[Art] Komodo Dragon as Totem

[moonvoice]

Komodo Dragon as Totem

The Komodo dragon is the largest living species of lizard (growing to 2-3 metres). It is also quite venomous, and alongside the venom, carries a serious cocktail of harmful bacteria within its mouth. Komodo dragons tend to be apex predators in the environments that they live, and mostly survive on carrion; though they do hunt and eat pretty much anything they can catch (including children). They are one of the few vertebrates capable of 'virgin births' or producing offspring without the presence of a male; this is known as parthenogenesis.





Komodo Dragon as a totem represents: (not an exhaustive list)

Size matters, the completion and finishing of projects, taking nourishment from the dead, communing with the dead, fierceness, confidence and arrogance, poisoning others, being poisoned, ambush and attack, surviving on little, antagonising those you care about, creating life without the help of others

Original AVAILABLE - $80 USD
18.5 x 20.5cm (or 7.4 x 8 in)
illo's board, fineliner, aquarelle, pencil, metallic and iridescent paint

Comments

[lupabitch.livejournal.com]

P., this is quite possibly the best shading job I have ever seen you do. VERY nice work!

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

*blush* Thank you. :) I had a lot of fun colouring this one.

[white9-fox.livejournal.com]

Holy shizzle, I think this is the best detail you've put on an animal so far....

Though I can see why your wrists are crying out for mercy O.o; Being a pointillism lover, I can understand that a bit ^^;

[white9-fox.livejournal.com]

though they do hunt and eat pretty much anything they can catch (including children)
lol

Me thinks there's something in-between the lines in that statement thar ;)

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

Hee. I like any animal that eats kids. Where you have go 'step back honey, I think it wants to eat you.'

[amorvincitnos.livejournal.com]

Yeah, must agree. WOW.

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

*blush* Thank you. :)

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

It's not the most detail, in terms of time invested, but I think the detail has come together really well. I'd like to think I'm getting better at creating depth and blah blah artist-talk blah.

Those little tiny circles for the scales drove me nuts!

[silere.livejournal.com]

Wow. So very realistic, and i love the warm tones. I've always had a healthy respect for Komodo dragons. Parthenogenesis is fascinating.


<3

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

Parthenogenesis is *weird*... and awesome. :)

[qilora.livejournal.com]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9L9-HQazkA8

[liondaughter.livejournal.com]

I like this one a lot too. I didn't expect I would find a komodo dragon so beautiful. And I didn't know that about the parthenogenesis.

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

I really like Komodo dragons... though I'd never ever want to get near their mouths, which are icky icky icky.

[bodylove.livejournal.com]

very cool - I especially love the detail on the dragon! I always thought these were very neat creatures - interesting to learn more about - thank you!

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you like it! :)

[sylvertongue.livejournal.com]

Oh, Pia. This one is incredible. Gut-punch incredible.

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

*blush* Thank you so much.

[zenosaur.livejournal.com]

Whoah! This is so cool!

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

Yay!

[chironcentaur.livejournal.com]

I always enjoy your art work, but this is exceptionally amazing. That thing looks like its going to crawl off the page. *applauds*

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much. *takes a little bow*

[kaikea.livejournal.com]

I kind of like this. I don't like the animal because they eat babies... but yeah, this is very well done.

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

Yeah, they do indeed eat babies.
A scary amount of cool animals do...

[dibeartach.livejournal.com]

Ouch holy detail!

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

Yay detail! :D

Ooh, Leeezard

[perzephone.livejournal.com]

I'm not a big fan of the monitor lizards, mainly because of their filthy habits, but reading it as a totem is enlightening because it has traits I can relate to all too easily.

The skin on this lizard is absolutely amazing, though - and it's no wonder your wrist crapped out on you. All those tiny little beads!

Re: Ooh, Leeezard

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

They do indeed have some pretty nasty habits. Any animal that uses its own gingivitis and bloody gums to give other animals 'death by venom + bacteria' is... .... well I mean that's just nasty.

I love them though.

[vyxen.livejournal.com]

Oh jeez, all that delicate detail really brings forth a powerful image. He's gorgeous!

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

Thank you. :)

[qilora.livejournal.com]

you stun me.

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

Komodo dragon has one of those sorts of energies, for sure.

[cariadwen.livejournal.com]

O the wisdom in her eyes! Wonderful. All the other animals you've posted up this morning are brilliant but this one takes my breath away.

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

Wow, thank you! This is one of my favuorites of the batch (though common bronzewing wins the prize for me. :)

[scarletwildfire.livejournal.com]

STUNNING! The realism drew me in to it's eye right away.

I've never been a fan of Komodo's but I think I am now!

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

Well.... to put you off again, their gums are so bloody from gingivitis that they are regularly blood-stained and gross. MMMM. YUM!

Actually I love them even more because of that.

I like any lizard that has evolved to go 'fuck the dentist!'

[sonne-windsoul.livejournal.com]

I still love the way you do reptiles--I really like your other animal art of course, but there's something about the way you do reptiles that just makes the images more 'intense' and stunning looking to me. I especially like the eye on this one; it was the first part of the image that grabbed my attention when I looked at it.

Also, it's interesting and nice to see the development and refining of your skills with each batch of art you make, especially the 'as totems' pieces :3 (because there are so many previous ones to compare each to); plus the addition of some keywords associated with each totem animal is good to have included.

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much, I like the eye too, I've always found it quite difficult to do protruding eyes, so I gave it a bit more focus this time around and I think it paid off.

[ariestess]

This is so incredibly lifelike to me. I swear, the more I stare at it, the more I expect it to blink or move its head. Incredible job!

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

Thanks! :D

[sidheblessed.livejournal.com]

Oh wow, the scales are superb. I want to reach out and touch them.