My submission to 's "Life, Death, Rebirth" contest. She asked that submissions include one or more of her characters involved in one or more of these themes. I tried to include all three themes into my piece, with Khaos (blue eyed dog) alive, K's brother dead or dying, and the flower representing rebirth.
I spent about a week on this piece meticulously adding fur, the rest (flower, nose, paws, nails, so on) took me about a day. Fur takes a long time to do, doncha know?
This, besides being a contest entry, was also an experiment in drawing things with atmospheric perspective (lighter colors and less detail the further away you are from an object). Thus, K's brother is rather faded and blurry while Khaos (the focus point being somewhere around his nose and the flower) comes into sharper focus and is darker.
So hopefully, everyone appreciatest the symbolism embedded in this piece. I didn't want any blood because gore wasn't my focus and besides, I want the audience to guess what's afflicting Khaos's brother. What could it be? Is there some gaping wound somewhere or illness, or some genetic ailment? It's fun to imagine the explanation and why there is one lone pink rose in the middle of a wasteland.