Welcome back! How was everyone’s week? Anyone have any good news to share? As for your Captain, it has been the same old, same old. Although, I have been slacking on my self care routine. I have just been grinding so much with my art and prepping for school, I have forgotten to take a moment to breathe. I have tried to convince myself that the hour and a half plus at the gym is enough. But I can tell I am loosing focus and motivation. I need to be better. I have to take care of my mind, body, and soul to be my very best. Don’t forget your self care routine too! We all need some time to disconnect from everything. I think I need to hide my phone from myself. Isn’t there an app that helps with limiting your time on your phone? I need to do some research. I’ll be sure to share what I have found if you are also curious. Now, on to the show!
Aquarius the Rebellious One
Basic Facts about this Sign
Birth dates: January 20 – February 18
Ruling Planets: Saturn and Uranus
Element: Air
Symbol: Water Bearer
Color: Blue
Aquarius is the rebel among the Signs. They hate to conform to the norms. They are free-spirits and hate to be caged. They often are the one that don’t follow mainstream fashion or music.
I sold out. I totally struggled with how to represent Air in this one. So, I caved and made clouds. I mean, it kind of works, right? Like Aquarius is the Water Bearer and clouds carry water all over, so it isn’t too bad…? Figuring out how to represent an invisible force in a still frame visual art piece is a challenge. Also, I didn’t think regular grey clouds would be too interesting, so I made them blue for this Sign. If you also notice in the video, I was struggling with the coloring of Saturn. It started way too much like the Sun. So I had to let that layer dry and go back to it later. The good thing about acrylics, they are very forgiving. I think it ended looking a whole lot better. How do you guys think it all came out?
So we only have 4 more Signs to go! I’m so excited! We have come so far with all the improvements and growth. I am pumped for the next Series. Be sure to follow me on Instagram to see tomorrow’s Sunday’s Special. Monday we are going to talk more in depth about school.Tuesday is another Fan-Art day! I wonder what I’ll do for that? Finally, Wednesday is calling for Part 2 of updating my branding identity. This week looks packed! But I promise I am going to take some time for my self care. I want you to also take some time for yourself. Remember to stay safe and to stay sane.
It has been a minute since your old Captain has given any sort of sign of life. A lot has happened in the time that I haven’t been around and I don’t even know where to start. Forgive your Captain for her lack of organization and forgetfulness. I am going to prove that this old sea dog is here to stay and I’m going to be making a difference.
In other news, how are you all doing? At this point in time the world seems a little chaotic. No matter where you are in the world or what you do for a living, I want to say I hope you are safe and staying healthy. And to all the essential workers out there, you are the true heroes. I have lots of love and respect for you and the hell you are going through. I hope if you are exploring my site to have a moment of calm in this storm that it gives you a smile and a well deserved distraction. Thank you.
I am still trying to figure out how to explain my unexpected hiatus. I am going to make a post dedicated solely to my absence, but I just really wanted to get back into the swing of things. If you have any questions for me, please ask. I am hoping to be able to get everything out in the next few days. //Crosses figures and toes.// Plus I have been working on tons of new content and ideas, so don’t go anywhere!
Quarantine Challenge
So if you have been following me on my IG you know I have made myself a Quarantine Challenge project. I have been trying to force myself to not come out of this lock-down without something to show for it. I am getting better at being consistent and not being afraid of failure. But I have always wanted to film my artistic process. I don’t have quite enough confidence to voice over let alone be on camera. But this is a start. I defiantly have come a long way with my mental health and self esteem. Baby steps, right? So without further ado, Quarantine Challenge Project #7: Demon.
You might be wondering, why Cerberus? What does the Greek Mythology that anything to do with demons? First off, we are not talking about the three headed Guardian of the Underworld. I collect and research and obsess over a wide range of stuff. Everything thing from Hello Kitty to the occult. My sister once told me that my room looks like there are multiple people living in one space. So, I have a tarot deck for different demons made by a demonologist. Don’t freak out, the deck isn’t for summoning demons. I’m not skilled enough to work with any sort of negative energy. (If you would like to know more about my crazy obsessions or my belief system just message me; if it is in popular demand I’ll make sure to include it all in a future post.) Anyway, I pulled Cerberus out of the deck.
And then the research started. So the demonology book that came with the deck didn’t offer me as much of an insight into who, what, when, where, how and why. So a quick Google search with some keywords lead me to Donate’s Divine Comedy. In the 3rd circle of Hell Dante meets the guardian of those who are gluttonous. Dante says that the beast looks like the 3 headed hound, like that of the Greek Mythology. Hence why people get confused on what it looks like. But if you read more in the “Infernal Dictionary” by Jacques Auguste Simon Collin De Plancy, (what a mouthful, geezz) the demonologist, he describes Cerberus a little different. Jacques say that demon has the body of a raven and 3 different heads of dogs. He also says that Cerberus is one of the kinder demons that would rather teach you about grace and staying in your lane rather than torture you. But even other demonologist say that Cerberus, when summoned, will show up with the body of a man and a head of a raven. I kind of Frankenstein the lore together to give you my version of Cerberus.
These first 3 images is of my research and my rough sketches. I mixed what Dante and Jacques say about the lore. I gave Cerberus the body of a raven and the 3 hound heads, because it is totally bizarre and way out there and I thought this is what kind of chaos Hell would give to your brain. Think about it, under great torture and just what ever kind of Hell you can picture it will defiantly make you loose all sense of sense. Like you could be hearing colors and tasting sounds. So you are trying to figure out what this creature looks like so you can wrap your broken mind around it to make any sort of sense. Then I decided to take the 3rd Circle of Hell: Gluttony from Dante to give it some sort of “home”. Mud and filth and excrement just swallowing the damned and the constant rain of nasty, just sounded like so much fun. Not really though. I also decided to include some sort of demonic army from the demonologist. It just felt right to me.
I like I might have unconsciously made the hounds look like my sister’s pup. Whoops.
For the Final piece, I have been really into blocking out large areas with watercolor and making the finer details with markers and ink. I think it turned out really well. I forgot to tell you about the flag! So through my research scholars have deemed this the symbol of Cerberus, and I just had to include it somewhere. What do you think of how it turned out?
“Demon” watercolor, ink, markers
Like I said earlier, I’ve always wanted to film my work. I have always been to nervous and shy about my work being out there in the universe that I never thought that I had the skill to do so. But I have a “take no prisoners” attitude right now and just dived right in. Hell, I even made a YouTube Channel for my work. I am slowly teaching myself how to film and edit. It is definitely a learning curve that I am so pumped for. I have more Quarantine Challenge Projects in the works and new opportunities for more videos. So buckle up kiddos we are going on an adventure!
All and all, I am excited for this new Chapter in life. I am so glad you are all going on this journey with me. “The more the merrier,” they always say. At the end of this post there are my Social Media links. Please make sure to follow me to stay up to date. Thanks a bunch! I’m so ready for all of this, are you?
S.E. Illustrator 