"Perchance to Dream" by Min ´Keiiii´ Kwon

Painted in Photoshop 7.0 from scratch. I worked hard on this one, intending to create a personal masterpiece. The result isn't so perfect... but I got something even better than a masterpiece out of it: a lesson! I learned tons from working on this picture. Many thanks to the folks at conceptart for the critiques. You can find an alternate version and a closeup on the face at keiiii.deviantart.com, my deviantart gallery.

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As a themed gallery, I think Elfwood has excellent rules regarding genre. Elfwood has grown and evolved, and I understand perfectly well the need for certain things to be spelled out.

However... sometimes, a picture feels magical precisely because it contains no in-your-face depictions of magic. Such artworks are charming and special because the viewers get to create their own magic within the image. I believe this picture is one of them.

Respecting Elfwood's genre rules, I am going to spell out why this is fantasy. If you don't want my explicit descriptions to ruin your experience, you may want to stop reading here. ^^

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The woman in this picture is slowly breathing her last. The butterfly in the foreground is a soul. It isn't hers (she's not dead YET). It is someone close to her -- someone who died before she did, coming to meet her and show her the way to Heaven.

No, this isn't Ophelia. Water's too shallow for drowning. Still kinda reminds you of her, doesn't it?