It feels intentional and more dynamic than having them all point in one direction. It adds unity and movement to the piece in my opinion, and I love how he holds them between his fingers. You've made very interesting shapes and negative areas. I love how the text bleeds through, and most definitely how you organized your thumbnails on the side through the darker grey. It frames it nice.

Your thumbnails are giving me a moisty.

<3<3<3<3!! For non-furry artwork. Not many furries realize the most of us illustrators can draw more than dogs with dicks.

I know where this come from! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Sebastian

I love the idea of St. Sebastian, but I hate seeing images of religious figures with crappy expressions.

You know, most of those pictures of Jesus on the cross look like he's saying, "Awww, dying for the sins of the world is hard!"

Hey, Renaissance artists are allowed to fail! xD

Well, of course, the death of Jesus is supposed to inspire compassion and devotion. :P

My favourite sissy Jesus-painting story is when Goya submitted a really painting of Sissy Jesus, easily his worst painting, and it got him into the prestigious Art Academy in Barcelona. :D

There are quite a number of variations on the painting of his death that I find rather moving and not the sissy, imo

http://saints.sqpn.com/wp-content/g.....bastian-01.jpg

http://taeisheauton.files.wordpress...../guidoreni.jpg

http://neoshinka.files.wordpress.co.....=400&h=558

The middle one maybe considered "sissy" by your standards.

Also I think there are any number of crucifixion paintings that portray it as a morbid and painful act.

But this is actually the direct opposite of that. With sebastian we have the arrows pointing inwards, being pierced by them. In this piece the arrows are pointing outwards.

It's in the visual composition, the figure's expression and the use of arrows.

I think the theme is diametrically opposite. The arrows are pointing away from him, which is hurtful. Also the character is not bound or helpless.

Yes, I will agree on the composition and the use of arrows and expression. However the theme is opposite of Sebastian.

I am just pointing out the similarities.

Before I forget; excellent work as always!

this is absolutely gorgeous.

Fun fact: the text in the background are notes from May Term.

Finally they did something worthwhile!

Fantastic~

Let's just start off with the easy response: excellent!

Your choice to focus on "intention" is an interesting one, and it pays off. He definitely looks like he has a plan- or is currently planning- with the arrows. Not something I had expected to see, but certainly welcome. Wonderful work on the clothing, and with the flow of things. There's a lot of energy there, and the use of space (with the arrows and squiggles and soforth) is superb.

I've got to add that the high-res version is mind-blowing, and I'm finding my eyes getting lost in it very easily. Now I just need a larger monitor to take it all in at once.

Thanks again for the great work! To anyone else considering grabbing a commission from Stigmata, do it. I really shouldn't need to say more than that.

I appreciate the compliments very much. Thank you for saying so.

I like the arrows a lot, they give a very geometric and stable element to the image. At the same time they blend in very well. Makes me think of collage of methods (not pictures). I'm not sure, but the belt is taking away some weight off the arrows, with similar angle and color valuing, but much thicker. Maybe if it was darker? I don't know.

I also feel the hair could be more varied instead of simple spikes. They could make a more interesting detail.

I like how you use simple straight brush strokes as crosshatching. Have you though of using semi-transparent triangles, or other sharp-edged geometrical figures, to add highlights or shadows?

For some reason I read the description as 'self assassin', wtf? :)))

It's not unusual for me to block in large shapes and fill 'em with a value (I actually did that in this image, subtly) but I haven't done too many ornamental things with it yet. I can see my work adapting more ornamental shapes in the future, however.

Thanks for taking the time to comment!

I think what I most enjoy about this piece is the background notes.