Serpentine Duality
An illustration of a two-headed snake, representing characteristic duality.
For this project, which I've decided to call "Serpentine Duality", I've decided to create a more artistic piece, intended to be produced as a digital print. The concept is that of a snake with two heads, with the two heads representing different emotions. The process included concept thumbnails, lots of rough drafts, and then eventually a digital render.
I started by trying to decide how to illustrate two faces/heads. In nature, a deformed snake with two heads usually has a small split, with two tiny necks separating each head. Drawing the heads this way proved difficult, so I tossed around other ideas. The sketches included both heads with the mouths connected, one head with two snouts, and one neck with two head; however, each of these ideas did not hit the paper the way I wanted to. I ended up liking the thumbnails where both heads were separated by long necks.
I started making rough drafts with the long necks. It started off extremely rough; the concept was there (which was promising), but the heads looked awful and the body was still awkward.I figured out the neck intersection pretty quick, and I continued to draw similar concepts to improve my skill. Eventually, though I messed up the neck intersection, I drew two heads that I really liked. At that point, I realized I was prepared to draw something presentable.
With that, I mustered up a final design. The body was good, not perfect but good. The heads both looked great, although they were vastly different. One head, depicted screaming, held it's jaws open wide bearing a cruel and unique set of teeth. the base of the head was surrounded by large intricate scale, with the Japanese character for 'screaming' printed on them (Japanese characters are sort of an art trend, so I tried it out). The other head was much more graceful. I drew a streamlined, calm head. The design of the head was calm by nature, not to be credited to by the comically dead eyes. I added further detail to the body for a more finished look, along with an experimental lattice structure.
The meaning behind the piece is duality. The first, more obvious representation, is the duality between the screaming, live head in contrast with the graceful but dead persona. In human character, it represents the loss the loss of what makes a person beautiful, while the ugly remaining persona is left screaming, with little left to redeem the loss.
I attempted to bring the final sketch into illustrator. However, as I traced it I wasn't happy with the quality of the design at all. I sort of lost confidence in the design after seeing the ugly tracing, and I ended up leaving it unfinished. dissatisfied with the project, I drew a normal coiled snake and inked it. It looked good, but I completely lost interest in the project. The theme made me uncomfortable, and the actual drawing felt forced and enjoyable. i don't plan to finish the project.
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