Fairies in the Modern World

These are line drawings I made after Freddie Mercury's colour illustrations - three more to go. To be published with my essay from 1999 (Fairies in the Modern World, currently lost) which I am currently rewriting to include both my initial framework and new developments.

Making drawings after another artist gets me inside their head as much as the drawing itself contains, and I notice that artists always put a little bit of themselves into their character designs.

My contour line is inspired by traditional cartoons, where it delineates the character from its environment and acts as a  symbol for the sense of touch.

Driftwood

Concept: In Norse mythology, Adam and Eve were created (and received their names) from two pieces of driftwood: Ash and Elm (Ask and Embla).
Technique: Photos taken in New Zealand (Aotearoa), 2003-2004.
Click on any picture to view slideshow.

Ma'at

Concept: Ma'at is the Egyptian concept of Balance, or Justice, and plays an important part in the "Weighing of the Heart" ceremony. The feather represents the standard used to measure how light- or heavy-hearted a person is. Even the Gods and Goddesses must be grounded in Ma'at. The ancient meaning of this ceremony was lost to literalization. It used to mean weighing a person's conceptions combined with their deeds, and the result propelled them upward or downward in their quality of experience. This does not solely happen upon death, but is a constant process.

Technique: I made this traditional Egyptian mural at a smaller scale, using most of the same ingredients that Egyptians would have used, and the grid-enlarging technique. Reference books and basic training were provided by The New Acropolis.