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jmsnooks — Persia 500 BC
Published: 2008-04-16 05:00:48 +0000 UTC; Views: 5407; Favourites: 26; Downloads: 210
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Persia, circa 500 BC. Done with nothing but colored pencil. This one was a pain to draw, and I have all sorts of white speckly spots where I was not quite able to cover completely without smearing something else important. Definitely the most time consuming piece in the series. I did my research for the costumes and the architecture. The geometry of the architecture is a little off but I still think it presents a fairly decent window in the past. The 6th century BC saw the rise of the Persian Empire led by Cyrus the great, who is credited with creating the first secular human rights document. Furthermore, Cyrus allowed the people the Babylonians had displaced to return home, including the Jews who came to refer to him as "God's annointed." The restoration of the temple in Jerusalem and the return of it's holy objects was actually part of a larger procedure to finance the restoration of religious structures damaged under the Babylonians and to return religious objects to their places of origin.To see just the linart: [link]
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Comments: 59
Yes, it's a major tragedy what happened to Persia, but at least your culture wasn't completely erased. Look what happened to Egypt.
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I love it....great work...it gives me the imagination of the ancient persia... It will be the start point for a great animation with a lovely story if it could b done in more details.
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Thanks, I'm glad you like it. Classic Persia is one of my favorite civilizations. So it's probably only a matter of time before I do some more artwork along those lines. It was actually incredibly time consuming to do those bulls along the tops of the columns. The columns and the roof were the most time consuming aspects, and I still didn't get the geometry quite even. The guys who designed and built the original structures were probably way smarter than me. Anyways, glad I could inspire you.
BTW, have you seen the Dariush Hotel?
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you arewelcme,,,,Yes ,,,once I were in Dariush Hotel in Kish Island ,,,It's amazingggggg...
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I'm sure it was. You must have been there a while ago before all the rioting started. Not that I blame them for rioting, it's entirely understandable given what they have to put up with from that jacked up fascist dictatorship. Anyways, I have only seen the pictures of it, but whenever I have some money again I might actually go visit it. Assuming it's safe.
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exactly,,,,I have been there about 4 years ago,,,,As you know This Hotel is located in Beautiful Kish Island ,,,It is almost the most tranquil touristic place in Iran mostly for It's beautiful beaches...It was even tranquil during of recent rioting bcz of it's location and other motives.. The hotel is constructed by a famouse businessman HOSSEIN SABET...other that this hotel he has many other projects in Kish... he is building the first solar powered hotel in the Middle East,Koroush Hotel which will be 7 star....It would me more fantastic....I hope that you can visit there soon,,,
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That sounds pretty awesome. There are lots of places that I want to go visit, but right now I'm only employed part time so I can't afford to travel. As soon as I get stable work you can bet that I'll be traveling though.
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Wow. This piece is absolutely amazing. I can't believe it was all done in color pencils. I love the clothing they're wearing. Are the people anyone in particular or are the people just a normal noble couple?
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It is indeed. It's just regrettable that you can't see the original work. My scanner never does my work any kind of justice. As do I, classic Persian styles were among the best. Indian styles are also a favorite of mine. Not anyone particular, just a random couple, but probably nobility or something.
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Such beauty the Persian have than just gold. How could anyone in the present time avoid this?
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You know what's really sad is that most people are going to think of the Persians as being like they were depicted in that awful 300 movie. I hate that movie so much.
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Speaking of movie, I'm taking Middle Eastern Literature class, the media (movies and the news) does more of demonizing of the Middle East and Islam. There are movies that shows the softer sides of the Middle Eastern people but I personally don't think its not good enough, I mean why not the BIG PICTURE (a movie theater instead of rent-to-home TV movie). But still why don't those makers show movies that have good Middle Eastern people. If I were a movie director, I would make one or two. (I have some brilliant movie ideas that will make Middle Easterns the good guys, really)
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Well this is actually pre-Islamic stuff, and the Persians in the 300 movie were actually pre-Islamic. I think what it relates to is an older problem on a much larger scale called "Orientalism." I read about Orientalism in college but I didn't take it seriously at the time because I thought they were just making things up as they went along and they didn't really do a good job defining the problem or attitude. But basically Orientalism is related to Eurocentrism and stereotypes all eastern cultures (as in east of Europe) as being exotic and a little backwards, or twisted and warped. In all fairness, today Iran is indeed an oppressive and miserable place, but classical Persian civilization was actually quite brilliant, and their society was definitely less oppressive than classical Greek society (which was actually pretty misogynist). It's just that a lot of western entertainers SAY that Greek society was free and Persian society was oppressive because Greece had a kind of Democracy and Persia was ruled by a monarchy. Of course that has no bearing on which society was more free. TO determine that you have to look at how the ruling class treats everyone else.
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I heard of it, I learned just weeks ago, a Palestinian writer, Edward Said, is one of few who stated Orientalism. I took a social studies class mainly focus on Ancient Greek Civilization last summer to spent time, my teacher said the today's movies are like the 300 are like old cowboy movies, the white guys are the good guys, the Different are the bad guys, and don't forget the audience who watch them fights, and they pick the Good Guys' side.
Don't worry, I saw one documentary video about Ancient Persian capital city and its empire, the Persians are not slave-makers, they did give some rights to women, but mostly of all, tolerance is the key to their empire, they conquered lands but gentle in the end, and allows them to worship their native deities.
*Mocking* "Hey look! I'm a Greek! You should like me because I invented Democracy!"
Sorry about that, but that's what people thinks, and its good for stand-up comedy act.
By the way, would like to keep talking? you could hear my pro-Middle East and its people movie ideas and some jokes, but in a separate comment box. 
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Well it's more like the good guys are always some type of distinctly western culture, because there are other white and Indo-European cultures in other parts of the world besides Europe. The Iranians are an Indo-European group and so are the Russians, but the Russians are more often bad guys in movies than not. But it's definitely an "us vs. them" motif, and Middle Eastern and Eastern Cultures are continually vilified and no one cares. Making fun of them does not seem to fall under the umbrella of "politically incorrect" for some reason. Of course as much as I hate Orientalism I also hate politically correct-(ism?) because it goes out of the way to be sensitive, even to the point of covering up the truth. People are so hypocritical.
Yes, and they undid a lot of the former tyranny of the Babylonians by letting people go back to their original homelands and paying to rebuild their cities and religious buildings. They helped the Jews return to their homeland and rebuild Jerusalem. The Greeks never would have done a thing like that, quite the opposite. One of Alexander's generals, I think it was Antiochus, burned a pig on the altar in the temple just to desecrate it and be offensive to the Jews.
I KNOW! That is totally the attitude people take. Personally, I think that Democracy causes at least as much harm as it does good. Democratic systems are only effective on a small scale, they aren't good for governing huge areas or ideologically diverse people groups. Of course I'm an anarchist so I tend to think authority should be executed at the local level, but democracy is definitely not a good idea for large scale government. Monarchy is the best for that if a government has to exist on that scale.
Go ahead and note me with that stuff.
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I heard about the Persians once before, even though Persians as who's skins lighter than Arab's is a rumor, I thought they are because they came from somewhere northern. Some Indians are related to Indo-Europeans.
I don't have any political affiliations nor in a political group, because no more which side you pick, eventually they will turn out bad, and I don't want to get involve, and I can be anti-government sometimes.
Its crazy thing to say, sometimes I feel connected to Persians because my heritage intermarriage Persians and other Middle Eastern. Even I'm not really mixed or part mixed I think, my parents both born and lived far away from the Middle Eastern-Chinese communities in China.
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Well there are some people who just assume that all Indo-Europeans are an offshoot of Iranians anyways. Of course what I would say is that Indo-Europeans share a more recent common ancestry with one another than with other groups, not necessarily that they are derived from Aryans but that they are all derived from the same source. Of course on the other hand if you go back far enough then EVERYONE is derived from the same source. But Iranian civilization is definitely one of the oldest Indo-European civilizations, although it is probably not as old as China or Egypt (but Egyptian civ is dead today). I don't know what rumors you're thinking of, but a lot of what people "know" about the Middle East in the US (and any eastern civilization for that matter) is misconception. The difference between the Middle East and European civilizations is more cultural than physical. You don't start noticing a major difference in physical appearance until you get to India. Yes some of the languages in India do fall into the Indo-European family. I know that Hindi is, and so is Punjabi (right off the top of my head), and I know that Tamil and Telugu are not. It has to do with the old Aryan invasion when groups came out of Iran and took over the area, forcing the caste system on everyone.
I am pretty much an anarchist. I don't think too highly of government, but I like the government a thousand times better than elites like the Buildaburgers (spelling?) and other elitist organizations that are trying to take over the world.
Well China is also a very old and venerable civilization. Right now it's a communist hellhole but it used to be one of the worlds most brilliant civilizations, and it still is the worlds oldest contiguous civilization. Other civilizations which were just as old, like Egyptian, Sumerian, and the Harrapan (spelling?) civilization are gone completely now.
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I got your message already, its so many things in here. Hope you don't that I disguss something different. Sometimes I think people are lucky to be Canadians because they have good health system and gun control. When a Canadian have a gun, they shoot deers than people, the slums or places where poor people live looks like Middle-Class apartment homes. I think countries like Canada are generous for their people while ours (the American) are leaving us to rot! All they mostly care is about money. Since I care less about my patriotism, I even has less faith in the Constitution, it is good but everyday people are misusing their rights and some are sneaking around parts of it; loopholes! Though this my point-of-view, but I heard some people in the Congress are going there just to be rich, and if/when they DO go to work, they put up dumb rules.
Another thing, people in America think Obama is Socialist, so if people don't like Communism, and don't like Capitalism, and if they don't like Socialism (I heard its in between Com. and Cap., and France and Britain has that and treat their people good), what do they want exactly?!
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Well as to the quality of the neighborhoods you need only to look at a population density map of North America, and you will see that Canada has almost no people living in it. Less people means less poverty and less severe slums. If you compare India to the slums in the US then all of a sudden the US slums don't look so bad. People who own guns legally in the US use them for hunting and to protect their homes sometimes. The thugs and gangsters who have them are already breaking the existing gun laws, and wouldn't care to break a few more. In democratic countries socialism is simply a scheme to buy votes. You vote for politician X and in exchange he gives you money. And the taxes used to fund that spending are dumped on the wealthy, which amounts to punishing people for being industrious, frugal, and motivated, and the average person doesn't care because it's someone else paying their expenses. Governments do not generate wealth, sometimes they print money but money is only as good as the goods and services which back it up. Which is why Germany experienced hyperinflation of their currency after WWI. They tried to solve their economic problems by printing money, but all it did was make the money worthless because the real problem was a shortage of goods and services. Real wealth is generated by production, and when there is no production an economy becomes impoverished. The Constitution was good originally, but the way the government operates now is based more on a long series of executive orders and Supreme Court rulings than the actual Constitution. The problem with the Constitution is that the government no longer follows it. The Articles of Confederation would actually have been a better system in the long term. You actually have to be rich to get into Congress in the first place, but yes, a lot of them are there just to get even more rich, and many of them have hyperinflated egos.
Obama is socialist, the Democrat part is the socialist party of the US, sort of like the Labor Party is the socialist party in Israel. The left is socialist by definition. I like Capitalism pretty well. The problem is that most people are not smart enough to make an intelligent or informed vote. There are a lot of people who voted for Obama because they actually like communism or socialism. But that does not mean the majority of the people in the US feel that way. Most of the Obama voters probably have no idea what they voted for. They voted for him because he was "cool" and he wasn't Bush. The media had been bashing Bush and the Republican party for a long time, so a lot of people were influenced by that and voted the way the media told them to. Also a lot of them thought it was really novel that a black guy was running for president, so they voted for him because he was black. Most people do what they're told, and let other think for them. But if you ever look at the opinion polls it will show that Obama's policies are unpopular with most people, even though most people actually still like Obama as an individual.
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I took US government/economy back in high school, I still remember Socialism came Communism and Karl Marx (I don't know much about him 
And about the Obama part, there's kind of a problem with the election system (I think since the Ancient Greece I had a class last summer), some people can't elect McCain, though its just a rumor and thought of him like Bush, but still its impossible to believe a person who stand by side with the hated person. Don't forget, the California governor election, even if people knew what kind of person Shwarzengger before, they won't elect him or Gray Davis either because he had made bad decisions before the election. Just to give some notes but all is what I HEARD, the point is if neither candidates are suitable, who is or will be, there's other options.
I have a thought from the movie Starship Troopers, the government of the entire planet Earth is more militaristic, the only way to grant citizenship or have better jobs is through passing the army which real life don't. There is some sense of democracy in their world, but I think its mostly for the veterans who are more experienced. I think the reason their system like this is to give their people the awareness of politics and warfare, many people in real-life barely have that large amount of knowledge than in that movie.
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Dear God your pencil art just keep getting better and better 
Beautiful, beautiful.
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I think that utilitarian stuff is replacing artistry and ethnic flare/uniqueness all around the world. It really makes me sad. Everything has become so boring.
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Yeah, it's more about efficiency and cost-effectiveness than expressing pride and beauty anymore. Even the older buildings of Europe are so lovely and we have traces of them all over Jamaica too. A lot of them are plantation estates or council buildings. There's this cool one that has a rotunda and dome that looks like a German helmet.
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Yes I like a lot of the traditional western architecture as well. Classical was great, but so was Gothic. Neo-Classical is not as interesting as the others, but it's still pretty cool, and a lot more interesting than what we have now.
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We may as well just go with concrete cubes =/
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Perhaps someday we will. At least, in zones that aren't earthquake prone. But you never know, the world fashion(s) may develope into something pretty wicked cool 1000 years from now, if there is a 1000 years from now.
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Architecture is cool, especially that column capitals. At first I couldnt see the details because you submitted the pic small. Then I realized if I download I can see a higher resolution of the pic. I think you should point out that.
The couple looks good, drawing a couple is a good way to tell us the society.
BTW, which paper size do you use, A4?
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Thanks man, yes I usually try to show a male and female so that people can get a more comlpete sample of the costuming. Unfortunately I didn't do that for my China drawing, but there will be others in the future.
I used 9 by 12 inch vellum paper for this.
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China is drawn and scanned, I just have to finish coloring it. I suppose I should upload the rough drawing to my scraps.
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You should, like the others.
However I dont prefer to submit my "work in progress" drawings. You decide.
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by far the best pencil coloring I ever seen!!!!!!great job man
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Wow, that's quite a compliment. I'm pleased you're pleased. Thanks man.
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a course man, you like inspire me-especially at wanting to color my art
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That's awesome. Inspiring others is one of my goals.
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WOW!!! You've been busy
Perspective is great and makes this really stand out, again the composition is fantastic and as always your colouring is second to none.
awesome
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Thanks man, yes coloring is probably my strong point. I have indeed been busy, and there is more on the way.
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Looking forward to seeing it...a real inspiration
Thankyou
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Well, you can't really see the white in a pic this size.
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That's good, but you can if you download the full sized version.
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Ah, so you have the max display size set way down (as I have mine set to full view by default).
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Yes, it used to be that the fullview was fullsized, but at some point it started scaling things down. It's OK with me though because the full sized image can be viewed with the download function. If someone wants to see the full sized version bad enough they can still see it.
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how Persian! and the perspective of the building behind is just fine, maybe some shading is needed around the corners that's it, as for Cyrus indeed he was great, I've read a lot about him, they even think he's (Dhul Qarnayn: [link] ) who's mentioned in the Noble Qur'an in many versus, it's pretty cool!
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