Luna and the Squid, an 11x14" painting
Final Completed Painting for Azkatraz: Luna and the Squid
As my friends list knows, this painting started because I was trying to design a business card using my artwork, and none of the paintings I already had completed looked nice enough or fit the tone I wanted to have for my business card. So in a fit of pique, I decided, to hell with it, I will create a whole new painting for my business card.
Well, the painting, as seen below the cut, started off as 2.5 x 3 inches. But the response from my friends list was overwhelmingly positive, that I decided this must become a full-scale painting.
So after I finished work on my business card, I started expanding that business card design into an 11x14" painting.
Genesis of the Concept
Why did I suddenly have the inkling to paint Luna...and the squid? I was composing my business card, and I knew it needed to portray my strengths in painting, which is the human face. And it needed to be an *attractive* and whimiscal and beautiful human face, because I don't want to scare away potential clients with my portrayal of dark, moody characters. They might think *I* am a dark, moody character...which might not be so good for business.
I actually wanted to design my business card so that it looked like a book cover. I am fascinated by book cover design, because of the way it integrates a large centralized visual picture, with typography that fits it (for the book title, author name, etc). And while we are all told we shouldn't judge a book by its cover, frankly, we do. We're all visual creatures. And I wanted to apply that same logic to my business card.
Anyway, I was looking through archives of notable book covers, and I saw one particular cover that really captured my attention, the cover for Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro. It features the face of a child, with wide blue eyes, looking towards the upper right. It is absolutely stunning. I had also pulled a Roccoco-inspired photograph of a woman, and I'm not quite sure when "big blue eyes" and Roccoco-female translated into Luna in my head...but I think it might have been some time after I started painting.
At some point, I was thinking: why is the blonde, blue-eyed girl looking over her shoulder with a slightly mischevious and innocent-looking smile? What is she looking at? At the same time, I thought the painting was missing something, and I was entertaining all sorts of ideas, but I was mostly thinking in terms of contrasts. Beauty and the beast. Perfection and the grotesque. Light and dark. At some point, I was thinking of adding in part of a machine, but I hate painting metal, so that kind of went out the window.
I don't know when the idea came to me, but when the idea of a reaching squid tentacle came to me, it was so obvious and immediate to me that this innocent, slightly mischevious-looking girl-woman *must* be Luna.
It was just one of those perfect moments of utter clarity, the kind that excites me with its simplicity yet complicated perfection. Luna is the ONLY blonde, blue-eyed female I can think of who will look absolutely naive and curious and almost otherworldly, with a tentacle reaching towards her chin. It also *works* because there IS a giant squid in Harry Potter fandom. And it also works because she is almost certainly going to seek out creatures and entertain their attentions without the least inhibition. AND, because Luna and the Squid makes sense canonically...it is probably the ONLY time I can get away with putting a girl and a squid together in one painting without it being interpreted as wholly perverted (*ahem*Japanese tentacle porn*ahem*). Of course, it can still be interpreted that way.
Title: Luna and the Squid
Characters: Luna, Giant Squid's tentacle
Rating: G (or PG-13 if you look at it through innuendo-goggles)
Media used: Digital (Photoshop 7.0, Wacom Intuos 3 tablet)
Warnings: None, unless you are squicked out by squid or tentacles...or Japanese tentacle porn
Notes/comments: See copious comments below.
Restrictions: Please do not use, edit, reproduce, or redistribute any part of this painting, whether for profit or not. Please do not hotlink to my images (please ask if you're not sure what hotlinking is), but please feel free to link to this post!
Luna and the Squid
1/10: help_haiti charity auction for $50 for Mercy Corps
2/10: Sold
3/10: Sold
4/10: UCLA School of Public Health Week, UNICAMP
5/10: Sold
6/10: Avaliable
7/10: Avaliable
8/10: Available
9/10: Available
10/10: Sold at Azkatraz Charity Auction for $250 (framing, matting, exhibition fee, printing, and shipping)
As my friends list knows, this painting started because I was trying to design a business card using my artwork, and none of the paintings I already had completed looked nice enough or fit the tone I wanted to have for my business card. So in a fit of pique, I decided, to hell with it, I will create a whole new painting for my business card.
Well, the painting, as seen below the cut, started off as 2.5 x 3 inches. But the response from my friends list was overwhelmingly positive, that I decided this must become a full-scale painting.
So after I finished work on my business card, I started expanding that business card design into an 11x14" painting.
Genesis of the Concept
Why did I suddenly have the inkling to paint Luna...and the squid? I was composing my business card, and I knew it needed to portray my strengths in painting, which is the human face. And it needed to be an *attractive* and whimiscal and beautiful human face, because I don't want to scare away potential clients with my portrayal of dark, moody characters. They might think *I* am a dark, moody character...which might not be so good for business.
I actually wanted to design my business card so that it looked like a book cover. I am fascinated by book cover design, because of the way it integrates a large centralized visual picture, with typography that fits it (for the book title, author name, etc). And while we are all told we shouldn't judge a book by its cover, frankly, we do. We're all visual creatures. And I wanted to apply that same logic to my business card.
Anyway, I was looking through archives of notable book covers, and I saw one particular cover that really captured my attention, the cover for Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro. It features the face of a child, with wide blue eyes, looking towards the upper right. It is absolutely stunning. I had also pulled a Roccoco-inspired photograph of a woman, and I'm not quite sure when "big blue eyes" and Roccoco-female translated into Luna in my head...but I think it might have been some time after I started painting.
At some point, I was thinking: why is the blonde, blue-eyed girl looking over her shoulder with a slightly mischevious and innocent-looking smile? What is she looking at? At the same time, I thought the painting was missing something, and I was entertaining all sorts of ideas, but I was mostly thinking in terms of contrasts. Beauty and the beast. Perfection and the grotesque. Light and dark. At some point, I was thinking of adding in part of a machine, but I hate painting metal, so that kind of went out the window.
I don't know when the idea came to me, but when the idea of a reaching squid tentacle came to me, it was so obvious and immediate to me that this innocent, slightly mischevious-looking girl-woman *must* be Luna.
It was just one of those perfect moments of utter clarity, the kind that excites me with its simplicity yet complicated perfection. Luna is the ONLY blonde, blue-eyed female I can think of who will look absolutely naive and curious and almost otherworldly, with a tentacle reaching towards her chin. It also *works* because there IS a giant squid in Harry Potter fandom. And it also works because she is almost certainly going to seek out creatures and entertain their attentions without the least inhibition. AND, because Luna and the Squid makes sense canonically...it is probably the ONLY time I can get away with putting a girl and a squid together in one painting without it being interpreted as wholly perverted (*ahem*Japanese tentacle porn*ahem*). Of course, it can still be interpreted that way.
Title: Luna and the Squid
Characters: Luna, Giant Squid's tentacle
Rating: G (or PG-13 if you look at it through innuendo-goggles)
Media used: Digital (Photoshop 7.0, Wacom Intuos 3 tablet)
Warnings: None, unless you are squicked out by squid or tentacles...or Japanese tentacle porn
Notes/comments: See copious comments below.
Restrictions: Please do not use, edit, reproduce, or redistribute any part of this painting, whether for profit or not. Please do not hotlink to my images (please ask if you're not sure what hotlinking is), but please feel free to link to this post!
Luna and the Squid
1/10: help_haiti charity auction for $50 for Mercy Corps
2/10: Sold
3/10: Sold
4/10: UCLA School of Public Health Week, UNICAMP
5/10: Sold
6/10: Avaliable
7/10: Avaliable
8/10: Available
9/10: Available
10/10: Sold at Azkatraz Charity Auction for $250 (framing, matting, exhibition fee, printing, and shipping)