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SciFi & Fantasy Art / Gallery 508 of 1003 / Daniel D. Copeland (the Naked Celt) / Picture 6 of 11 / Ishtar before Allatû

"Ishtar before Allatû" by Daniel D. Copeland (the Naked Celt)

SciFi/Fantasy Picture 6 out of 11 by Daniel D. Copeland (the Naked Celt). ←Previous - Next→

SciFi and Fantasy Art Ishtar before Allatû by Daniel D. Copeland (the Naked Celt)

This was a complex experiment, and I’m not sure it worked out the way it was supposed to. In Babylonian myth, the god Tammuz dies, and Ishtar, goddess of life and love, descends into the world of the dead to get him back. At each of the seven gates of the underworld she is required to remove a garment until she stands naked before Allatû, the queen of the dead.

Now, I don’t actually know a great deal about Babylonian myth. I must confess I hijacked the story to express my own ideas. Here we have Allatû on a peacock throne; Ishtar’s big-mouthed demon captors, and their curious choice of weapons; the suspiciously familiar shape of the fire-pit in the foreground; and the tortured form of one of the damned, recognising in Ishtar her only hope of release. On reflection, it’s probably all rather too allegorical.

(The inscription above the door, however, does not hold the key. Quite the contrary — it is a meaningless incantation designed to drive insane those who attempt to read it, thus making them easier prey.)

I’m not too happy with the composition. As with Basilisk, the dark pencil shading somehow means it uses much more kilobyte-space than my other pictures, so that I’ve had to squeeze it down smaller to make it fit. Allatû on her throne doesn’t grab your attention anywhere near as strongly as she was supposed to. I should have taken a lot more care with the texture of the smoke. And so on.

No, I’m not going to tell you what it means. See if you can guess. Pencil drawing, enhanced in PhotoStudio 2000.

Date	Name	Comment
26 Oct 2004	Ogambear	Loading... Indeed, NakedCelt, the inscription above the door would drive anyone insane trying to read it: how on earth did a runic inscription get into the Babylonian underworld? (chuckle) You've done a thorough and perceptive self-critique on this piece: I encourage you to do what you feel is needed. Give it your best attentions and we'll cheer you on gladly. Daniel D. Copeland (the Naked Celt) replies: "Ah, so you've been fooled by the angular letter forms into thinking it's Runic? (On reflection, though, you're right; pseudo-cuneiform would have been more appropriate.)"
3 Sep 2005	Shavon K. Martin	Loading... The legs on the bowing victim seem slightly off, otherwise I say this is queit a lovly picture... or not a lovly picture? Well done, all and all. Quality.
6 Nov 2005	Anonymous	Loading... It looks like it was drawn by a horny 12 year old to impress his friends during role playing games. Seriously, this is bad. When you draw fantasy creatures you still need to make them look real. Out of proportion is one thing when you're doing it on purpose to make something look more non-human. When you're just off because you can't draw, like the legs of your whatever-they-are gaurds, you can tell. It's mostly the legs and feet. Mostly the feet. Then there's the bit of lazy in the middle. I imagine it's smoke but really, it's just where you scribbled on the page. Is there some sort of reason why the smoke goes over toward the woman on the throne, rather than up? Or why the woman on her hands and knees is reaching into smoke but at an angle from the fire? I mean besides you wanting to draw a crotch shot. Why are they burning a leopard?
9 Jun 2006	Mecha	Loading... Dude, this is really bad. You claim to be a professional illustrator?!
10 Aug 2006	Fiern	Loading... i think my favorite part of this picture are the bones in the firepit. Theyw ay you got them right at that point where they're burned completely black with just the inner red heat showing through the cracks right before they crumble. Obvious the 'leopard' commentor has never watched a real fire.. I do agree though that some of the proportions need a little work, and it isn't as if you picked the easiest angles to draw at either! (Yeah.. I'm one of those people who has the one angle they can draw people from and clings to it desperately. In retrospect, trying other poses, on pieces like this would probably force me to improve a great deal. So kudos to you for having the guts to try stuff like this!)
16 Oct 2010	Anon.	Loading... It DOES look like a burning jaguar. In an ashtray...