The Making of "The Buffalo Demon"

I've put many hours into the artwork, design, and animation for this piece, and an amazing group of people has also contributed their voices, time, and talent to it. I hope you'll enjoy it!

Art resources

After writing and mercilessly editing my script, I took a field trip to the San Francisco Asian Art Museum to work on the visual look of the piece.

Designing the look of Mahisa was fairly simple (you need an evil-looking buffalo? I can do that) but designing a character to represent Durga took more thought. I settled on a character based on sculptures of Durga and other goddesses that date from 900 to 1000 C.E. These sculptures have small waists, large hips, and extensive jewelry, and are clothed in a clinging garment around the hips. The Durga you’ll see in my piece has a body shape, clothing, and jewelry similar to these older Durgas, but she also has the long hair, large eyes, and frequently sweet expressions you’ll see in most popular, contemporary representations.

I studied a series of Rajput paintings (18^th century Indian paintings from Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan) to formulate the style for my own paintings, borrowing their flattened perspective, large expanses of light, flat colors as backgrounds, and eschewal of shadows in favor of outlines to define forms. Interestingly, when I combined these conventions with my personal drawing style, the resulting images actually reminded me of Warner Bros. cartoons as much as Indian paintings! Not the expected result, but I went with it.

I also drew on a visit I made several years ago to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, where I spent an hour with a series of illustrations from the Ramayana. What interested me most about these was that they showed the same character several times in the same picture to illuminate different points in the narrative. I decided to use this same fluid approach to time in my images of the battle scenes in my piece.

The sound of awesome

One of the best parts of creating this piece was working with some super-talented friends.

Dia expertly recorded an amazing voice acting session for us, and everyone contributed a unique touch to the character voices. Lori was a fierce, powerful Durga, Jared gave a gorgeous, stentorian performance as Mahisa. Adrienne, Jenny, Dia, and Jared were hilarious and versatile as the various other demons, and Adrienne also made a brave and mighty lion.

Karla outdid herself creating music with GarageBand; her extensive searches for just the right instruments and samples, and her inspired combinations have paid off in an elegant soundtrack that seamlessly creates the right mood for each scene. Karla also tirelessly edited the voice recording sessions, compiling voice and music files ready to tweak and place in each scene.

I listened to the sound for this piece many, many times while animating the images, and I marveled each time at everyone’s brilliant sound work.

Painting, painting, and more painting

I spent a month creating 29 separate gouache paintings on paper, including separate background paintings, which I put together into the images for this piece. The battle scenes in particular are compiled from series of images that I planned and sketched together, then executed in pieces, scanned, and assembled in Photoshop. This piecemeal approach made it easy to create and store the paintings; if, for example, I had painted the battle between Durga and Mahisa on one continuous sheet, I would have needed a piece of paper that was six and half feet long.

Flashes of inspiration – and irritation

What can I say about Adobe Flash? This Web animation software has allowed me to create some Web artwork that I’m very proud of… on the other hand, it has sometimes taken me to the edge of sanity! This time was no exception. Happily, I survived the week of combining the sound and images and animating the transitions, and the artwork is ready to open tomorrow, Tuesday, October 25^th.

Click here for more about the story of the buffalo demon.

Watch It!

If you haven’t seen Gothtober, the world’s only Halloween countdown Web art calendar, yet, do take a look at some of the other pieces on it… as always, it’s a grab-bag of Web art pieces that range from funny and cute, to gross and scary, to amusingly odd, and are sometimes all three at once.

By the way, as you can probably tell, I did not create The Buffalo Demon with a child audience in mind, so please watch it yourself before deciding whether to share it with a kid.

You will find my piece at the following link; on the Gothtober page, click on the square that says “25.” http://www.gothtober.com/index.html

The Buffalo Demon

It’s October again and I have another piece of art on Gothtober.com. This year’s piece tells an ancient Hindu story in which a demon in the form of a buffalo (yes, that’s right, an evil demon that looks like a bovine with big horns) takes over the world with his army of demons, and has to be taken down.

About the Story

My main resource for the story information was the Devimahatmya, an anonymous text written about fifteen centuries ago in northwest India. The story of the buffalo demon is one of three narratives within this text, and depicts an epic battle on a grand scale. While I chose to reduce the number of characters and scenes for necessary brevity, I have otherwise tried to follow the text fairly closely in my retelling. However, I’m sure I have made mistakes in the way I’ve represented some elements, so if you know Indian culture or this story better than I do, please forgive them.

What’s all the fighting for?

A fierce battle is not a typical subject for me, and, while seated at my drafting table, painting various decapitations and impalements, I did occasionally ask myself why there is so much violence in this story. Although the stories of the Devimahatmya were written down during India’s Classical Age, a time of peace and advancement, they doubtless existed before this as oral traditions, and they reflect the experience of ancient people for whom mortal danger and hand-to-hand combat to the death must have been everyday realities.

As far as I know, the Western view of beings like demons sees them as decidedly evil, and the idea of their redemption is usually not considered. However, in a worldview where all souls are re-born countless times until they reach an ultimate liberation, even demons have a chance at eventual enlightenment. The Devimahatmya’s buffalo demon sequence ends with a long hymn of praise sung by the gods for the conquering goddess Durga, during which they extol her compassion.

…Though they may have committed enough evil to keep them long in torment, even as you strike down our enemies… you think, May they reach heaven through death in battle with me.

Why does your mere glance not reduce all [demons] to ashes? Because when assailed by your weapons and thus purified, even those adversaries may attain the higher worlds. Even toward them your intentions are most gracious. (1)

I find this idea of a transcendent, purifying death in battle sort of chillingly beautiful; it’s inspiring that the demons actually benefit from being killed by Durga, but it still sounds really freaky.

Higher meaning

Like any classic that has withstood the test of time, you can interpret the story of the buffalo demon through several different lenses, such as the ongoing struggle between good and evil in the world, or as a reflection of the individual’s internal battle between the selfish ego and the higher impulses that tame it. There is also something intriguing in the character of Mahisa, the buffalo demon, in that he is not quite what he appears to be (what is his true form, really?). However, even after researching details and contemplating the meaning of this tale for the better part of a year, I still feel like the story is operating at a higher level that I can’t quite pin down.

Click here for more about how I created this piece.

Watch It!

If you haven’t seen Gothtober, the world’s only Halloween countdown Web art calendar, yet, do take a look at some of the other pieces on it… as always, it’s a grab-bag of Web art pieces that range from funny and cute, to gross and scary, to amusingly odd, and are sometimes all three at once.

By the way, as you can probably tell, I did not create The Buffalo Demon with a child audience in mind, so please watch it yourself before deciding whether to share it with a kid.

You will find my piece at the following link; on the Gothtober page, click on the square that says “25.” http://www.gothtober.com/index.html

(1) Devadatta Kali, translator and commentator, In Praise of the Goddess: The Devimahatmya and Its Meaning (Maine: Nicholas-Hays, Inc., 2003), p. 84

Results of the Frankenart ketchup portrait extravaganza

Well, I have discovered that being a ketchup street portrait artist is really fun.

I was one of four artists on duty at the Frankenart Mart ketchup and mustard portrait stand at Zog's Dogs on May 6.

We had a pretty steady stream of takers, who were surprisingly cooperative about posing and holding still while we spurted out artwork. It was sweet how delighted most people were with the idea of ketchup portraits, and how pleased they were with their freshly-squeezed images.

We were even interviewed by the Bay Citizen:

http://www.baycitizen.org/blogs/culturefeed/frankeart-mart-dishing-out-free-ketchup/

Drawing ketchup portraits this Friday, May 6, Noon-2:30ish

I'm pleased to share that I've been invited to join a small group of artists to draw street portraits in ketchup and mustard this Friday at Zog's Dogs hot dog stand. Yes, you read that correctly.

The portraits are free, and so is the crazy wackiness. If you come, expect a perfect likeness of yourself, rendered solely in ketchup and mustard, and executed in a to-go container! Ok, maybe not a perfect likeness, but at least an amusing souvenir from your lunch hour. I practiced a bit on Sunday, and the results were indeed amusing.

Take note that the condiments will be mixed with a painting medium to increase their archival lifetime; in other words, please don't try to eat your portrait.

The skinny:

Friday, May 6

Noon to 2:30 pm

Zog's Dogs

646 Market Street (downtown San Francisco)

Zog's is in the alley behind the McKesson Building, between Market and Post

Frankenart Mart is putting on this event, along with Zog's Dogs. I could try to explain Frankenart Mart, but their web site does it so much better: http://www.frankenartmart.com/. I hear that this is just one of a series of "artist in residence" events that Zog's Dogs has hosted. I can only imagine what the others have been like.

Little Monsters!

I was lurching my way downtown on Muni this September, casting around

frantically

for ideas for this year’s Gothtober piece, when I noticed a little kid sitting next to her grandmother nearby. I idly thought, “What a cute little kid… it would be really fun if she was wearing a monster costume.” Then it occurred to me: why just a costume? What if that little kid was a baby monster? Monsters are sort of scary by definition, but almost anything “baby” is cute. I bet even baby sharks are cute.

With these thoughts as my beginning (except for the part about sharks… there are no baby sharks in my piece, that was just a parenthetical conjecture), I put together a portfolio of little monster cartoons, all set during a day at monster pre-school. I'm certainly not the only person to come up with juvenile creepy characters. Charles Addams did that before I was even born. But it was still fun to come up with my own baby versions of various types of monsters and scary beings.

Cartoons tend to look spontaneous, but the images you’ll see tomorrow are really the result of a thought-out process that includes brainstorming, narrowing down ideas, sketching, creating an ordered illustration plan, drawing model sheets and thumbnail sketches of scenes, and careful pencil and ink work on the final illustrations. Not to mention the joys of Flash programming.

Since my movie piece for Gothtober last year, I have continued to make friends with working in black and white. (You can see my piece from 2009 at http://www.gothtober.com/ARCHIVE/2009/index.html. Click on day 21.) This year’s drawings are inked brushwork on Bristol paper, except for the images in the introduction and credits, which are marker drawings from my model sheets. I had been drawing strictly with ink pens – the old-fashioned kind with calligraphy nibs -- until this summer, when I took a drawing class with artist Alexis Amann at the San Francisco Art Institute. Alexis convinced me to try drawing with a brush, and I’m glad she did.

This entry wouldn’t be complete without a huge (huge!) thank you to Julianna Parr and all the staff of Gothtober.com for Gothtober, and for giving me the chance to share this art. The Gothtober site and all the artwork on it are so much fun… October wouldn’t be the same without it.

My “Little Monsters” piece opens tomorrow, October 13, 2010. You can see it at http://www.gothtober.com/index.html. Just click on the twirling purple knob numbered 13.

A logo for a beautiful reason

I WAS LUCKY to have the opportunity recently to design a logo for Amrita Sacred Threads, a new clothing line. The clothes are a delight: the designer has struck a perfect balance by using Indian sari silk, with its luscious colors and complex woven detail, to make contemporary clothing that you can wear anywhere. But the reason for the clothing line is just as lovely: it supports women in India to be self-sufficient.

After the 2004 tsunami hit the shore of Kerala, India, many women there were widowed and had no way to support themselves and their families. Fortunately, the charitable collective Embracing the World offered a number of these women classes in sewing as a trade skill. The seamstresses’ mastery has increased to creating the beautiful garments you can preview on the Amrita Sacred Threads web site. Sewing these garments gives the women gainful employment that they might not otherwise be able to find.

It’s always an intriguing challenge to come up with a graphic solution that expresses the right message. For this design, I was inspired by a concept that struck me from an early version of the text for the Amrita Sacred Threads web site. The writer had commented that buying and wearing one of these handmade garments creates a beautiful connecting thread between the wearer and the maker. To put this touching idea of connection into an image, I drew a logo design with two woven-looking paisley motifs connected by a thread-like line.

You can read more about Amrita Sacred Threads (and get a look at the logo) at www.amritasacredthreads.com. Also, if you’re in the Bay Area, Amrita Sacred Threads will be at a trunk show in San Francisco on May 5, 2010, and another trunk show in Tiburon on May 14, 2010. See the Events section of the web site for details.

Inheritance cover, book now available

I’m really pleased to share that Iris Jamahl Dunkle’s poetry collection Inheritance, which I designed the cover for, is now available for pre-order through Finishing Line Press. Now is the best time to order copies, since pre-orders will determine the size of the press run.

Having read poems from the collection years ago, it was a pleasant surprise to find that I would be creating a cover illustration for a familiar text. Reading these beautiful, honest poems feels so immediate that it’s almost like listening to a good friend – a friend who is a skilled poet, that is.

Iris was really open-minded and encouraged me to take my own approach to a cover illustration that would convey the spirit of the collection. Starting with Iris’ request for a black and white cover image of the musicians of Bremen town, I suggested adding secondary images from the poems, and using a silhouette style.

Link for online orders: http://www.finishinglinepress.com/NewReleasesandForthcomingTitles.htm

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Iris’ announcement and mail order form

Just wanted to let you all know that my poetry collection Inheritance, will be published by Finishing Line Press on June 25, 2010. This is a limited edition collection, and pre-publication sales will determine the press run, so please reserve your copy by April 30^th. Please take a moment to pre-order a copy and feel free to pass along information about the book. If you’ve already ordered Inheritance, my sincere thanks.

You can purchase the book online at www.finishinglinepress.com by clicking on "2009/10 New Releases" and scrolling down to my book. Or, if you prefer to order by mail, please use the order form below. Copies are $12 each and shipping is only $1.


“In Inheritance, Iris Jamahl Dunkle wipes the tarnish off an old family mirror, focuses her light onto it and back out onto the mythic labyrinths of a pastoral childhood, onto the harrowing city, and onto the straw-gold strands that bind the speaker and a distant beloved. A mother hums “the song of the sink,” the speaker packages the city into a “box, oil-stained and almost translucent,” and looks ahead to bones with “swollen rings (as) in trees”. Many of them sonnets, these small intense poems race past each other like cloud-spots, sun-spots on a wind-eager day, toward the beloved and an intertwined human destiny.” 


– Phyllis Meshulam

Sonoma County Coordinator for California Poets in the Schools.


“With shining images and language, Iris Dunkle explores childhood’s maze to find the self at the center, only to lose that center, as we must, to love… These poems celebrate two of the greatest tools we have for fixing the unfixable, love and language.”

– Gwynn O’Gara

Poet Laureate of Sonoma County, California 2010-2011

Thank you!

Iris Jamahl Dunkle

Please mail all orders to the Finishing Line Press address below or order online at www.finishinglinepress.com (click on “2009/10 New Releases”).

Please send me ______ copy(ies) of Inheritance, by Iris Jamahl Dunkle, at $12.00 per copy.

Enclosed is my check (payable to Finishing Line Press) for $__________

Name

Address

City/State/Zip

Please send check or money order to:

Finishing Line Press

Post Office Box 1626

Georgetown, KY 40324

Happy Holidays 2009

Here’s a look at my 2009 holiday card. This year I played with some of the classic 1951 lyrics to “Sleigh Ride” by lyricist Mitchell Parrish.

I send a holiday card to nearly all my friends, immediate family, and clients, so I have set myself a goal that each year’s card illustration should not focus only on Christmas but should include elements of the season that everyone can relate to.

I felt confident this year turning to the lyrics of Jewish immigrant Parrish, with his cheery rhymes about old-fashioned wintertime fun. A couple of my favorite parts are the sweet image of togetherness in, “There’s a happy feeling nothing in the world can buy -- when they pass around the coffee and the pumpkin pie” followed closely by the gentle reminder that “These wonderful things are the things we remember all through our lives,” and of course the most amusing line to sing out loud, “We’ll be singing the songs we love to sing without a single stop -- by the fireside while we watch the chestnuts pop -- pop, pop, pop!”

BLACK FINGERS!

I’ve been working for the last six weeks on a Web-based art piece for the Halloween countdown calendar Gothtober.com. The calendar releases a new art piece by a different artist for every day of October, and mine will open tomorrow, October 21. I’m very grateful to the creator of Gothtober, Julianna Parr, and to all the Gothtober staff, for giving me an invaluable opportunity to experiment and push my work to a new level, and to share it with a wider audience.

My piece, titled “Black Waters,” tells a touching -- yet creepy! -- story of a monster’s love for a beautiful blonde backpacker. In this piece, I’ve used still and animated charcoal drawings along with voice acting and sound effects to create a sort of hybrid of graphic novel and movie.

I created this piece to go with Gothtober’s theme for 2009, “Drive-In Movie.” I took inspiration from the basic idea and monster image for the 1954 film, “The Creature from the Black Lagoon,” to come up with my own aquatic monster story. “The Creature from the Black Lagoon” is such a part of American movie culture that although I’d never actually seen the film, I’ve always been amused by the image of the monster and the general idea of the story.

In fact, I had already written the first draft of the script for my own piece before I watched the original “Creature from the Black Lagoon,” film for the first time. I was surprised by how similar some elements in my story were to the original storyline and film. In particular, I was intrigued to find that while I had spontaneously decided to set my story in a Florida lagoon that (naturally!) adjoins a cave, in the original “Creature” film, which is set in Brazil, the underwater sequences were actually filmed on location in Florida (!) in a lagoon that leads to, guess what: one of the largest underwater caves in the United States.

The piece incorporates over twenty-five individual charcoal drawings, so designing and executing these illustrations was a large part of this project. On a good day, I would produce five or six drawings, and had the charcoal-coated fingers to prove it. There were some moments when, while deciding whether to use a 2B Conte crayon or a 6B charcoal pencil for a certain shadow, I felt like I was back in art school, stroking and blending my way through a figure drawing – except that I didn’t have a nude monster posing on a platform in front of me. By the way, some of my favorite drawings from this piece are the ones featuring armadillos... I had to do a bit of research in order to depict them properly, and I discovered that armadillos are quite cute!

Working with actors (recruited from among my friends) and sound has been a delightful part of this project, and I’m truly grateful for how generous Dia, Bobby, and Canyon were with their time and creativity. I gave them free rein to portray the characters however they wanted and I was really tickled by the results. It’s just incredibly fun to hear how each person plays his or her part, and to combine the sounds to create the illusion of events unfolding. I only wish I had a photo of Dia and me in front of the mic, Dia screaming and lowering her face into a bowl of water while I grabbed her leg, pretending to be the creature... ah, the things one does for art! In fact, I'm especially grateful to Dia, not only for playing the part of "Marissa," but also for recording me and putting the perfect effects on my voice to create the voice of the creature.

Please take a look at the piece, and let me know what you think. I’m really pleased and excited to share it with you. And don’t worry – the piece opens October 21, but you can go back and view it again later too.

To view it, go to www.gothtober.com and click on the square that says “21” (that’s 21, not 31).

Elsi's home on the Web... plus, a new Cafe Press URL

I’m pleased to announce the new Elsi Tervo web page: http://www.elsitervo.com. Though I took my share of web design classes during the dot com heydays, this is actually the first page that I’ve taken all the way through to posting on the web myself, so creating it was a pretty gratifying experience.

The page links to my Cafe Press shop, and also to my music-themed shirts offered on e-Bay by the legendary Pixelbiscuit Records.

Since the site address is much shorter than the Cafe Press address, it should be easier to pass along to friends, or go back to later for more t-shirt fun.

Also, anyone who has bookmarked the Cafe Press shop directly should take note that the address of the Cafe Press shop itself has changed. The new address is http://www.cafepress.com/elsitervo. The old address had an underscore in it (“elsi_tervo”), which I removed to make it a little simpler.

A Marriage Equality Design for Everyone

I've just enhanced my Cafe Press shop with another marriage equality themed design. The last one I created was specific to California in response to Proposition 8, but this one is for everyone, everywhere! It's clean, it's simple, it's classy... go check it out! 

http://www.cafepress.com/elsitervo

Snacks... rabbits... what more could you want?

I created this pattern for the back of my business card.

Christmas! In April!

Now that I've decide to embrace my blog after several years of denying its very existence, you have to allow me some retrospective posts.

This is a small sample from my holiday card for 2008. I really enjoy creating these cards, since I give myself total freedom to draw anything I want. This card in particular looks a bit like a doodle page, with random holiday-related ideas spontaneously drawn anywhere they'll fit.

Work included in Gothtober.com 2008

In October 2008, I had an animated piece included in the fabulous online Halloween countdown calendar, Gothtober.com! 

Gothtober, a brainchild of artist and illustrator Julianna Parr, counts down the days of October to Halloween by marking each day with an original piece of online art created by a different artist. It's quite fun to go to the site each day in October and find out what's hiding behind that day's virtual door.

My piece opened on Day 21 (and yes, you can still see it now that Day 21 has passed). It's a recording (of yours truly!) singing a traditional Latin American folk song, accompanied by animated versions of my original gouache illustrations. This was my first time animating, so I have an itch to create a second, even better version, but I'm still excited to share Version 1 with you.

Take a look! Go to www.gothtober.com and click on "21" (low on the page, just to the right of the skeleton mariachi trio).

Marriage Equality T-shirt on Cafe Press

These are a couple of snapshots from my Marriage Equality t-shirt. I designed it for all those who believe it's a basic human right to legally marry the person you love and want to build a life with. 

The shirts come in unisex and women's styles, and there's a blue and white version of the design (no color fills) for the more understated wearer. 

Shirts are available now on Cafe Press. Click here to go to my shop:

http://www.cafepress.com/Elsi_Tervo

Entered "Communication Arts" 2009 Illustration Contest

I entered the Communication Arts 2009 illustration contest this week. Winners have their work featured in the bi-monthly magazine's 2009 Illustration Issue (July/August). The image above is a sample from the illustration I entered, a scene from an imagined production of Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream."