For my first piece(s), I didn't use any kind of reference and completely created my own idea by combining aspects of an angler fish and dragon. I made a forest spirit that is bioluminescent to attract prey, lives for thousands of years, and lives at the center of the forest where it is dark and damp; it is also blind for this reason because it doesn't need sight to move around in the dark, just developed hearing. I developed this all on my own. The first drawing is a male, and the second is a female (you can tell because females have tails - they aren't as muscularly developed as the males, so they need an extra line of defense).
My next piece is an oil painting of a maned wolf on an acrylic background. It is also painted on pages of the book, "The Pigman". This painting wasn't intended to give a message, but as I showed it to more and more people, I got very inspiring responses, like, "Why is he so lonely?", and, "I love the peaceful solitude". I hadn't thought about the potential meaning of this art piece until I received the feedback, which caused me to think in a whole different way. I had subconsciously chosen to place one of the loneliest animals (the Maned Wolf isn't a wolf at all, it belongs to it's own category of species and is identified simply as a canine) on a patch of grass in the middle of space. Not only that, but "The Pigman" is also about a very lonely man who lost his wife and lived by himself for years. This gave my piece an entirely different and meaningful perspective.
This piece is about isolation, plain and simple. It was originally supposed to be about all of the things that represented me: the Maned Wolf is my favorite animal, Ultramarine is my favorite color blue, and I have a deep love of astronomy; also, "The Pigman" is the only book that has ever made me cry. It became less about me and more about the meaning and symbolism of isolation.
This piece is about isolation, plain and simple. It was originally supposed to be about all of the things that represented me: the Maned Wolf is my favorite animal, Ultramarine is my favorite color blue, and I have a deep love of astronomy; also, "The Pigman" is the only book that has ever made me cry. It became less about me and more about the meaning and symbolism of isolation.
I don't think I would change any of my pieces, I love the way they turned out. I have no regrets about any of my artwork that I created in this class.