Happy Calibration @paint-lady! I was very excited by your open brief for the God of the Grill. They sound fantastic and I very much got carried away with creating this. If you’re interested in the process and some WIP images, continue reading below the cut. And as always - thank you @shiftingpath for hosting the Exalted Secret Santa art exchange.
So I actually did quite a lot of research to get here. I started off looking for deities I could draw inspiration from. I had Hestia in my brain, as Goddess of the hearth, but I didn’t really want to go the Greek pantheon way this time. I ended up finding Kojin, a Japanese God of the hearth and deity of the cooking range. The sentiment of taking something dangerous like fire, and using it for the good of humanity, felt like such a strong vibe and I wanted to apply it to the God of the Grill. So Kojin was my starting point.
Kojin has 8 heads and 4-6 arms, which looks awesome, but also was something I didn’t want to just copy without there being any meaning behind it. I figured since the God of the Grill isn’t a powerful God, he could stick with 2 arms. As for the number of heads, I liked the idea of 5 - one for each direction of Creation. I reasoned that 4 of those heads could be a more human-look for the God, each reminiscent of one of the 4 threshold directions (and it also leaves the door open for him to have many other faces!). The 5th look I wanted to be his God form, and I wanted to make sure that it used fire in some way.
I tried a few different things with the heads, but I wasn’t liking anything. I ended up putting the other heads on his body as faces, like little gemstones instead of fancy jewelry. This felt like something which fit my style more and less like an existing deity squeezed into this idea. It was during this time as well I wanted to dress the God of the Grill in a South of Creation style, and I looked into the big glam energies of Bollywood for more style inspiration.
Finally, I wanted to add a few less human-like elements as paint-lady mentioned in the journal post that the God should reflect their charge. So details like the coal on the chest and the hair billowing like smoke came in. Being a foodie, I imagined this God would be on the plus side body wise, so I also took a bit of a swerve back into Japanese references and looked at some sumo wrestlers to try and get the bod type I was searching for in a reference.
Now that I’d actually got the character design down - it was time to actually do the piece! I settled on a simple floating pose because I live for those when it comes to beings with essence, and surrounded the God deliciousness.
Here's the WIP images of the final piece:
And that's everything! I hope you like what I did with this character!!
Happy Calibration and more importantly, congratulations on your wedding, @paint-lady! sorry you missed out on this year's exchange, but @toxinfox was adamant you get a wedding gift from the community. hope it was a wonderful experience and that we'll see you next year!
I am a sucker for Blessed Isle Solars so your Cathak Rowan was my pick! Also I have loved her design and your beautiful work of her since I first saw it so I’m super glad I got you for Secret Santa! I was aiming for “come at me bro” vibes with a hint of the Glorious General Confidence she’ll grow into one day :D I hope I did Red justice <3
(and a tag for @shiftingpath too! Sorry mine’s squeaking in just past the original deadline -- my family was visiting from out of state literally All Month and while I love them dearly they inadvertently suck up Far Too Much of my time and attention 😩 I thought I would finish much sooner than I was able to)
(((Trying to get Ieuan to accept help or do anything they don’t want to is like trying to get a dog to eat its medicine. You just have to wrap it in a bit of ham and they'll eat it fine.
They are smart at one thing, and aside from that, there’s nothing going on up there. Practical, interpersonal, emotional and linguistic intellectual void.
They are big time weak to like, word play. The ham is just wording something slightly differently.
I heard you was getting married, so i drew your gal in a wedding dress? Is she flexing to show off or because she is threatening me for putting her in the dress? Who can say...
The first exhale of breath like steam on winters first snow. The smell of old, old books, too delicate to touch without gloves, too delicate to carry into fluorescent light. Softly humming the song "Hey, Who Really Cares" over afternoon tea. Pristinely preened white owl feathers.
