Water Margin

Finally got around to doing this. This was a small project I did over the course of my graduating term. It was honestly something I had to do to revisit my drawing roots and why I picked up a pencil and started drawing when I was a kid. 

The following are my re-imagining of a few main characters within Water Margin as animals indigenous to China.

But for a little background, Water Margin (also known as Outlaws of the Marsh), is one of the four great Chinese classical novels, alongside “Journey to the West”, “Romance of the Three Kingdoms”, and “Dream of the Red Chamber”.  

FYI, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_Margin

The tale is a tale of brotherhood, corrupt governments, renegade justice, and honor among thieves. Imagine Robin Hood with a mix of Chaucer, in the style of Guy Ritchie & Quentin Tarantino, written in prose during 14th century China.

My goal was to marry the western ideologies in art with my drawing style, and most importantly, to the settings in which the story took place. I took generous liberties, but part of the challenge was to use my experience and knowledge of cultures to cater this "Chinese product" to a broader western audience.

More sketches and studies.

I want to make more.

My surrogate mothers

I fly a lot. I've racked up air-mileage which takes me to the moon and back, and then some. I don't even want to figure out how many weeks i've spent up in the air. I think the number of flight attendants who have brought me meals and drinks could fill up a small movie theater.

You don't think of it, but when you spend this much time off your feet, you look at the people around you very differently. You're in a metal cabin, thousands of feet in the air. If you're flying alone, which is often, chances are that you don't know anybody on the flight. You don't really think of it, but the people keeping you up in the air are the two pilots up front, and the people keeping all the people in the cabin tame are the flight attendants.

Sleeping on a plane never gets natural for me. It's something to do with the upright seats (yes, I fly the cheapest seats) and how loud the ambiance noise in the cabin is. A flying experience is something akin to mild insomnia: you're always tired, but you can never sleep. Time means nothing at all, and you're never really awake, and you're never really asleep.

Flight attendants work shifts, and sometimes you don't even recognize that it's a different person. They bring you food, they bring you drinks, and sometimes on their better judgement, they stop bringing you drinks. If you're anything like me who has slight anxiety and commitment issues, you probably instinctively find ways to hate your neighbor, so the flight attendant is by default and the natural order of things, your closest friend. You press a button and they attend to your need. You ask for anything, they'll work with you and help you find a solution. Whether you know it and whether you like it or not, they are your mothers in the air.

I know it's a job, but it's another dedication to service a long-haul aircraft. In my flying experience, there are a lot of times when customers give these service people so much shit that I feel sorry for them. But I don't have the balls to tell these customers that they're not flying first class. If you paid for business, they'll give you the business-class "I'll take your shit" treatment; sorry, you're in economy. This is my long-winded way of paying homage for these single-serving people who have made my life so much better. I tip my proverbial hat to all these surrogate mothers of mine.

Please take your seat and fasten your seat belt. And also make sure your seat-back and folding-trays are in their full upright position.