The Cult of Shar 🪦⚫️🌌 Based on “The Four Strings of the Violin” by Edward Okuń 🎻 I was inspired by the repetition in this piece and the themes of Vanitas, death, and the devil’s violin. So we have the cult of Shar chanting, led by The Mother Superior Viconia. Shadowheart wearily eyes the Spear of Night that lays in the violin’s place. It’s surrounded by Night Orchids and Nocturne acknowledges her friend’s fate. I was beyond happy to get this piece done in time for FanX so that @jenniferjenglish could sign it🖤🖤🖤
"Rudolph Van Richten and his son Erasmus" - my piece for Memento Mori: A Curse of Strahd Fanzine vol. 2 🩸🧛
You can find the zine @strahdzine 🌹 Be sure to check out the other fantastic artwork and stores in the zine! Everyone did such an amazing job, and I couldn't be more proud to have participated in the zine again ❤️❤️❤️❤️
This piece is based on the painting "Ivan the Terrible and his son Ivan." I knew that I wanted to draw Van Richten for this zine - he's my favorite character (I'm such a sucker for sad old men), and this painting immediately came to mind. The lore surrounding Erasmus Van Richten is so devastating and hunting, and never fails to bring a tear to my eye. In fact, my piece from volume 1 touches on similar themes.
Flowers in this piece are funeral roses, baby's breath, and forget-me-nots.
**Spoilers for Curse of Strahd**
This piece depicts the moment where Van Richten kills his own son, Erasmus. In the Curse of Strahd canon, Erasmus is kidnapped, bitten, and turned into a vampire. He begged his father to end his life and put him out of his misery. With a heavy heart, Van Richten killed his own son. This piece depicts the aftermath of his act of mercy, specifically Van Richten's "what have I done?" moment of pain and horror.
Kill your demons, Kill 'em dead
in your mirror, in your bed,
in your heart, in your head
Don't you look good in red
Slay your devils, Kill 'em all,
Take your throne, Paint the walls,
And if you make it out alive,
Hold that bloody head up high
Good in Red
-The Midnights
Artists commentary below the cut
First off, here's the song:
Spotify Embed
Red version, anyway let's speedrun the symbolisms:
The sword of justice is Apollo and Trucy flavored with the eyes and the diamonds, also the guard is supposed to resemble the scales of justice. There's also Apollo's bracelet and Kazuma's hachamaki, I felt like including a bit of him for the vibes. The halo of stars is used as a crown of immortality which goes with Phoenix's whole thing.
different version of the halo, more sharp and stabby and feathery. Anyway, I wanna ramble about what I was going to do with the background. So, with the theme of 'Kill your demons' I was going to try to include the silhouettes of heads on spears of the people that Phoenix dethroned, like Redd White, Manfred von Karma, Damon Gant, Matt Engarde, and Dahlia Hawthorne. As you can tell, that didn't pan out and no matter how I tried to work it, it didn't look good so I just didn't do it lol. Also, I guess the heads on spears would've gone past the point of being a little too gruesome for me, just in general.
This whole piece is based on one of the many paintings of Judith slaying Holofernes, which is why this specifically takes place in my Fem!Phoenix AU, I thought it hit harder, especially after learning about the version by Artemisia Gentileschi that's implied to be inspired by her own sexual assault. While I followed the versions where it's mostly just 'pretty lady holding a head', her version was more brutal and actually depicting the act of beheading Holofernes which was rad as hell. I just liked the Perseus and Medusa-esque pose of triumph more in the end.
My initial inspiration was Perseus and Medusa but then I stumbled upon the absolute tsunami of Baroque and Renaissance art depicting Judith and Holofernes and I just went crazy. Sure there's the whole vibe of 'cutting off the head of the snake' but there's like one statue of Perseus and it's not very interesting but people really went off on Judith. I love you women committing righteous acts of violence, and obviously, so many painters had the same thought bc holy shit.
And I drew the whole sword of justice and was only a little lazy with the blade because I knew it would be completely hidden
