This is another illustration for CreatureMag, and I dare say I'm enjoying them. The deadlines are tighter than a tight thing, but that's all part of the deal.
This image is based on an article about Craig Wosahlo (a new singer/songwriter), or more accurately, its based on my overview of his music.
This illustration is more of a conceptual piece, as it doesn't correspond to anything literal from the song lyrics. The editor sent me four or five examples of his songs, in order to 'respond to them'. This is what happened.
(After spraying the drawing with fixative and giving it a few coats of Matt medium the evening before, I actually started the painting around 11am the next day. It was rendered Alla Prima, and I lifted my hand at 2:45am that night. Its a little raw, unrefined maybe, but there is an energy to it that seems to work for me. I really wanted to tighten up a few aspects of it the next day, but decided to just get it scanned in instead, and sent it off from how it was from the night before)
The idea of the larks emerging from the figure came to me quite early on, and would simply not go away. Larks are a deeply symbolic bird; they represent hope, happiness, good fortune, and creativity. A group of larks is known as an 'exaltation'. Apparently, to see larks flying in your dream symbolises high aspirations. However, if they fall during flight then it indicates your fall from grace and loss of innocence.
So I felt this captured something of how I interpret Craig's music...the need for hope in the human condition, but also acknowledging that as social beings, a fall from grace, or a faltering in our progress, is something wholly inevitable, and therefore the most human part of the journey...
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