This is Denise, a harpy I built for a GURPS game. She’s wild and gets easily distracted. She had a hodgepodge of disadvantages that made her unplayable in anywhere but combat. I ended up retiring her in the first session. Still, I am fond of her design.
I envision her as a redhead with a coppery tinge. Orange is her main color. She has dark skin with freckles. I wanted her to look like this 1970s secretary. Her little skirt and vest were created under the assumption that they would have a hideous 1970s carpet pattern. Her boots aren’t stylized; they’re that big to hide her talons. I’m not sure if I prefer her half-up hairstyle or her ponytail.
There is something magical in James Jean’s art. In his large-scale paintings, James Jean depicts detailed cosmological worlds filled with allegorical, abstract, and contemporary imagery. He incorporates elements of traditional Chinese and Japanese scroll paintings, Japanese woodblock prints, Renaissance ideas, and beautiful imagery into his work. When I first saw Jean’s work, I was enamored. The very first art book that I bought was Pareidolia and I often find myself from time to time curled up on my couch just flipping through the pages, taking in the mastery. One of my favorite pieces is Tiger III. It is a gorgeous illustration that has a slightly psychedelic and 3d aspect to it. The details in the piece do an incredible job of drawing in the viewer.
The topic of adulthood has been on my mind a lot lately. It’s a cartoonish form of adulthood that doesn’t exist, though – one that paints an “adult” as someone with no hobbies or interests, a businesslike frame of mind around everything. I think a part of me feels a need to conform to this fake form of adulthood; so, as I sat on my floor at 4am waiting for a new song to release on Spotify, I felt a dissonance. Is it foolish of me to care so much about the music I like that I’m staying up late? Is this childish? Am I too old for this?
