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Jabrosky's Crimes Against Fantasy Art

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Jabrosky

Banned
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Uncolored Line art for a redesign of my dinosaur-fighting jungle girl character Nzinga

With a Malian anthropologist for a father and an African-American physicist for a mother, Nzinga Keita always had an interest in the sciences, with her favorite discipline by far being paleontology. Her academic aspirations were permanently shattered at age 16 when testing out her mother's recently invented time travel device, which malfunctioned and accidentally sent her back to the Cretaceous Period---the time of dinosaurs much more lively than she expected to study. In the ten years that have passed since then, Nzinga has successfully adapted to life in the jungle, even taming a Dromaeosaurus whom she named Ochosi as a hunting aide (he's not shown here, but Dromaeosaurus is a more heavily built cousin of Velociraptor). However, her solitary existence may near its end when colonists from the distant future decide to settle her new home...

I originally conceived of Nzinga as being a pseudo-African tribeswoman native to a fantasy jungle land, but I ended up liking the idea of her as a modern-day African-American woman stranded in our Mesozoic Era a lot more. Think of her now as a black female equivalent to Tarzan or Shanna the She-Devil. However, the story I'm plotting for her has elements of the recently aired but short-lived and somewhat disappointing sci-fi drama Terra Nova insofar as it may feature futuristic colonists settling in prehistoric times.

In case you're curious, that knife Nzinga's holding was made from a T. Rex tooth.
 

Jabrosky

Banned
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Pharaoh Sekhmethotep as a concubine for a Persian prince

Sekhmethotep was once the proud Pharaoh of Egypt, but once she lost the battle to save her kingdom from a Persian invasion, the Persian Shah gave her to one of his sons as a concubine. Now she must fight her way back to freedom and win her country back from the clutches of the mighty Persian Empire...

The outfit Sekhmethotep wears here is obviously not authentic ancient Egyptian dress but rather a Persian imposition on her when they turn her into a concubine. In my story, the Persians regard Egypt more or less as we Westerners tend to regard the Congo today, namely as the epitome of Darkest Africa. The Persians thus stereotype the Egyptians as exotic savages who worship animals and live in a dark and misty marshland. Additionally the Persian men tend to fetishize a certain aspect of Sekhmethotep's anatomy that you can't see in this perspective, but suffice to say they notice it when looking at her from behind...

Although the Persians really did concur Egypt a couple of times, Sekhmethotep and everyone else in her story are completely fictional. Furthermore, the story itself lies more in the realm of fantasy (or possibly alternative history) than proper historical fiction. With this in mind I'm not fanatically devoted to historical accuracy as I write the first draft; I can always edit it in later.
 

Jabrosky

Banned
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At first this looks like yet another African queen concept, but this time I've put more thought into her culture and design than her predecessors. She is the theocratic matriarch of a civilization which worships the Sun as their singular deity. As her title "Daughter of the Sun" implies, she is considered the Sun's earthly descendent who will reunite with her "Mother" after she passes away. Among the Daughter of the Sun's most important responsibilities is to summon the rains season every year, but in addition to her spiritual and political role she also leads the warriors into battle. For this reason every future Daughter of the Sun must undergo rigorous training in the martial arts from a young age. Ideally the Daughter of the Sun rules her people with compassion and upholds justice for all her subjects.

Since the Sun People have always conceived of their deity as female, the Daughter of the Sun has traditionally been a woman's role, with her husband simply a consort who helps produce and raise her children. Although theoretically any man the Daughter fancies can marry her, in practice consorts have tended to come from the nobility or administrative bureaucracy (e.g. scribes, viziers, and high priests).
 

Jabrosky

Banned
evil_incarnate_by_brandonspilcher-d5e2vks.jpg

This is my visual representation of evil. If you're Christian, you could call this a depiction of Satan.

Most artists have tended to represent evil as monstrous or seductive, but I for one believe that the scariest and most effective villains are the ones who don't give off any such ostensible signs of their evilness but instead masquerade as good. They're the people who trick you into sympathizing with their cause and so can accomplish more than villains who flaunt their wickedness for everyone to see. To name only one example, they may be power-hungry politicians who give lip service to ideals like liberty, equality, or law and order. For this reason I decided to represent evil as a cute, chibi-looking purple fairy. Although the purple skin color and lack of facial features was intended to make her ethnically nondescript, I made evil feminine to play with the chivalric stereotype of women as naturally nurturing and innocent (a stereotype which has ironically served to justify patriarchy that kept women in the home with the kids).
 

SlimShady

Troubadour
Haven't checked this thread out in a while. Lots of awesome work on here! Although, I'm not sure about the evil purple fairy. It just doesn't look all that unique to be honest, although I do like your idea of making them evil.
 

Ireth

Myth Weaver
I made evil feminine to play with the chivalric stereotype of women as naturally nurturing and innocent (a stereotype which has ironically served to justify patriarchy that kept women in the home with the kids).

Evil has been depicted as feminine for a long, long time. Eve in the Garden is the archetypal example, of course. Also there's Delilah (as in Samson and Delilah), Jezebel, Lilith... etc.
 

Jabrosky

Banned
Haven't checked this thread out in a while. Lots of awesome work on here! Although, I'm not sure about the evil purple fairy. It just doesn't look all that unique to be honest, although I do like your idea of making them evil.
Honestly, in retrospect she does have a bland design, doesn't she?
 

Jabrosky

Banned
garbhan_the_northern_warrior_by_brandonspilcher-d5fanup.jpg

Grayscale ref sheet for Garbhan (originally named Gareth), the leading man from an old story I've decided to rewrite.

Garbhan's people, the Daoine, are a race of red-haired white people who live as hunter-gatherers in the frigid land they call Daoinetir. As the glaciers of the Far North continue to submerge their homeland, the Daoine must migrate southward to warmer, more hospitable climes. Garbhan himself is a strong and brave man who aspires to become his clan's best hunter and warrior, but his social aloofness and impulsive personality have alienated him from his peers. He desires more than anything else in the world to win his clan's acceptance.

If you're curious, Garbhan is an Irish name, and "Daoine" is Gaelic for human beings.
 

Ireth

Myth Weaver
I like the Gaelic flavor of these guys, but then again I'm biased, being of Scottish descent myself. ^^

"Daoine" is Gaelic for human beings.

Have to disagree with you there. Daoine simply means "people" of any particular kind, not "humans". Daoine Sidhe = People of the Hills, a name for the Fae.
 

Jabrosky

Banned
Have to disagree with you there. Daoine simply means "people" of any particular kind, not "humans". Daoine Sidhe = People of the Hills, a name for the Fae.
Sorry, my memory failed me. Thanks for the correction!
 

Jabrosky

Banned
Pharaoh Asethotep of Kametu, a possible protagonist for my NaNoWriMo 2012 project:
pharaoh_asethotep_of_kametu_by_brandonspilcher-d5hxvf4.jpg


Asethotep with her crown:
burden_of_pharaoh_s_crown_by_brandonspilcher-d5i2e3s.jpg
 

Jabrosky

Banned
pharaoh_is_not_amused_by_brandonspilcher-d5i5yol.jpg

A Romanesque warrior attempts to go all Antony over my Pharaoh character, but she is not amused.
 

Jabrosky

Banned
More Asethotep:
pharaoh_in_prayer_by_brandonspilcher-d5ibatb.jpg

Here she kneels in prayer, holding a bowl of offerings for her divine ancestors. In Kametian culture, the role of Pharaoh is every bit as religious as it is political, for Pharaohs are regarded as descendents of the Sun Herself. Whenever a Pharaoh dies, her spirit ascends to the heavens as a fully fledged deity whom her descendents venerate the way most lay Kametians venerate their own ancestors' spirits. Of all the numerous spiritual entities populating the Kametian pantheon, few have more personal significance for Asethotep than her mother and predecessor Woserit, from whom she regularly seeks consolation.
 
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