Dragon Magic, Shamanic Visions, Expanding Art And Fractal Mirrors

Here's how I make my art :)

This is the sketch, made at a festival months ago, just from imagination, conversations with people.

I take a photo of this with my phone, and bring it in FireAlpaca software (free program, very nice)

I then add layers on top of the sketch.

One layer in Multiply mode, blue, and maybe some gradients, experiment, but the layer has to be in Multiply.

Then another layer in Add mode, and here I "paint with light" with an Airbrush tool.

Hours later I have something like this:

Then some weeks go by, I have fun showing this image to people, hear what they say, and one day I decide to play around with reflections, mirroring, and I get two images worth playing with:

This one,

and this one:

Notice how one simple sketch or idea, with enough time and attention spent on it, can grow into something quite amazing, and who knows where it goes next :)

So at this point we have two images to work with.

Both of them can be continued and expanded, but one of them I actually have.

You may want to take some time at this point, to look at the two images, see what you see in them, how you might continue them (and in fact feel free to take and edit them, add ideas, let's collaborate, see where it goes :) )

The image that spoke to me most was the second one, and what drew me in was specifically the darkness. So I drew precisely what I saw inside it, a familiar dark figure with red eyes

My old friend, showing up in this form, and with magical robes that remind of Shipibo shamans from the Amazon. To make things so symmetrical I was using the Symmetry Brush tool in FA, which lets us draw just one side, one eye, and it mirrors the design directly, allowing us to quickly develop stuff and decorate.

I then added more detail and also this Buddha / DJ character showed up below.

Finally, I took even smaller brushes and added in more detail (this was all on an Add type layer, so that whatever I paint on "glows") and got this final version:

So now the complete image looks like this:

Notice how far we came from the initial sketch at the very beginning of the post. Even as I type this new ideas pour down about how to continue. For instance the tables with the laptops, now turned at 90 degrees can look like old school Arcade machines, those that took coins to keep us entertained playing Street Fighter :)

This exploration can (and very likely will) still continue, as new ideas pour in from myself or others. Where would you take it? Can you take another look at your own designs and try this turning and mirroring trick, see what comes out? Show me what you got, Steemit, let's spread those colors <3