Title of my entry: Femealien
IDEA / THOUGHTS - BEHIND THE PAINTING
When I saw the theme of this art contest I just could not resist seeing if I could come up with something.
For me, "Futuristic" means Sci-fi.
I am a huge Sci-fi fan with pretty much all films I watch being Sci-fi related.
My interest in Sci-fi began very early in life when I was given a Dan Dare annual for Christmas.
The bright colours of the aliens captured my imagination and took me into fantastical worlds in which I could escape to. Due to having severe asthma I was badly bullied at school and so when I came home I would dive into these alien worlds to help forget certain miserable days : (
To a fledgling artist, seeing the different coloured aliens was positively hypnotic. Funny how we often imagine alien races looking like us but with different coloured skin, also with big eyes, pointy ears and broth red lips lol.
Blue or green skin seems to be the popular choice in anything Sci-fi related.
As I grew into my teens I advanced to watching Star Trek to feed my Sci-fi addiction. Once again aliens with green or blue skin were portrayed. Even today this theme is used so perhaps it has become somewhat the norm.
Thought: Could I fall in love with an alien?
I decided to begin with this idea of aliens having blue or green skin. As a male of the species I prefer to paint women so that was decision number two. Personally, the idea of green skin is somewhat off-putting. I suppose the idea is perhaps related to the green of nature, but for me it also suggests rotting or infected meat - as in gangrene.
Sorry no, I don't believe I could fall in love with a female alien who had green skin.
Blue then? Well it's better than green but is has a cold feel about it. Perhaps alien with blue skin live on planets similar to the antarctic?
This brought me to the next stage.
What is the alien environment like ?
I envisioned a rather colourful world that had lakes formed from unknown chemicals. Poison to drink for human-beings but not for the natives of course. Clean water instinctively looks fresh to us, but would it possible to create liquid that looked alien but still had this freshness feel to it?
I thought about this a lot and came up with the idea of combining pinks and cyan blues. Blue is an obvious choice, but pink? Well the pink came from my love of strawberry ice-cream. There is nothing like fresh strawberry ice-cream on a hot summer day. (Oh no, now I want one lol )
OK so the alien "water" is sorted out, but what about the landscape. Hmm tricky:
Well if the planet was rather cold and the "water" is made from various colourful chemicals, then perhaps the landscape would be rather rocky with strange algae plant-life of exaggerated colours . Perhaps right reds and fresh greens. The reds I could then match with the red lips to help combine the whole image together. This is a common trick used by artists.
Ok back to the female-alien
Try as I might, I just could not imagine myself falling in love with an alien with blue skin. Sorry, my fem-alien has to have human-like skin. I guess skin colour as well as hair colour, is a personal preference for us all. I have always been partial to red hair. The fiery colour suggests a fiery personality, which is often true of course. I imagined that an alien that lived in a cold environment would perhaps have to keep themselves warm with having a natural high blood temperature. The red hair would be a clue to suggest this.
However, just because the blood is fiery, it does not automatically mean the personality would be. I think that an alien living on a cold planet would have a cool personality. Not cold, but cool, calm and collected. Their relationships would perhaps be one that was more spiritually based rather than physically based. They would be deep thinkers who read and wrote spiritual poems. Perhaps their internet would be driven by a kind of spiritual porn : )
OK time to get started
I only just saw the art contest today so it seems i have not got much time.
So I must work small. However, working small does not mean easier, but it seems I will have to work quickly.
I am not known to be a fast painter but here we go.
A simple design letting the colour do most of the work.
As we know the female-alien is spiritual and so thoughtful and so she sits in a thoughtful/thinking pose.
I placed a rock in the "water" above her head to represent a "big thought".
Using cheap watercolours the finished piece took me over 6 hours to complete. As I said, I am not a fast painter but I am rather pleased with the result.
Here she is - Femalien - what do you think?
Whether or not I win a prize I give thanks to @juliakponsford for organising the contest. Such events are very positive to Steemit as they encourage active participation which is, IMO very healthy.
@arthuradamson
@arthuradamson this is a great work that can not be compared to others.you are always good and i knw you will make it.resteemed
What can I say my friend
dear friend @arthuradamson, very nice written article which shows your talent , your skills at a time as a writer & artist, all the drawings are wonderful and i hope that you will win the "art explosion contest" arranged by @juliakponsford. good luck.
UPVOTE
Steem On.!
Thank you @rabeel you support is well appreciated : )
First off @juliakponsford Thanks alot for organizing such a healthy contests over here. No doubt we have very very talented Artists who can create amazing things to amaze the people.
My good friend @arthuradamson your entry for this contest is outstanding and very relative. My all best wishes are with you. Keep Smiling and Stay Blessed.
By the way your gift made me emotional and I can't explain that how much lovely feeling was that. Always keep smiling.
Always grateful for your encouragement my dear friend.
Stay blessed and have a great weekend.
Most welcome my good friend.
Very beautiful as always! I love that you added a backstory!
Hey thanks @deerjay : ) Feedback and encouragement is always appreciated
Awesomeness! Your watercolor painting skills are amazing as is your attention to detail and colour! This piece just jumped off the page at me!
Hey man those words lifted me this morning when I checked my Steemit account. Hearing back from Steemians like that is what gives me motivation and more creative energy to keep going.
Much appreciated @fractalizer - best wishes for Sunday
It is my pleasure to tell you that your art is an inspiration to me too! Great talent should be pointed to!
Just to tell I had look at some of your work and thought is was rather interesting -It reminds me of those kaleidoscope toys I used to have when I was a boy. Quite hypnotic-
I wonder if they could be used as a form of stress therapy.
Following you now : )
Thanks Arthur!
Yes, they can be very stress relieving, check out some of my videos on YouTube or here on Steemit.
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/user/NiagaraDwarf
Thanks for the following!
"I am a huge Sci-fi fan with pretty much all films I watch being Sci-fi related."
You are very tallented steemian. I hope i can be like you. Have a nice day. Regard from Indonesia.
Hey thanks, appreciate the feed back : )
You are welcome my friend. Kep Steem ON!
Amazing !!! :D I love all the colors I love ur style @arthuradamson
Hey thanx - always nice to get feedback - much appreciated @yusaymon
i think you real artist and good thinking, I hope your success .
I thank you for your support @sajjed
Beautiful work! I love the textures in the rocks and the skin tones are perfect! Following and upvoting for a fellow art explosion competitor.
I love your style, the terrain of this is very interesting, it's familiar and alien at the same time, thank you for entering :)
Oh it was my pleasure, it gave me motivation and I so enjoyed doing it.
I never new of your contests until it came in my feed but I think it is a great thing you are doing here to get Steemians engaged.
Thanks for the reply : )
Cool I will now be having the contest every Monday to Sunday so hopefully you will join us again!
For sure I will Julia
Thank you for participating, nice technique!
Thank you it was fun : )
This is awesome
real cool!!! Dig it!!
Hey thanx : )
Wow, amazing work @ArthurAdamson! your colors are so vividly dreamy!
Hey thanx @ankapolo, yes dreamy is a good description