28 Days ago (a time frame both Sandra Bullock AND zombies are familiar with), I decided to give myself a personal challenge to create a brand new "world" from scratch in 30 days, using unfamiliar techniques, subject matter and spontaneous storytelling to hopefully push myself to learn something and re-invigorate myself because I had been feeling somewhat stagnant creatively. The goal was to create enough of that "world" in 30-days to inspire myself to keep going and continue expanding it beyond these 30 days, whether it be through paintings, writing, scribbles, an art show, a phone game, etc.
Well, it's a good thing I'm my own Gollum-like boss because I only have 2 days left and I'm not quite to the point where I would call what I've been creating an entire "world", despite staring in the mirror and yelling at myself in an elvish accent on a nightly basis.
But that's not to say that I haven't been having fun BUILDING a new world. And that's not to say that I didn't meet my goal, because 28 days ago, I had no idea about the legend that tells how Zeus, The God of Thunder, got drunk, mistook a dying planet for his wife, had sex with it and ultimately got that dead planet pregnant. 28 days ago I had no idea that Zeus' godly-sperm could mix with the dead planet's infinite elements and give birth to a never-ending collection of Thunder Babies! I had no idea a planet could even GET pregnant. 28 days ago I had no idea that hundreds of years prior to Zeus's "coming", a race of tiny happy farmers covered the surface of that planet only to be invaded by giant alien chickens, in turn destroying the planet. I had no idea about The Ancients that arrived to use the Thunder Babies' blood for fuel; or what happens when multiple Thunder Babies are genetically combined. I had no idea about the city made of moisture that exists in the clouds. I had never thought about Gus Mountain, King Plenty or the vast but deceivingly gentle forest range called the Elijah Woods.
But now I do. And that's fun for me. And so is creating an ongoing roster of babies out of imaginary elements, knowing they are infused with the sperm of the God of Thunder.
There may not be a lot of visual content to go with much of this YET, but I did get a good start on a direction that I can now leisurely expand upon until I get tired of it, which, if "BUNNYWITH" is any indication, may be never.
I'll be continuing to post some of the "Thunder Babies" ideas, concepts, paintings and mythology that I have been creating when I can, alongside whatever else I'm juggling at the time, starting with this first Thunder Baby, forged from pollen, vengeance, and the godly-sperm of Zeus.
Gouache, ink and digital on paper.
THUNDER BABIES: Day 1
THUNDER BABIES: Day 2
THUNDER BABIES: Day 2.5
THUNDER BABIES: Day 3
THUNDER BABIES: A HISTORY LESSON
