[Art] Common Wombat and Nephalim the Leopard Gecko Morph - BW.

[moonvoice]

Common Wombat.






Leopard Gecko Morph

Comments

[silverjackal]

Superb. As I said, I really like Wombat a great deal, but I am very impressed with the shading on Senior Gecko. You've really caught his eye in particular beautifully. :)

[ariestess]

Yeah, liking these very much!

[tefnut]

Oh! I like these!

[darakat]

Dotty Gecko is Dotty. I love the pattern on him/her.
Wombat looks wise and earthy.

[lupagreenwolf]

Ahhhhhh, all the stippling on the gecko makes my hands cramp in sympathy! Is stippling worse than spirals?

(Nice work, too!)

Wow!

[ysabetwordsmith]

I'm intrigued by the way your style draws motifs from Australian, Native American, and other sources ... yet is uniquely your own, not an exact echo of any one source.

Re: Wow!

[moonvoice]

I've never wanted to borrow from any one particular cosmology, preferring to draw from personal symbolism; but that said, my style is definitely 'tribal' in that it uses a lot of classical aspects found in tribal (and spiritual - like mandala) artwork - repetition of geometric shape, repetition of line and pattern to create texture.

I remember in primary school, we had an Indigenous elder visit us and talk about Indigenous artwork. He got us to use Indigenous symbolism for half of the class, explaining what was the waterhole, what meant male and female and so on. But at the end he then got us to create our own personal symbolism for the things in our lives that were important to us.

I remember thinking at the time how empowering it was, to create personal symbolism through art. And then as I grew older, I became to realise that art is such a universal language, that even though I use my own symbolism (with the help of the animal totem); it speaks to other people anyway.

It's a very humbling process.

[moonvoice]

Stippling is way harder. One of the reasons I started spirals was because stippling was so time consuming as a background texture and as much as I whine, spirals are much, much easier, and still create a background texture (one that I love, actually).

These days, I only tend to use stippling in small amounts. It's not only time consuming, but really hard on the fineliner nibs as well.

[toeknuckles]

LOVE that wombat!

Re: Wow!

[ysabetwordsmith]

Aha! I thought right so. Your art has that look to it -- that you went to the core principles, and took them to a destination of your own, rather than trying to go to a place that someone else made. Those principles are what gives different types of art their characteristic flavor, so for instance, different tribal styles often have something in common because they are depicting the "spirit" or "energy" of a thing rather than its physical form. But that spirit can be rendered in different ways, so that's what creates the variations.

The symbols are different too. Looking at an artist's work, you can learn their own personal symbolism, or at least part of it. So then if it's good, it invites the viewer in to wander around and ask, "What does this mean?" and listen for an answer in the picture.

You have an interesting mind, and you're willing to do the hard work, and that comes through in the pictures. So many little tiny details, layers, lines, currents -- all part of a meaningful whole.

[bunny_m]

Both of these are great.

I especially like how Gecko looks like they are in on the joke, but don't want to spoil it for you, whilst Wombat looks a little distant and melancholy, somehow.

Lucky people, I'm already jealous. ;)

[moonvoice]

The shading and stippling on gecko has taken longer than both the spiral backgrounds combined, actually, but I wanted to get it right, or as close to picture accuracy as possible while not compromising artistic flair, heh.

[moonvoice]

Yay!

[moonvoice]

Aw yay! :D

[moonvoice]

She has a really beautiful pattern, especially as she's like white and orange, with random grey spots. :)

[moonvoice]

Yay gecko! :D I'm very excited to be drawing her, I love reptiles, but don't have enough personal connections with them to draw them for myself (not really, anyway), and so this is like a great 'excuse' to draw a subject I love. So is Wombat, actually. *g*

Re: Wow!

[moonvoice]

I was really influenced by Franz Marc in that too. He wasn't a tribal artist, but he was an expressionist who was very much eager to express a personal colour symbolism in his artworks, and then to use animal symbolism on top of that to indicate male/female and so on. I always loved how moving and evocative his artwork was, even though I didn't understand his take on what he drew, I understood my take on it, and how it made me feel. He's pretty much remained my favourite artist ever since. I sometimes ponder how art would have been changed if he had lived past the age of 25 (he was killed in the second world war, from memory); because his works were already just icnredible. One of his paintings fetched 20 million+ a few years ago, so at least the world knows how awesome he was.

it invites the viewer in to wander around and ask, "What does this mean?" and listen for an answer in the picture.

Yes! I really love this. I love art's ability to do this. I mean all artistic mediums do it to a degree. But art is something your brain consumes in an instant, it makes judgements in seconds, it speaks to the body and the eye and the brain in a moment. And while repeat viewings yields greater internal growth and interpretation, there is nothing quite like the instant 'process' of visual art.

Although it's less instant on my end, with all those freaking tiny details. :D

[moonvoice]

Wombats are the BEST!

[moonvoice]

I especially like how Gecko looks like they are in on the joke, but don't want to spoil it for you

Nephalim is a really knowing little gecko. Very knowing. She's a smarty-pants!

I love wombats. I think they are so under-estimated, they are incredibly smart and playful, and are kind of wrongly depicted in most media.

[bunny_m]

Wombats are great, and people just don't get how wonderful they are.

The only thing I miss about the old Wombat enclosure at the Zoo was the way the Wombat there would occasionally amble over for a pat/skritch if it was so inclined.

Petting Zoos need more marsupials. And Perth Zoo needs much more hands on stuff. ;)

[amethystfirefly]

oh man. I love the gecko!!!!

[redsixwing]

Wow, Nephalim is a lovely gecko, and you've done a beautiful job. I love the little stippled scales around the lips.

Re: Wow!

[ysabetwordsmith]

>>I sometimes ponder how art would have been changed if he had lived past the age of 25 (he was killed in the second world war, from memory); <<

Sooth. People often overlook the cultural cost of war. Everything the casualties would have done, now cannot be done by them -- and much of it can't be done by anyone else. It doesn't take much of a firefight to start wiping out things that can't be replaced.

>>Although it's less instant on my end, with all those freaking tiny details. <<

I sympathize. I'm a fan of detailed art, though. You might like:
http://haikujaguar.dreamwidth.org/
... who is currently painting an intensely detailed picture:
http://haikujaguar.dreamwidth.org/9573.html

[mirrorred_star]

The gecko looks amazing! Those spots just look so cool!

I like the wombat as well. I like the glyph, and I like that xe looks contemplative.

[donnalotus]

Oooooh Wombat is giving me goosebumps :D :D ;D