Wednesday 16 November 2011

Medea


(right click and open link in new tab/window for full view - blogger scales down the image)

I won a copy of Painter 12 from Digital Artist's contest a few days ago, and finally got round to playing with it. :) I started this one in Photoshop, where I also laid in the final touches - but most of the work was done in Painter.

Reference used for the hand: kindly shared by batchix.

It may be worth mentioning I was specifically inspired by Pasolini's Medea. I found it a flawed, but otherwise very interesting film, both visually and conceptually. I also felt it offered a good insight into the character of Medea, as a person who had lost their way of understanding the world as they had known it.

I also liked Maria Callas' performance in it. Some say it was somewhat stilted, but in my view not so much, certainly not for an 1969 film as stylised as Pasolini's.

If you are curious, here are some links:

Medea (Wikipedia)
Medea (play by Euripides, 431 BC)
Pasolini's Medea on Youtube, in 10 parts

Also, the initial sketch: