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katya-h — shantyman
Published: 2007-01-22 05:19:07 +0000 UTC; Views: 1619; Favourites: 27; Downloads: 24
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Description
we see an ocean once was landand so they come to understand
this place where man used to be born
will be man's water throne
This is probably the biggest commission I have ever gotten. Much love and wonder for the dear ~KittenCourna for commissioning me multiple times and being incredibly trusting and patient.
You have no idea how much it helps! I also love our wall-of-text notes! This is sort of a cover illustration, done in a comic-bookish format for her in-conceptual-progress tory of modern pirates called Shantyman. Uhm, I dunno how much I am to reveal, but the main character here is Alexi, and his three deceased brothers.
This picture was a lot of trouble in some ways, because I kind of had to draw a lot of things I had no practice doing before :B Like.. dead people.. and ocean water and dead people out in the ocean water. It took me longer than expected cos I had to re-paint everything at least three times to give it the feel I wanted. I am very satisfied with the water and with the feel of the piece. Super deep middle of the ocean water scares me SO much o_o I can barely imagine water that goes for miles... it's ridiculous. I still feel a certain connection with water anyway, and would love to be able to experience it more if I wasn't so land-locked
Crits are appreciated because for some of this I had to fly by the seat of my pants, as I couldn't find to many aerial shots of the ocean, and I feared what I would find looking for dead people..
Also: I love Orphaned Land so much omfg ;___; I'd convert to Judaism just for their music.
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Comments: 21
whoa! they really look like brothers! awesome job! i hope i can color like you someday! btw his face seems to scream: "why am i out here?!"
hahaha. i love it.
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Kitty, this is..... scary. Unbelievebly neat but scary o__o
..Is there a doll in that left corner, huh?
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LOL! It should be really scary and foreboding. Excellent!!!
Yup, it's a little girl's doll. Up to you what the significance is
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Oh, man, that songie-poem thing at the front is awesome.
I assume you've got a pretty good idea of what I think, considering I can't sent you a note without including my attempts to construct sentences that would make Dickens blush, and a certain verbosity that would win me an honorary Russian citizenship (case in point).
I like the way the water came out in part because it's beautiful, and in part because it makes me think that something been destroyed there recently. Like a storm has just passed through and everything's upset, or there's just been a fight and a ship has sunk (which is Alexi's specialty anyway). I thought the color gave it a nice deep look.
And the embalmed dead are frightening. Waxy and made up. I like the way the brothers came out; it's more like how you'd want them to look, or if you had someone who knew them prepare them for burial (a very likely event).
The seat of your pants seem to be very good at this drawing thing 
Thanks again, you are an inestimable artist!
-Kitten
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It's good if you like Jewish metal
I'm very happy you like it
Embalming is really weird, but I suppose it's a part of our culture to want to see the dead all nice and pristine when we say goodbye.. we can't really accept death at all, and we are terrifed of it.
My pants are quite talented..
Thank you hun <3
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Oh my. You sure did succeed in giving this masterpiece the right feel. The water looks so real and at the same time scaringly surreal that it almost makes me shudder. His brothers look as magnificantley dead as possible and you can see the resemblence between them. But then again, you have such a talent for portraits and facial features that that isn't so surprising.
I wanna be able to color like you when I grow up!
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I'm flattered you say that about my faces 
Haha, as if I'm a grown up at all 
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Omg, your self-doubt keeps surprising me! 
You know what? I actually submitted this for a DD.
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I have been staring at this for a long time, and thinking. Alexi looks somewhat surprised, lost in a dream, and his hair... You know, after death the nails and hair still do not stop growing for a while, at least as long as the surrounding tissues do not decay entirely. The picture has a very strong "Godfather" feeling... I hope you had fun doing it.
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Hmm, that is a very interesting point to bring up, about the growth of hair 
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* - making it, whatever ...
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The stark terror on Alexi's face is awesome, and the little doll in the corner adds just the touch of innocence that makes it even more tragic. And the dead brothers look so peaceful.
The water looks good, although it looks kinda of shallow. There's just something about the way the highlights are that make me think of wading along a shore, not the depths of an ocean, especially not the terrifying depths. (I have that same kind of weird phobia about deep deep water) Just from what I remember from being out on a lake, the water acts different in the depths. There aren't as many little waves, since there is nothing for them to stir on, and the light tends to lance straight down, and there are highlights right on the very surface that are pretty mirror-like.
Not that I know how to paint that, but I know more what it looks like.
I have to say that while I can't exactly tell what is sinking into the depths of the ocean (it makes me think it's Alexi's coffin), it is all the more hinting at terror because of that. With the strands of hair floating around, and the rope, and the shapes lurking, I get the impression of some malign creature pulling the family down. That is very cool.
The brothers look great, but all the dead bodies I've ever seen look more fake. Because they don't move any more, especially when they are in the coffin, they have a more plastic feeling. Like perfectly styled hair, and less skin reflection, and a tad less emotion, that kind of thing. I would almost add more color to Alexi, to really make their pallor stand out.
Just some of my thoughts. Because I really think it's awesome as it is, but I would bet you need to hear more than praise.
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Yowza! Thanks so much for the indepth comment
Hm, thanks for the water info. I haven't had much experience with large bodies of water save for my city's three dirty rivers and a quick trip to the beach once. I wasn't sure how waves are in the deep of the ocean :/ oh god so much water!! It's so hard to imagine water miles deep. Hmm, I tried to make the water dark as I would think it would be.
And ah, I did try to make Alexi more fuller in color, but I think it got lost after awhile
Just some of my thoughts. Because I really think it's awesome as it is, but I would bet you need to hear more than praise.
I hope that doesn't mean you think I can't take criticisms
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No no no, that part wasn't meant to say you can't take criticisms. It's just me being odd, since I notice most of the comments you get are just praise, and how wonderful the piece is, even when you ask for critiques. I've just been a lot stressed lately, so I think I've been overly snarky in what I say to people. You take criticisms much better than a lot of other good artists do.
Alexi does look more colorful than the other three, I was just thinking it could be a little more contrasted between them.
As for the water, my family went out to the lake several times a summer, and to a couple of different lakes, too. I can tell you that the bottomless feeling is disturbing. Somehow more disturbing than being in an airplane, because at least your feet are touching something there. Deep water is also a little frightening to people like me who don't float well. I can't even describe the weightless feel of it, because I think a lot of it is just psychological.
And I dug up this link to kind of explain waves, since I know I like learning about things I didn't know before. it may not help you color them at all, but it should give a good why behind waves. I have enjoyed making fun of movies for big bore waves in the middle of the ocean, considering they can't happen without wind. [link]
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Ahh yes, the tidal waves in the middle of the ocean, lol 
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You're welcome. And wind can kick up waves, but it looks kinda choppy and frothy, depending on the intensity of the wind.
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wow, really wow
Great job on the water and how his hair merges into it the way it does
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