Fan art for Tasha Suri's THE JASMINE THRONE

[asakiyume]

I have been waiting to draw this for **so long** There's been so much rain, I haven't had a chance. But today was clear, and tomorrow should be too, so!

Here is the relevant quote, describing a yaksa:

From her chest bloomed a great lotus, bursting through exposed ribs. From her eyes streamed marigold petals, flecked gold and carnelian, seeping from beneath the closed lids.

And here is my drawing, partially done...



Close-up on the face at that stage:



The whole thing, finished:



Close-up on the finished face:



And close-up on the lotus:



There are more amazing descriptions on the same page:

"The mouth opened and within it was a flower that unfurled in thorns, virulent blue and black, its heart a cosmos."

and

"Its eyes opened. Gold-petaled. Crimson as blood."

Anyway, I loved the image, and I loved that it let me channel all the South American muralists I follow on Instagram ;-)

Comments

[minoanmiss]

omg this is disturbing and glorious and so, so beautiful. It made me physcially shudder.

[mallorys_camera]

This is spectacular. I love it. (And I also love it that you draw it in sidewalk chalk, a transient medium. 😊 )

[sovay]

The whole thing, finished

That's so great and makes me want to read the book it came from!

[asakiyume]

It's a really good book! I highly recommend it!

[asakiyume]

I love me a transient medium (though I do take photos, LOL)

[asakiyume]

Hurray! That's what the passage did for me, so I count that reaction as a success!

[sartorias]

Such rich color!

[asakiyume]

Good chalks!

[pameladean]

That is gorgeous! And her face is so very like a marigold, it's uncanny. P.

[queenoftheskies]

This captures the passage from the novel perfectly.

[anna_wing]

I
ve been reading "The Lotus Quest" by Mark Griffiths, a really interesting book about the millennially long cultural history of the lotus around the world.

[kore]

That is *gorgeous*!

[asakiyume]

Oh I'm so glad you think so! With the street chalks, it's very hard to get small details, and to make the marigold petals really look marigold like, I would have had to have the face even bigger than it was. I loved that part of the description, though, so I wanted something that at least came near.

The description also makes me think of the mural art of a guy who draws under the name of Stinkfish. He always does people with all sorts of spiritual projections emanating from them, e.g. this and this.

[asakiyume]

Thank you! It could be even richer in color, and like I was saying to pamaladean, the detail of the marigold petals seeping from her eyes could be better done, but I'm satisfied with the *effect* at least, which makes me happy.

[asakiyume]

Ooh, I would love to read that. Some plants are so significant to us all through our history--I read a book on the fig genus, for instance. It was both about figs and how strange and special they are, and also about the history of humans interacting with (and venerating) figs.

I'm gong to make a not about this one.

[asakiyume]

Thank you! I finished it and thought YES, which isn't what I always think ;-)

[amaebi]

I Loe how you waited to be able to make this in chalk, so it could float away.

[osprey_archer]

That's so beautiful! and also ever so slightly scary with the ribs.

[asakiyume]

It was quite the wait! It rained every day in July until the day before yesterday.

I love doing these large-scale, impermanent drawings.

[asakiyume]

Thank you! The story is a South Asian-flavored fantasy, but the images of flowers bursting through ribs and things are ones I associate with Mexico and South America (like this or this). --both those artists are Colombian, but you get it elsewhere too.

[amaebi]

How large is it?

[asakiyume]

Bigger than life-size, but not too much bigger.

[amaebi]

Oooooh!

[wayfaringwordhack]

oh so beautiful and magical :D

[asakiyume]

Thank you! You might like this book (I realize you have little to no leisure reading time, but!)

[pameladean]

It really felt like the essence of marigold.

I finally got a chance to click through your links to Stinkfish's murals. Those are remarkable! I really like the first one, and I see why the description reminded you of his work.

P.

[asakiyume]

Oh wow, I'm so touched--and glad!--that you took the time to go look at his work. I think his art was my favorite of the art we were introduced to on the graffiti tour--and that's saying a lot (I liked the other stuff a lot too).