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rho-cass — Birth of Attis
Published: 2005-05-30 20:39:05 +0000 UTC; Views: 1721; Favourites: 26; Downloads: 95
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Description
Graphite on Strathmore vellum illustration board, 20x30in.This drawing was the result of a rush job. I was about halfway through a project when I decided that I couldn't stand to work on it any more. So at about 4 A.M., four days before the due date, I flip the board over and start this drawing on the back. Hooray for double-sided illustration board! This stuff's too expensive not to use both sides anyway. Of course it wasn't done in time, but it was done enough for the critique. I finished it off later and framed it for a show. You should really see it with the frame; it complements the drawing perfectly, and was a bargain to boot.
This one's my favorite piece so far. I'm hardly ever completely satisfied with my drawings, but I have to say I'm pretty damned proud of this one.
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Comments: 48
_____well, looks like you'v got things pretty well...stichedUp!...kinda made me feel...itchy!?! 👍: 0 ⏩: 0
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This is beautiful! I really admire your work! i'm wondering what the premise for this piece was, i'm curious 
Oh, also, i think i'm going to add you!
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Hey, thanks! I'm glad you like it. (Pleased to meet you, by the way!) Here are a couple of explanations of the premise from the comments: [link] [link] I'd summarize it here and now, but sleepiness and a full stomach are winning out over awareness for me at the moment.
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Interesting! Thanks! I love invented myths!!!
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bargains rock and so does this drawing, but then i think all of your work is awesome!
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If I showed you the graveyard (or closet) where I keep all my old drawings, you'd think differently! Not that I'd ever let anyone see any of that stuff. Not even after I'm dead. XD
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heheh i know what ya mean 
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You work truly inspires me. I've been gone from DA for awhile and haven't had much inspiration. But I have to say looking at your work is giving me the itch to create. This piece of yours is TRANSCENDENT. Can you tell me the story of it?
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Oh wow, thanks! 
The story behind this one? It was pretty much straight out of my head. I know I mentioned to one commentor that I was interested in the subject of sexual ambiguity and mutilation. I named the drawing for the myth of Attis. It involved intersexed gods, self-castration and resurrection, which is like a Holy Trilogy of perfectly strange drawing material.
Here's a link to the original comment: [link] I think I did a better job of explaining there than I'm doing here. I wasn't as sleepy.
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I love to make things based on stories, mythology, songs and poems. Thanks for the most fascinating explanation
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You should be proud, its badass.
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It's a mythological reference. It's one of the most intriguing myths I've ever come across. Here are a couple of links:
[link]
[link]
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Sending me to that site has led me to further spiritual growth in my search for names of the Goddess I follow. In the already well blended attributes of Brigid and Hekate she can be perfectly outlined and can be called by either name I feel depending on what I am focusing on at the time.
Cool Attis myth btw, had not heard it before. Wasn't exactly in the children's library when I read every myth book they had as a kid.
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That's cool.
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This is awesome! I feel really drawn to her; she seems so real.
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This is gorgeous! So well rendered, beautiful and unusual at the same time. I love it!
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Thank you! I'm glad it looks as decent as it does on the computer; I take terrible digital photos, and even though I tried to fix it in Photoshop it's still a pretty cruddy jpeg. Better than nothing, though!
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Once again, I absolutely love it. You never cease to amaze me with the textures you do. And the title is perfect in my opinion, because it makes me think that the figure is literally coming from the earth. I love the sash type thing that sort of becomes a waterfall and the faces that are peeking out from behind, as well as the cloudy smokey shapes. They kind of distort the size of the figure and play with my head a little bit, in a good way. <3
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Thank you! I was desperate for some shapes and textures to fill in the space around the figure, so I looked at a bunch of paintings by Gustav Klimt. He had this great way of utilizing two-dimenisonal shapes in his compositions. I just tried to take what he did and put my own spin on it. Was fun. Stitches=teh suk, however. Those are always a pain to draw.
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This is really cool! I love the hair, and the sewn-together bits of flesh!
---AK
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Thanks! Glad you like it.
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girl u always give me a hard time giviing u critique lol ur stuff is always good
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Thank you, I now have my WTF fix for today!
As usual, it's wonderfully done (even if you say it's a rush job), her hair (and all the items within? O_O) is the best. Excellent shading and mood.
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Thanks! I think I made up for the rush job thing by taking time to work on it after the semester ended.
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A lot of folks have said the hair has a kind of Egyptian-style thing going on with it.
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Fascinating and bewildering; an incredibly beautiful drawing filled to bursting with a generosity of spirit that should inspire artists everywhere...
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wow this is awsome
it is a bit creepy but very neat nonetheless. ^^ I like what you did with the hair.
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gorgeous! honestly how did you feel when you painted this..?
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Umm ... well, I dunno. I wasn't in any particular mood when I started it. I didn't even know how it was going to turn out in the end. I still love it, though.
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Oooh, wow! Which Attis? The Greek one? Is that the Sangarius river? Gorgeous work! 
Your use of illustration board is terrifying though! Reminds me of the Italian masters not being able to afford canvas, so
using the same one over and over again, painting new paintings over old ones. The horror! Why must we be starving artists!
I must go now and contemplate this over sushi.
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Well, I only discovered the Attis myth after I did this drawing, but I'd been considering an artistic exploration into sexual ambiguity and mutilation before. When I stumbled across the Attis story I was fascinated by it. Ain't it the most horribly awesome thing you've ever read? I have to go reread it. I'm planning a series of large color drawings around whole story. This particular drawing really doesn't have anything to do with Attis, but I think the concept fits. And since it was my first baby step into a new concept, I figured the title "Birth of Attis" would be appropriate.
Oh, and don't spaz about the recycling of media. 
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And I thought I'd seen the height of creepiness from you already.. 
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Haha! Meh, I dunno. I really can't explain it. I just do the stuff I find most pleasing aesthetically. I guess the stuff I like to draw just happens to weird people out. And I guess I'm just desensitized. I can never perceive the "wtf-ness" of a drawing until someone comes along and goes "WTF!" Then I'm like, "Is it really all that strange?" Otherwise, I'm pretty much oblivious to the weirdness factor. I'm usually more worried about getting the proportions and perspective correct.
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Haha.. aesthetically pleasing. Are you a big fan of say, [link] or similar then? 
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I clicked that link and started cackling maniacally. That's one screwed up site.
So why was I so intrigued by the "railroad dismemberment" photos the last time I was there?
Geez, maybe I am an oddball. 0_o
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