fanart, Weighing of the Heart (Sandman)

[ratcreature]

Fandom: Sandman
Characters/Pairings: Morpheus, Matthew
Media used: pencil drawing, inked with fine liner pens, acrylic paint
Rating/warnings: G, none
Notes/comments: This was my yuletart gift for Rasetsunyo. Besides Morpheus and Matthew, Rasetsunyo mentioned in the requests (for another, non-Sandman fandom) the Egyptian pantheon, and also liking crossovers. This isn't really a crossover with the other fandom, but I thought it would still work to mix Morpheus into in one of the classic scenes of the Egyptian afterlife, i.e. the Weighing of the Heart. So there's Anubis weighing the heart against the feather of truth, Thoth keeping the records, and Ammit (the crocodile/lion/hippo mix demon) waiting to eat the unworthy hearts. I decided to show the waiting soul as Ba with a bird body and human head. I'm not sure why Morpheus is there, but I figured that the Egyptians connected their afterlife underworld to the night and to the journey of the sun might be good enough for this Endless to show up there.
Preview:

Comments

[friendshipper.livejournal.com]

*eeeeeee!* Matthew is by far my favorite of the Sandman cast; I just totally fell for him, and I love this scene, with the Sandman chars and Egyption pantheon. *loves* Neat job with the watercolors and the little curly tendrils on Morpheus's cloak!

[ratcreature]

Thank you! I'm glad you like it. Sandman fits really well with the strange Egyptian afterlife.

This isn't really watercolors (I suck whenever I try them), but acrylic paint done in thin layers. I find them much easier, because you can paint them over each other without dissolving anything and correct stuff (not to mention that you have a white), but it gets similar effects to proper water color.

[astridv.livejournal.com]

Beautiful! You're a fantastic colorist.

[ratcreature]

Thank you! Coloring this seemed to take ages (well, a good part of two days, but still), because I layered until I got the right colors to make them look richer and more brilliant, so it took a long time, but it was worth it. Unfortunately the scanner killed some of the effect, but I really like how this turned out.

I used to be so afraid of coloring on paper, but then when I tried for the first time last year, it turned out easier than computer coloring in some ways. (Though the lack of an "undo" is still daunting. *g*)

[astridv.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately the scanner killed some of the effect,

Man, yes... mine does that, too. It's a crap piece I bought at ALDI for 50 Euro ages ago, and it swallows nuances. When I looked over that last comic page the next day, I noticed that the scanner had turned my turquoise ocean plain blue. And it was mostly the cyan-blue-green tones that were affected, so I couldn't just shift the color scheme for the entire page or else the faces would look yellow. I guess I'll have to spring for a decent scanner sooner or later.

I think coloring on paper is much easier, too. But then, I find coloring on the computer entirely frustrating. ;) Though it's great for fixing bits and pieces later.

[ratcreature]

Yeah, mine mangles different colors to different degrees as well, so it is hard to fix. Though I try changing the color balances and curves separately afterwards to get a bit closer to the original.

I'd love to have a decent A3 scanner because that I can't scan larger formats without piecing the image together frustrates me almost as much as the color distortion. I don't really have the inclination to draw tiny, and would much prefer to work on at least A3 for most stuff to get decent detail, but somehow parts never fit together right when I scan in two halves.

[cereta.livejournal.com]

Oh, this is lovely!

[ratcreature]

Thank you. I'm glad you like it.

[chaos-squid.livejournal.com]

This is really cool.

I love the tip of his nose for some reason. It's endearing.

[ratcreature]

Thank you! The nose? Heh. I'm glad you like it though.

[senmut]

That is gorgeous artwork!

[ratcreature]

Thank you! I'm glad you like it.

[marinarusalka.livejournal.com]

This is very pretty. I love the colors, and also Ammit is incredibly cool. I wouldn't have had a clue how to draw a crocodile/lion/hippo mix, but you actually pulled it off.

[ratcreature]

Thanks! I'm glad you like it. And thankfully I didn't have to imagine how the parts went together with their demon, because the Egyptians left paintings of this scene where you can see how Ammit looks, so I can't really take any credit for that.