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"Incipit Vita Nova"299 viewsPersephone, 2517, the year Dr. Simon Tam first sets foot aboard Serenity. A pivotal moment that marks the beginning of a new life for River and her brother. This piece shows Simon, on the ramp of Serenity, where he meets Kaylee, who introduces him to Mal (O.S.). That pose of Simon alone, briefcase in hand, is enough to make me want to cry. He looks so out of place! And he is. All because of River, for whom he sacrificed everything, just so she could be safe. This is a man who, were it not for his great love for River, would never be here! The Title is taken from Dante's "La Vita Nuova" (= The New Life). And we see a page, supposedly from Simon's diary, which reads, paraphrased after Dante, "In that book which is my memory, on the first page of the chapter that is the day when I first entered Serenity, appear the words: Here begins a new life (= Incipit Vita Nova)."albatross
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Explore All214 viewsMy favorite RPG, Mass Effect, depicting my favorite female role character: Jane Shepard. Femshep facing battle, facing the Council, and facing romance.albatross
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"This is paranoid schizophrenia."210 views
This is the first in my new River "State of Mind" series. As we open up the walls of River's reality, so to speak, we see the reason behind her troubled mental state: paranoid schizophrenia, hand-crafted by government scientists who thought River's brain was a rutting playground. The idea is to get a glimpse at what's been buried beneath those layers of psychosis. The peeling off of reality, as it were, opens up the door to a lot of symbolism: eleven inherent metaphoric parallels already there. :) This particular pose on the couch is one of my favorites scenes. River, withdrawn into herself, has to face her demons herself.
This picture differs from the one I originally posted at FFF.net, in that it has a different font, and was edited for small pixel errors and such.albatross
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"Merciful God"191 views
River Tam at Miranda, pleading to God to make her a stone. "Merciful God" depicts this highly dramatic scene, where my poor, helpless River, who can't not feel, is forced to feel for 30 million dead people! It always touches me profoundly, as I feel myself overwhelmed with sorrow for what they did to my dearest little one. :(albatross
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Connection181 viewsThis small theme focusses on the relationship between my two favorite characters: Femshep + Liara! :) Only the Liara with the probing eyes, to the right, is entirely sharp. Made the lighting a bit spooky, though, to give off a sort of psychic vibe (original is from a grab at Therum). The middle Liara contours are from a self-explanatory scene, depicting Liara's romantic interest in Femshep. The half-transparent Femshep image to the left was my feeble attempt to mimic the feel of the main characters fading in thingy, the way it's done at the start of the game. Needless to say, doing so is harder than it looks. :) She faces the middle Liara, as per Liara's thoughts.albatross
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"Noah's Ark is a problem."179 views
Another piece in River's "vision" series. The central figure is River, reading the story of Noah's Ark. The foreground River, from OiS, is the visualization of River at the table, trying to picture the story. Since River is, as it were, projecting the scene, notice the absence of water behind her! (because she only sees extra 'props', so to speak, where her focus is). The Bible page on the right I scanned is actually of the story of Noah's Ark, and is meant to remind the viewer that everything River 'sees', she sees while reading Book's Bible. Composition-wise, instead of painstakingly trying to edit out the original upward branch from her hair, I found what I thought was an elegant solution: I removed part of side of her hair, and had it merge with the hair, also hanging down, from the River at the table. And I think it works surprisingly well. All-in-all, at least I feel I succeeded in taking this well-known River pose from OiS, and doing something completely different with it.albatross
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"Time to wake up!"176 viewsI'm becoming increasingly aware of the subtle, but important link between Mal and River. Sure, Simon rescued her. Very heroesque, for certain. But Mal gave her a home. He had no reason to, and had a perfect way out even; but he did not take it. Instead, he has always protected her. In many ways, Mal has been equally instrumental to River's healing as Simon. That's what this very simple work is about. It shows Mal and River. The basis is the "I'm alright" scene of the BDM, where River, after things got much. much worse, reaches a turning point, and finally starts her healing. It has Mal in it too, in the "They won't see this coming" scene, with our BDH bathing in an almost Angelic light. I took a quote from Evanescence this time (lol, my turn to join the line of Evanescence quoters): "But through my tears breaks a blinding light, birthing a dawn to this endless night," signifying the beginning of the end of River's suffering. Dedicated to my dear friend, FollowMal. albatross
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"I can win this!"167 viewsI decided to give the "River and burning swing" scene a swing. Very difficult theme, though. How do you capture River's innocence lost at that swing? And still have something artistic to say. You tell me! I felt a certain thrill thinking not just of the losses of our dearest River, but of how she came out victorious in the end. So, short of having her machete away at Reavers, I took the theme from Objects in Space, where's she playing a game with Kaylee, and did a sort of premonition/memory of Miranda thing with it, only to add the ever sweet "I can win this!" words. The view is kinda panoramic, what with the surface of Miranda and all, to get that planetary feel going between the two blue objects.albatross
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The power of two... by two152 views2x2, a familiar phrase, usually associated with River's torment at the Blue Hands. I did something different with it, though. I wanted to express River's awesome mental, but especially rapidly expanding psychic abilities (by the end of the BDM she can read Mal's mind). Hence, 2x2, as iterating multiplication, doubling her powers at each step; as in: (soon) no power in the Verse can stop her. :) The image shows a kind of third-eye thingy, waving out a blinding, be it benign, power -- made visible for the occassion -- from her forehead (allegedly where the third eye resides; work with me, here). Her introspective pose only adds to the focus on her overwhelmning internal potential.albatross
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Sometimes a thing gets broke, can't be fixed.146 views
In loving memory of Hoban Washburne.
The main theme is a leaf on the wind... but a falling leaf; extra accentuated, and given some properties of motion. I went with subtle, this time. :) I took the scene from the BDM, where Wash finds his untimely demise. But instead of using the shocking impale scene in full, I just, softly, show Washes face (also in red; makes for a nice association), to the right of the red leaf -- the cruelty of that scene, IMHO, warrants only the faintest image.
The Zoe look is from OoG, right after she first met Wash. Instead of showing her lovingly smile at Wash, or some such, I decided to take the scene where she's less than fond of him: "Just something about him bothers me." It underlines the great journey this crew has made, in terms of inter-personal relationships as well.
Undearneath, we see River. Initially I had the scene where River sets up the rocket; but I thought this was more subtle: she's walking away, AFTER the funeral, resigned to the unchangeable: a dear crew member died, and there ain't nothing she or anyone else can do 'bout that. Hence the title.albatross
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Hero Worship140 viewsFemshep and Liara, they remain a fascinating item. :)
A bit of an unusual image, this time, though. The whole theme is basically Liara giving Femshep that significant 'Hero Worship' glance at Therum. Much of it is actually rather self-explanatory. There's a bit of that 'swimming-pool' design holding cell Liara got herself suspended in; and, of course, a hero-shot of Femshep, once more unto the breach (at her showdown with Saren), half of her face appearing in Asari blue (the color, given the right frame, near as good looks that way because of Saren's biotic attacks; but split over half her face, I figured it made for a nice metaphor, what with a human/Asari romance and all).
Took me hours to make. Primarily because I kept adding stuff I needed to throw out afterwards anyway. :) Like pieces of a Galaxy Map, a background image of Saren in a corner, etc. None of it worked, really. So, at long last I decided just to leave it "as is".albatross
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