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Johanna Iso-Järvenpää

"Unicorn´s pilgrimage" by Johanna Iso-Järvenpää

SciFi/Fantasy Picture 18 out of 22 by Johanna Iso-Järvenpää
 
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SciFi and Fantasy Art Unicorn´s pilgrimage by Johanna Iso-Järvenpää
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This is a commissioned piece for the player of the character unicorn D'allan. I tried to make a portrait of the char. earlier, but now I had proper instructions how to do it.

D'allan is a very complicated character that had been played by it's creator for years in the net. I feel that I should explain what is going on in the picture, since it is filled with symbols:

The white creature is obviously D'allan himself and he is stepping into his own dream world, that only he can see. In there is his bird friend waiting for him. In the dream world everything is a bit twisted, the snakes in the branches are because of that. The real world on the contrary is portrayed as an inside of an old castle. There you can see D'allan's public self portrait, the dark unicorn, that is going towards the commanding hand of a dark wizard (my char.). The hand is holding a jewel that holds the unicorn's spirit and will inside. The blood stains on the floor come from the wound on the uni's front leg as he is walking. Even I don't know the exact meaning of those self caused wounds, to me they are signs of his despair in this awkward situation.

Water colours and coloured pencils on a A4 acid free water colour paper.



DateNameComment 
2 Oct 2004:-) Lisa Jonsson
Nice! Youre so good at drawing horses!
3 Oct 200445 Anonymous
I like how you added a few qualities to your unicorn that more resemble a goat rather than a horse. Too many people draw horses and then stick a horn on their faces. This looks like a more believable unicorn.
3 Oct 200445 Daniela K. Schuette
This is really lovely! I absolutely love the mood and the originality of this piece!
Excellent work!
22 Nov 200445 Melodies
That picture is just gorgious!
28 Jan 200545 Sofia Carvalho <auralis@hot...com>
Beautiful picture! The anatomy on the horse is almost perfet. All the colors are amazing. Nice work!
22 May 2005:-) Emily McDonald
Whoa. This looks like an authentic medieval/Rennaissance piece of art, especially with the curlicue branches. I really love it. It's serene and intriguing. I can almost hear dulcimers and lutes when I look at this.

:-) Johanna Iso-Järvenpää replies: "I didn't think of this as a historical painting, but now that you've said it, I like the idea."
18 Jan 200645 D'allan
I hope that you can understand my English. I'm not able to describe my feelings in English or tell which parts of the picture could have been done better so I'll try to say a few words about D'allan himself. First of all, he was meant to look like malnourished because he doesn't eat or drink anything. His imaginary world may look peaceful and quiet and it really often is. As you can see there's just one tree at that moment and not much else. That place can also be harsh and cruel when it wants to but right now it wants to be pretty and doesn't contain any visible ice, snow or blizzards.

That unicorn is quite wise but even he doesn't know that a jewel at the right of the picture is just a petty item which really holds nothing inside. Unfortunately for him, this time just a belief is enough to cause a lot of trouble. D'allan sometimes causes wounds to himself because he tries to kill himself every now and then just to be able to feel how much it hurts. Of course some damage is essential to make that happen. But there's no need to worry because he is immortal like some unicorns are and isn't truly able to end his days.

Thanks to artist who was patient enough to make this picture although my instructions how to do it were very unclear and over-demanding. I'll try to be nicer customer next time if I'll still get a chance.
18 Mar 2006:-) Dagmar Jung
Pictures of RPG characters are often boring. But this one is a very positive exception! There is a whole story in the picture. It doesn't even need any further textual description.
I also like the concept of a unicorn that isn't just a pretty horse with a horn, but holds the balance between goat and a horse anatomy. This goes not only for the bony hindquarters, but also for head and neck formation.
13 Dec 2006:-) Marina Marlagoutsou
Wow.Just,wow!!The story,the drawing,the colours,everything!!!
23 Aug 2008:-) Ryssa v. horn
i luv the story behind it, and the meaning of all those symbols. 3 1 2
but i think it is either my eye for detail or my need for perfection (worst combination ever!8) that tells me that the light unicorn looks a little bit like a goat, or is that just the doing of a misarable life? ’cuase if it is, i could totally relate.11
but the pic is marvoelous, fantastic, beautiful!!! (can’t think of a word to express how good you are!)1
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About 'Unicorn's pilgrimage':
 • Created by: :-) Johanna Iso-Järvenpää
 • Copyright: ©Johanna Iso-Järvenpää. All rights reserved!

 • Keywords: Unicorn, Landscape, Dream, World, White, Bird, Dark, Castle, Wizard, Snake, Lake, Stained, Glass, Window, Water, Colours
 • Categories: Architecture, Houses, Castles, etc, Landscape, Nature, Panoramic, Mythical Creatures & Assorted Monsters
 • Techniques: Coloured Pencils, Watercolour
 • Submitted: 2004-09-25 14:00:26
 • Views: 957
 • Resolution: 797x534


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