That is awesome.

cfrnjegtrh!!! Manticores! This makes my mind go all wheee and my hand tipe stoopid comments. Gods, I am so in love with your manticore design. This one is a bit more subtle with the colour scheme it has as well as its markings, but gods, you included that little eye symbol you add so often to its mask and that makes me even happier.

I gush. I'm sorry.

It was your image that kept the idea of returning to this alive for me.
You drew a "king" manticore a while ago, which was not part of my
original conception of the creatures. They were just pictures for me
to experiment with ways of getting around my mental block with
drawing sex (characters in masks help, not showing facial expressions).
And also exercises in composition. But that's it.

More recently though, I was asked about them, so they came back to
mind again. And I had an insight into how expand upon the idea to
include your suggestion of a "king" type, much in the way that there
are "king" cheetahs. So it's not so much about actual royalty as it is
a designation of a subspecies. In that way, this is also a subspecies.
If the "king" manticores are larger and more elaborate, then "prince"
manticores are smaller and more plain. I'm still writing this up and
working on images. More to follow :) Happy tuesday.

*gasp* Seriously now? O_O Wow... I... that just made my day! I don't know what in particular fascinated me about your manticores, but ever since I stumbled over them I can not get them out of my head. I just love them. I am a rather shy, maybe sometimes even prude person, yet I don't mind the very physical aspect of the old pieces. The entire design just got to me and I think it was also the masks fascinating me heavily and creating something, that had a deep impact on me.

A part of me almost wishes to apologize for having drawn the "King Manticore" as it didn't fit into your concept of them, but hell no! If that was the reason why you're drawing them again I shall do no such thing! *laughs* I don't know... I just love the idea and the design so much and I felt inspired so I went for it. I didn't mean to alter or interfere. They just are such precious creatures to me. I don't even like the "classical" manticores much, it's really your interpreation only.

But gosh! More to come! That makes me squeal like a little girl! :D

I noticed by now what makes me so happy about this piece in particular (besides it being a manticore and having a wonderful mask): It's the shading: the drastic contrast of light and shadow and the soft red glow on the underside. It gives the manticore's body substance, makes it alive and vivid and concrete. Being a failure in shading like that I am absolutely amazed by your abilities in that matter.

This is a seriously amazing piece. I can't even put together words that describe the reasons why this rocks. You're a fantastic artist. Your work really leaves me speechless.

Beautiful artwork of an unusual creature. Very nice!

Belly lighting and the sinuous not-quite-human body make me squee... and that was before I'd even found your backstory and the history of these creatures. Eagerly awaiting more.

It came from a last minute decision to treat his genitalia as a light source :P
So even though you don't see it, it casts this glow about his underside.

It's not a part of the character design, just way of thinking for this particular
image to help me sort out what should be lit up or not.

Thank you :love%Pr

For some reason, it makes me think of the book Many Waters . . . except this is better. Its mask is wonderful.

I don't know the book, but I'll be sure to check it out when I'm done with my own writing, thankPr

It's one of the many sequels to A Wrinkle In Time.

Oo I like the mix of human an animal characteristics, this one totally reminds me of something that could be concept art for a game

At the time, this was because I didn't know how to draw credible animal shoulders.
But it became a character design choice, so they have human torsos, ssssort of like
satyrs, I suppose.

Thank you :%Pr

well I think that little deviation makes for quite a very interesting creature. I really like how you did the shadow from the elbow down to the wrist and the parts of the arm outlined by light.

I haven't figured out how to convey that properly yet, but I think it shows the great contour of the forearm.

Thanks again :) and the best way to see it is to really -see- it.. turn the lights off, get your guy into position with a flash light or something
or have somebody hold it up where you want it, then look and see what's going on with the lights and shadows.

You'll pick it up quickly, if you do that, I'm sure; you have good observational skills already.

You know, that is a -great- idea :) I'd like to take some reference pics for myself for such things but I never seem to remember to do it when we've got time to kill. If I practiced duplicating what I'm seeing a few times I think I'd remember enough to transfer that into future pieces of art.

Hold a reference pic party! ; )

Sounds like a plan ;)
Hopefully my hubby will have a day off soon so I can get him to pose for me and be my camera-man for when I need some female reference.

Taking your own reference is hot. It will improve your understanding of things 1000%

Control your lighting! Strong lights and shadows and limited light sources will help you see
contour more easily. Check out paintings by Caravaggio :)
and elsewhere.

Good luck.

whoa, it was such a short career he had. It is quite fascinating how well he could convey what he was seeing onto canvas, particularly because it wasn't popular to draw from life at the time.

I like how he included self-portraits into his works. Particularly how he was the head of Goliath and John The Baptist, the symbolism in that is heavy stuff.

His later work is quite fantastic, thank you for sharing this with me, I also followed the links to mannerism so I have a decent Idea of what that was (artists copying artists, not life)

Yes, mannerism exists in many many places all over. When things get too set in stone and codified and it seems like it's all be done. People then settle for arranging and rearranging what people the masters have come up with, rather than strike out for new territory.

The local Museum of Fine Arts here is pretty good, with examples of all kinds of stuff. Is there a museum near you? Go check it out!
They are usually great places to wander through and for getting inspired.

Woo for art history!

I honestly don't know if there is a museum out here. I'll have to look it up...

There is one http://oahu.aloha-hawaii.com/tours/.....te+art+museum/

It looks like it is just houses works by Hawaiian Artists.

I saw some others, but they were much the same as the art museum.


I wish I had gone to the new fine art museum back home that opened up about a year or two before I left. I never made it over there, since I thought I'd always have time to go and then we moved.

You've done it again, Goodwin.

Awesome work.

I know you get maney of these but Man Your Art is so so Awsome

I really like this.
The composition, the pose and the way you used the darks and lights.
Very cool design too.

I love the story! It's brilliant and the design of the creature is very erotic. I like it a lot and it is very intriguing. I watch your LJ now, I am eager to see how the story goes on. :)

Gorgeous concept! The masked face is wonderfully creepy, and the body texturing and lighting is freakin' sweet :D

Oh wow. Beautiful. I can't stop looking at it.

It has such grace.

I remember your Manticore pieces from years past. I really do love the fact that you revised the look. I'm also really taken aback by your eye for lighting and shading.

I really like the reflected light on the chest and belly, how that separates the character from the background and also gives it more form and color.

I still remember your original manticores, they were some of the sexiest imagery I had seen at the time.
Still are really.
This image has some nice craft, although it's missing that raw eroticism. Intentional?

No floppity, ornately adorned phalluses? yeah. it's harder for me to create sexual imagery.
It doesn't come so easily, not that I try to avoid it. It just doesn't.

Well, an image doesn't have to have a penis in it to be erotic, you know that..... ;3

This is beautiful!

thank you :)

It's not often one finds a "quadrupedal humanoid", you executed it beautifully. I like Mirza's design and coloring. The mask is a nice touch too. This picture is similar to one I started a year ago, but I think yours is better. I wasn't familiar with the narrative that accompanied the picture, but what I could piece together was fascinating. However, I would have liked more of the manticores, and the scene of their fight.

I can't really say anything that has not already been said, but this is glorious.
I like how you put halos on your creatures sometimes. Emphasizes the otherness and majesty of them.