A collage of ideas
I titled this artwork Seeker because of the influences of the Buddhist eyes and the Aztec head symbols I added to it.
The original reference I used was from an Instagram photographic portrait. To it I added the eyes of Buddha from the Monkey Temple in Kathmandu, Nepal.
His head is capped with a stupa I hiked by in the Himalayas near Everest base camp, decorated with prayer flags as they are.
Sprouting from the sides of his head are Aztec symbols of two streams uniting – from the book Mexico Mystique by Frank Waters. These sources have no shared relationship that I am aware of. I added them to simply enhance the portrait.
Reference sources
Photoshop layers for the textures
In Photoshop I brought in textural effects from my own files and recolored them to achieve a kind of gritty sand effect. See the Photoshop layers below.
My original drawing
A great aspect of maintaining a sketchbook is the freedom of expression it allows one. Anything goes as far as I'm concerned. Mixing motifs, species, places, concepts, styles, philosophies and viewpoints are all fair game and seem to be inherently encouraged. I mean, if you can't allow yourself to experiment here in this informal space, then where do you let yourself go?
surreal, lurid, unzipped
