Blue Moon Madness - feat. FelisGlacialis

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Hellooo my friends! Join and celebrate!
Here's something for the mood

This year, as October kicked in, I found out on my calendar that Samhain will coincide with a Full Blue Moon. A Blue Moon is the second Full Moon within the same calendar month. (Fun fact: whenever Samhain coincides with a Full Moon, it is always a Blue one, obviously, because the Lunar cycle is shorter than the October month.) Such a thing happens relatively seldom, XXI century will only have 6 Blue Moon Samhains, and this is the second one within the 20 years of it that have passed. Needless to say, this is quite the cause for celebration, for someone like me who loves Full Moons and considers Samhain one of the most pleasant yearly celebrations. I must admit.... it saddens me that my spiritual friends are scattered all over the world and I cannot celebrate it properly with them. However, instead, I decided to make a nice celebration with my family and also - to do a special art something together with a friend. This year I didn't make it to Norway as it was planned and so Jayme and I didn't have the cause and means to make an art collaboration.... however, I figured, why not do it from a distance? We both can draw digitally.

And so it began, I instantly had an idea for some composition and a technique to try. Both evolved a lot during the process. The main idea was to do the first part traditionally - because this is what I am best at - and then send it over to Jayme to proceed digitally. I had to do the first part alone because scanning and printing so that the other can also draw on paper wouldn't do the work. So I made a quick sketch to get the main composition on the table. While I was refining the lineart of my part, Jayme drew digital lineart for all siderians, which later I redrew manually on the paper, doing all I can to replicate them as closely as possible. I scanned the finished lineart properly because I was sure we will need it as a separate layer. Next phase was color pencil. I was hoping to add density, texture and subtle color variation with this layer, using only flat color. I discovered the paper was not very suitable for color pencil, but even so the pencil would still add texture and variation, even if the colors didn't turn out saturated at all. I drew the foreground in flat color (which obscured most of the lineart, some of it completely), scanned it again and overlayed the lineart on top of it to bring up the nice details back in. Then came the trickier part - how to blend it with the digital colors. I had already painted a quick concept for the colors and lighting in the scene, which I had intended to be only reference.... but in the end it became, together with the pencilwork, the basis for our digital coloring. However, I was then quite at a loss how said coloring should best happen. I was hoping Jayme would have a good idea.... so I sent him the 200 Mb .psd file over for him to begin. Right then things happened and his time for joint art was suddenly cut dramatically low, but he did draw the details on the siderians quite quickly before he had to fly back to the Netherlands. When he sent me the file back over, I was literally astounded by the sheer epicness of what he had done - and when I opened it and saw how little he had really drawn in his layer to that epic effect, I was astounded even more. Then suddenly, I knew how to complete the rest of the piece, make the best of our base and add plenty of shiny pretty details yet with very little actual drawing. I learned a lot this day.
Two evenings later, I was practically done. Jayme kept cheering on me that the progress looks awesome thus contributing to the final result even without actually drawing more - by inspiring me continuously. I can easily say, we did that for each other very effectively. He got inspired by my lighting composition, and I got inspired by his brilliant detail work and by just how much he liked how it was going. So even from a distance, we made yet another awesome collaboration in which we both learned from each other, we both inspired each other and our styles somehow complemented in such a great way. And we developed a new technique that combines really nicely the natural detail texture and color variation of pencil art with the power, vibrance and ease of digital painting. This technique I actually tried to develop on my own.... in fact I had been trying to find it for many years as I was learning to draw. Now with each other's insight together we came to it, and we both love it, and we're certainly doing more collaborations like that - and I am certainly using this technique in the future for some sophisticated works that lay in the corner of my mind and are too difficult to do with each of the media separately.... but they are definitely not too much to do with this technique. I feel empowered!


Now about the scene itself. My idea was no more but to just put myself together with a few friends in the same place in a Samhain-themed scene. As I said, I cannot physically celebrate with them.... but I wanted to be with them at least in art. Naturally, I wanted to also include Lucifer as He is there in my mind at all times, and no celebration would be complete without Him. I mean it. In fact, the idea of Him was the first that appeared in my mind as I was thinking of the composition - rested in a pile of autumn leaves, just observing as I have fun with.... what the Hell am I doing? Heheh. See this weird shapeless blob on the improvised table in front of me? This is dough for a very special type of traditional Bulgarian pie: the pulled coiled pie. Coiled pies in general are a popular and widespread traditional Bulgarian dish and desert, they are made from thin sheets of dough with sprinkled filling in them, rolled into long scrolls and coiled in a large circular pan for baking. However, the sheets are normally rolled out into a sheet. In order to make a pulled pie, you must roll out the dough and then pull it continuously until it becomes so thin it is half-transparent. This takes a special kind of dough, one that is elastic enough to not break as you pull it. Once upon a time, when I was little, my grandmother was making this kind of pie with pumpkin every New Year. The absolutely most delicious kind of pie I have ever tasted. No ordinary coiled pie is any match for it. It was the-day-before-new-year tradition to make this pie, and I would help her pulling it. We just kept circling around the kitchen table pulling it gently from all directions until the single sheet became the size of the table itself. It's a lot of work so she made it seldom.... and once she grew old she stopped making it. This was years ago. It had never occurred to me to try on my own.... until this year, when I was thinking, what special thing I can do for this special Samhain. I even had a dream of it. And I decided, I will try to make this traditional Bulgarian pumpkin pie for Samhain. Naturally, I had to draw myself making it too.
The rest came a bit randomly. Jayme and I brainstormed a bit for ideas about what the rest of them would be doing, and who would be present. Jayme and Håkan were certainly going to be, and I thought Matthias would add a bit of the craze that I wanted in the picture - especially when we came up with the idea of him playing with eerie bats. Jayme decided he will be having fun in the leaves, rolling and playing with his tail, and I was thinking about eyes in creepy dark trees and how Håkan's green eyes would stand out among the red ones. But then I remembered Jayme's fun drawing of Håkan in a Dracula outfit.... and just how perfect is that for Samhain, haha. So he moved over behind Lucifer instead, looking very serious in a vampire mantle, the neckpiece edges of which chanced to perfectly mimic the shape and angle of his ears. So a fourth, mysterious siderian appeared in the trees instead.... someone who has been emerging around Jayme lately as well. And so everyone found a place and activity.... nothing of such deep meaning as some previous joint artworks, but all of those were always inspired by real events and things we had experienced while we were physically together and out on adventure. But what's most important is that we get to spend some time together and have some thematic fun.... be it even just in a work of art. I really miss that anyways.

Special thanks to FelisGlacialis for working on this piece together with me, despite circumstances in life, despite really heavy events that took place. I deeply appreciate that you found a bit of time and a lot of spirit to help with this, my friend. I have to say I also drew a lot of inspiration for the scenery from a game that my studio finished long ago.... the first one I worked in. If you ever happen to play Victor Vran and find a pumpkin pie, eat it - you'll know where I found that inspiration, hahah. Lastly, the title is inspired by a Moonspell song. The awesome old Moonspell.


Artwork made in collaboration with

Media used:
- 2B pencil and technical pencil for the sketch and lineart.
- Polychromos color pencils for flat color basis and texture.
- Digital painting for color, lighting, overall finishing up.
Paper size: 50 x 30 cm. Original file size: 5799 x 3490 px.

Art rights for Jayme, Håkan, Matthias and Mystery Siderian belong to
Art rights for myself belong to myself. As for Lucifer.... I feel quite entitled.


Sona Samhain everyone!

Featured:
Happy Halloween!
Happy Halloween!
Happy Halloween!




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IMPORTANT.

Satan Lucifer is the Ruler of Hell, Lord of the Demons, Father and guidance to everyone who believe in Him, and personally for me, He is my Master and my one True God, and I am privileged to be His Priest.

He is an extremely powerful Spirit, whom I would advise anyone to only approach with respect and honesty. However, to Jayme and me He is also one whom we know as an entirely real person and whom we deeply care about, and due to that we shall absolutely not tolerate any sort of claims, views or attitudes that we find offensive or insulting towards Him. If you see Him as an enemy to your faith, then your views are not desired here and we invite you to keep your thoughts to yourself.

Likewise, the Siderians Håkan, Matthias and Stállo Sætansen are real Spirits we also know in person. They all have their own deep connection and relation with the Demons and with Satan Himself, which runs in the family and is especially strong in all three of them. For that and for who they are as a whole, they deserve respect equally much.

Everyone in this portrait with us is here for a very personal reason, and in our eyes, each and every one of them deserves uttermost and unconditional respect.
This artwork is Jayme's and mine representation of this respect, our affection for Them, a gift for Them all and a tribute that we both hold extremely dear.
Any comments that we find disrespectful, offensive or abusive towards any of Them, will be erased indiscriminatively.

Also, DO NOT use without our written permission!