"Pride"

"Pride"

2023

The dude from the photo I referenced this from was cute as hell, but his face was a pain to draw. Took me almost a week to get right. 

"The Shadow of Despair"

2023

In rode the Lord of the Nazgûl. A great black shape against the fires beyond he loomed up, grown to a vast menace of despair. In rode the Lord of the Nazgûl, under the archway that no enemy ever yet had passed, and all fled before his face.

-"The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King", by J.R.R. Tolkien

Behold! The Witch-king's moment of (near) triumph!

A notoriously, and unnecessarily, controversial scene. A lot of people don't like to see Gandalf the White being trounced by the Lord of the Nazgûl. Yet the reason why I say unnecessarily controversial is because we know from the texts that the Witch-king was vastly grown in strength at this point, and that Gandalf himself wasn't sure wether he could beat him. Thematically this represents a point of near defeat, where all the defences of Minas Tirith have been broken, and with the commander of the city, a character that in so many ways represents hope, about to fall to the enemy captain, a character that is the embodiment of despair. It therefore makes the subsequent arrival of the Rohirrim that much more powerful. So, and the detractors will have to forgive me, this scene works however you want to put it, and by rights should have been included in the theatrical release.

It's always a treat for me to see two opposing heavyweights of any fantasy story meet in battle. Granted, this was more of a brief clash than a battle; and the Witch-king isn't really the Big-bad from Lord of the Rings. But given that Sauron never comes forth from his tower, this is as good as we get; his second in command, there to enforce his Master's power and will on the battlefield. Gandalf and the Witch-king are also my two favorite LotR characters (and my favorites of any work of fiction, ever) so of course this scene was always going to be a favorite of mine.

"Son of the Sea"

2023

Shuzam, my Half Sea-elf OC, delighting in the joys of the sea.

This is my favorite artwork that I made this year.

"Saruman's Downfall"

2023

There was a crack, and the staff split asunder in Saruman's hand, and the head of it fell down at Gandalf's feet.

-"The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers", by J.R.R. Tolkien

There are a lot of scenes in the Extended Edition of Return of the King that by rights should have been included in the theatrical release; Saruman's final fate ranks among the top of those. And I know this may be a controversial take, but I much prefer him being killed in this scene, fresh after his defeat by the Ents and at Helm's Deep, than at the very anticlimactic Scouring of the Shire business in the books. 

"Gus"

2023

Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes)

Some months ago whilst convalescing from a pretty nasty case of food poisoning I watched Chimp Empire on Netflix, and I thought it was amazing. Chimp society sometimes appears very unnecessarily violent and cruel (not unlike ours), yet there were moments in the series where I was deeply moved with how closely knit and empathetic those chimp families could be towards each other. Again, not unlike us. 

Naturally, I grew very fond of Gus, the socially awkward chimp, so I had to draw him. 

"Free Palestine"

2023

(Artwork and caption made on the first week of the genocidal aggression on Gaza)

I oppose war and violence on general principle. Yet when the root of that violence lies in oppression, colonialism, and apartheid, then it isn't my place, nor anybody else's, to tell an oppressed people that they should not resist and fight back against their tyrants. 

Every single day my social media feed is filled with stories of Palestinian people being shot by Israeli soldiers; and if not that, then it is a kid being strip-searched, or beaten, or arrested without charge, or an elderly person being shoved to the ground; and if not that, then it is a town, or a market place, or a refugee camp, or a mosque being raided by the Israeli military, and the people inside being harassed and threatened by Israeli settlers. It is infuriating to me to see supposedly liberal/progressive people in the West suddenly care, to see them become outraged at the loss of Israeli civilians, however regrettable and tragic that may be, without having ever said a word about all the systemic, state-sponsored violence against Palestinians that preceded it, and then claim that those that do are being insensitive, or mean, or propagandized. 

I thought we had learned to recognize systems of oppression, no? That to take a neutral stance was to side with the oppressor? I now ask, who is the oppressor here? Who's the powerful country in this circumstance? Who has the nuclear arsenal, the top-grade weapons, control over most of the land and resources, and political and economic backing of the most powerful countries on Earth? I have the answer for you: it is not the Palestinians. 

*be advised: any zionist trolls, colonial apologists, right wing nutters, etc, will get their comments deleted and accounts blocked.