"Twilight Song of the Swan Maiden" by Desiree J. Isphording

Awesome. I love it.

OMG that's beautiful. I'm totally blown away by the detail, but the overall shape and design of it is what impresses me most. The detail is just a bonus to an already brilliant image that just leaves me GAWPING.

really nice attention to detail. beautiful texture and use of the medium. I like all the backstory on this, and how you've confined the drawing by the blank white perimeters, but it is still breaking lose.

I SO love this pic; it's currently my desktop image. BTW, I thought you had a DeviantArt gallery? I've never actually had a deviantart gallery.Update: As of January 2006, I do have a DeviantArt gallery and Print account!

This is a beautifuly drawn peice of art, and the detail is amazing. I know that she is a swan maiden, but her neck looks like it's gonna break because it's so long...it she looks like one of those women who stretch their necks by putting rings around them, but the sad thing is, is that if they get taken off, they die, because they have no muscles in their neck. This is what this looks like. Maybe a little shorter? Beautiful detail though.Actually, I watched a program on those women who wrap coils of brass around their necks to enlongate them on National Geographic channel (or perhaps Discovery channel, I don't recall at the moment) and one of the girls actually took her coils off because she wanted to experience what life would be like without them. Although she felt sore and uncomfortable since her neck was unsupported, she certainly did not die from the removal of the coils.I should mention that in virtually all of my pieces I am not attempting strict realism. They are mythic representations of decidedly nonhuman creatures, faeries, deities, archetypes, etc. and, for me, depicting them often involves shifting "normal" ideas of proportion, anatomy etc. I am quite capable of drawing proportionate humans directly from life, but these pieces were never intended to be life drawings (Elfwood is a science fiction and fantasy gallery, is it not?).

Magical ! And it works great in black & white.

Amazing! I mean, there's so much detail. It's fantatic! You're so good when it comes to design. I'd love to hang out with you and chat about your techniques. Anyways, just a bit of thinking. Your art is so commendable. This picture is an excellent example of that.

Although I love all your work, I was driven to comment on this not so much by the beauty and power of your work - and it is both beautiful and powerful - but by the fury at such an obnoxious comment by one "missiattitude." As a protest against her anonymity, I'll for once include a means of contact.

The detail in this piece is astounding; her hair alone could be a source of inspiration for hours. I also admire the amount of attention you give to background, both in the piece itself and in actual research. It lends a feeling of completeness that is more difficult to find than it should be.

I wish I knew her story, although you are by no means obligated to write one. My imagination is already happily at work.Yes, "missiattitude/Ms.Upyours" has commented elsewhere, namely on my Another Deerwoman piece. Apparently she has too much time on her hands (although evidently not enough to come up with an actual critique of the artwork). I deleted her comment, although now I actually regret doing so, but it's now too late to un-delete it. If she had posted an actual critique of the piece, either of its concept or execution, I would have left it, but as it was it was just a waste of space.

Beautiful! I love how graceful she is!

While you did bend many anatomical 'rules' it is clear that you know enough to properly break those rules for a desired effect, and I have to commend your ability to do that so well.

wow....