Project: Zodiac. Ups and downs, and the faith of the 12.

Well, I started this project two years ago. That's a really (relatively) long time ago.

In my teenage days I found horoscopes to be pretty entertaining - no matter if you believe in such things or not - and since then I like to read about all the different zodiacs from different cultures. Great inspiration hides in all those mythical signs, for me anyway.

I decided that it'll be fun to tackle the 12 zodiac signs as a series of themed illustrations. And the brainstorm began! Having so much art styles and options can sometimes be overwhelming for me, and then I get excited and I go something like this: 

I'll do classic representations - animal and human form respectively... um... no, no that's boring and least challenging... hm... I know, I know art nouveau - that's awesome style, kind a vintage looking... no, no too restricting for what characters dance around my brain... all mermaids, all unicorns... no I got it CATS! No, no...

And so on and so forth, until... Who am I kidding, I'm a sucker for steampunk.

It was decided - Steampunk zodiac ladies.

First that came out was Capricorn, ah those hoofs and the fish tail. And a satyr-centaur-mermaid hybrids started swimming in my mind. And the result was this fine lady:

But then I thought something's not quite right, her butt was... well, gigantic butt morphing into a mechanical mermaid tail... and then there she was, stripped down from the mechanical tail, skipping joyfully in my mind... eww... NO, NO, NO! (Shakes head) Then I decided to make her more human(ish) and add the hoofs and the tail as clothing and gadgets. And she transformed:

Color fun began, and went on till this stage:

And after working on all those details, what was fun and enjoyable became pain in the ass. My mind started taking excursions, firstly trying to welcome the rest 11 signs. But after opening the door and warmly smiling no one came in. Isn't there somebody to be friends with my lovely Capricorn? Anybody? Silence (insert wind whistling and tumbleweed rolling)... Oh, what disappointment! Oh, woe! THE END OF THE WORLD! - Well for my lady Capricorn it was! She was doomed, and she still sits, lonely in a scary, dark, cobwebbed corner of my brain.

The time was for a new concept. And a new way of thinking and imagining - instead of jumping euphorically into drawing the first character that happens to fall on my head (I really have a bump on my head... where did it came from... oh my cat dropped a book down on me), I started thinking about all 12 together. How will they go side by side, how will they become BFFs.

And then the revelation came! They're going to be cute, whimsical and somewhat sexy instead of classy and elegant ladies. YES! One by one they started showing up until 10 of them appeared clearly, or almost clearly (still morphing a little but solid enough). And they started dancing around my brain.

Those 10 were more than enough to start sketching concepts. I didn't worried about the remaining 2, they'll be late, but they'll arrive for sure. 

First to materialize were Aquarius, Pisces, Capricorn (again) and Gemini:

And I was ecstatic! Not only the girls were floating around my head, but I even managed to create a beautifully detailed frame. It was time to start coloring while continuing to sketch the rest of the characters.

And so it began, my euphoric and hectic creative life. Working every single free moment on my zodiac girls, while managing a very busy schedule with client work. Even my husband and son started complaining that I was ignoring them, and living in my own world. But when creativity attacks - resistance is futile (enter evil laugh).

Although the beautifully detailed frame had to go (sadly, sob), and be replaced with a less complex one, because it looked too heavy on the colored girls, the drawing euphoria didn't stop. And, Aquarius and Pisces were finished. Of course there were some changes here and there but the concept was solid:

While coloring these two, Leo, Virgo, Libra and Taurus got sketched:

Then the hard times for the girls came. I was so busy with client work, and 'restoring order' in my family as well as tackling several not so fortunate personal issues, the zodiac girls were put on hold. And they waited and waited, screaming to get out of my head.

Finally after almost 9 months life got better for me and my girls. But this is a long time in which I've developed, grew and changed as artist (and person). And the inevitable judgement day for the zodiac girls came. I wasn't quite happy with Capricorn, Libra and Taurus. But I was so excited to getback to my project that I went and sketched Aries and Sagittarius:

And after changes came for Capricorn and Libra, while Taurus was still morphing slightly in my head. Here's "before and after" transformation:

And then life happened again. Between working hard bringing bread on my table and several unfortunate events, I hit the dead end of creativity street. My creative mind went blank. All the creatures that happily skipped around my head, suddenly got exhausted and depressed under the pressures of life and just vanished into a big ugly smudge.

I got so frustrated and depressed for being almost useless, that I began frantically searching for ways to get my creativity and (usually) hyperactive brain back in shape. But when one needs rest they must rest. And the total mental rest lasted for almost 2, very long months. For the first time in my life I haven't touched any drawing or painting 'contraption' for that long. 

As my mind started recovering and resetting by the end of those 2 months, the creatures in my brain started emerging, slowly from the smudge they've became and they needed to be nurtured back to health. Then I began scavenging around both in the real and the virtual world for creativity boosters. During my recovery time I left my zodiac girls to sit and wait and do things doodles do when artists aren't looking. I started working on projects that can pay my bills quickly or in short term, and ignored the calls from the girls, who wanted and needed to be finished. 

The good thing about working on quick (and not so quick) projects that pay bills has advantages, overcoming obstacles placed by outer factors shapes up the brain and helps artists grow and better themselves. I did grew again, and learned new techniques and new software tools, and developed a thing for taking excursions out of my comfort zones. 

And now the time has come to turn my new eyes at my zodiac girls again, and review them and critique them, change them for better where needed, and finally to let Cancer and Scorpio, the last two girls, in.

And the future will bring many tweaks and changes for them, even for the then finished Aquarius and Pisces. I might even change the technique from vector to raster, from Adobe Illustrator to Adobe Photoshop, or maybe some other software. Or maybe I'll keep both versions, vector and raster... time will tell. And I hope some day in the not so far future my girls will emerge in the real world as prints. 

Whew (wipes sweat) that was long. 

If you had the patience and interest to read through this whole post I truly sincerely thank you from all my heart. Feel free to leave a comment, it'll be highly appreciated.

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