Most of my friends in the science fiction/fantasy community have imaginary worlds of their own, populated by characters they made up. I'm no exception, I have one too. Some of these worlds are borrowed from TV, movies, or texts, and some of them are original. Often these imaginary worlds are used for role-playing games. This character is from an original world and gaming scenario shared by a group of my friends who flourished in the Boston area in the late 1970s. Meant to be an avatar of an Egyptian cat goddess, "Cinnabar" has the requisite red hair, dagger, and sexy figure of a fantasy adventuress. And she's got an Abyssinian cat as well (lower right corner). The text block says "Cinnabar" though it has been lost in the bad photograph. I borrowed this figure and her dress as well from a fashion magazine photograph.
I made this picture without permission of the character's owners and that taught me a lesson I'll never forget. Never do a picture from someone's imaginary world and then show it to them, hoping they will buy it. In this case the gamers did buy the picture, but it caused bad feeling all around the circle and I never did it again.
Well folks I've got a New Year's resolution now. Since I need to work on my dragons and human figures so much, I resolve to draw at least one dragon and/or human figure a day, no matter how tired I am from the day job or distracted I am by the endless temptations of the internet and media. If I do something good, I'll post it here. Eventually, I'll try to put a fully rendered digital illustration together. If that is good, I'll post it here. I also would like to get a fantasy illustration published this year, although that's a goal rather than a resolution. My drawings will be either in pencil or "digital pencil." I will also be looking into online workshops or courses in digital illustration. They do exist but I don't know what kind of schedule, workload, or price they have.
"Cinnabar" is watercolor on Strathmore paper, 4" x 8", Spring 1978. Rescued from a very deteriorated color slide.
3 comments:
WOW! This looks amazing! The style, flow and feel are all amazing. Wish the quality of the photo/scan was better (it seems like it is a bit washed out in spots). I love this!
Tristan I'm finding it depressing that my work from the 1970's and 1980's is often a lot better and more exciting than what I am turning out now.
Looks great! Love the cat too :) :) :)
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