book's 2024 Baker's Dozen: Thirteen Best Books for Family Literacy!
Here is the list
( I am in such a good company!):
- “10 Dogs” by Emily Gravett
- “ABC and You and Me” by Corinna Luyken
- “Bear with Me” illustrated by Kerascoët, Sebastien Cosset and Marie Pommepuy,
- “The Concrete Garden” by Bob Graham
- “How to Count to ONE (And Don't Even THINK About Bigger Numbers!)” by Caspar Salmon and illustrated by Matt Hunt
- “I Am a Dragon! A Squabble and a Quibble” by Sabina Hahn, published by HarperCollins.
- “If I Was a Horse” by Sophie Blackall
- “The Kitten Story” by Emily Jenkins and illustrated by Brittany Cicchese
- “Mr. S” by Monica Arnaldo
- “Night in the City” by Julie Downing
- “Ruffles and the Cozy, Cozy Bed” by David Melling
- “Simon and the Better Bone” by Corey R. Tabor
- “You Go First” by Ariel Bernstein and illustrated by Marc Rosenthal
Konishi Mansho (1600 - 1644), the last ordained priest to serve in Japan during the prohibition era of the Tokugawa Shogunate (think of the Shusaku Endo novel, "Silence", which was adapted to film by Martin Scorsese in 2016). Exiled from his homeland in 1614, he eventually made his way to Rome and enter a convent to be ordained as a priest. He would later to his home country to minister to the persecuted Christians there, only to be arrested and martyred in 1644. I tried to mimic a traditional ink painting style to invoke the melancholic feel of this homecoming journey.
Water heals and purifies. It also kills and destroys.
Few symbols encompass both the life-giving and death-dealing properties of water as the sacrament of baptism, which represents both the passing of the old self and their rebirth as a new creature (Romans 6:3-11).
Here, the image of death & rebirth is also reinforced by a dragonfly motif; the dragonfly spends the first years of its life in the deep waters as a nymph, and is completely transformed into a new being as it rises to the surface.
Unlike butterflies, a dragonfly undergoes several molting processes after its emergence, showing that, while the creature is already made new, it is not yet perfected, and must grow in its new identity through what is called progressive sanctification.
The work's title refers to the Christian daimyo, Konishi Yukinaga, whose baptismal name is Augustine, and is the primary subject of this image.
