More Lovely Art

So to continue on from last week, here’s some more “Lovely and Lethal” art from the exhibit. These two are also on my top list of art from the exhibit. I really like the sense of danger from the radiation one… and the elephant skeleton… well… I just like drawing skeletons.

Radiation

This one was a learning experience. I’ve made art that “glows” before, but the added effect of the texture coming of the glow was something I picked up from making some art for someone else. I also toyed around with line art colors. I don’t think its perfect, and going back I’d probably just use a small table instead of this “half-table” that fades into nothingness.

The inspiration for the “radiation” poster is sort of two fold. First, it the uranium glassware. There is traces of uranium in glassware from the late 1700s - 1800s (I’m not sure if they still do this) to make the dishes glow under UV light. The amount of uranium and type isn’t harmful, at least not usually. Uranium is also in trace amount in uranium ore (rocks) and usually is the kind that can’t go through your skin. However, if it is ingested, like if you drink from a chipped uranium laced cup, then it can get into your system. It’s why I have the star of this poster drinking from a cup (in retrospect, I should have cracked or chipped it… oops). The uranium glassware I used for inspiration is actually on display in the exhibit. As for the star, she’s meant to represent “radium girls.” Those women were exposed to radium paint used in compass production which led to their faces essentially decaying off. We have a radium compass on display too.

Ivory Trade

This guy is supposed to be my representative of the ivory trade. In my mind, his skeleton was boxed up and sold, and now he’s out for revenge. This glow style is more typical of what I do for the effect, but I think in the context of “ghost” it works. I just wanted to make sure the effect was distinct from radiation.

This design was one of the first ones I nailed down. It was pretty straight forward. I needed a mascot to represent the trade of skeletal and shell animal parts. That includes ivory, tortoise shell, and mother of pearl from mollusks. Of those. the elephant tusks that were to be used in the exhibit were the most compelling so, boom, ghost elephant. I originally made it a green color, but after finishing the “arsenic” design I posted in the last blog and the “radiation” in this one, the exhibit was looking too green. The color theme of the exhibit overall is green and purple, so it was suggested I make this guy purple. Honestly, a really good call. I prefer this purple to the green, even if green is my favorite color.

So, what do you think?