English
Beginning the English portion was simple, as I knew I had a simple goal in mind: research all I could about the 6 lunar figures I had chosen. The figures I had chosen were Arianrhod, Artemis, Chang'e, Coyoxauhqui, Princess Kaguya and Tsukiyomi. I chose those six because they were from very different cultures and many were several centuries apart in history.
After I gathered every scrap of information I could find on each of the goddesses, I then proceeded to analyze what they did and did not have in common.
Reoccurring themes I noticed were archery, winter, not having a boyfriend, some sort of relationship with the sun god, and some sort of tragedy that left them on the moon.
These were the elements I used to create my own goddess. I made her an archer, like Artemis and Chang'e's husband, a warrior like Coyoxauhqui, and incredibly beautiful like Chang'e, Kaguya, Tsukiyomi, and Artemis. I created the story elements of a forbidden and long distance love like Chang'e (and Artemis depending on who you ask), and choosing to live on the moon rather than marry a man. |
Art
For the art portion, I found art of all 6 gods, both new and old, and listed common features they shared.
Common traits I had noticed was long, dark hair, long flowing robes or dresses, a crown with a crescent moon or stars on it, and an etherial glow.
After looking through the art, I then moved on to research clothes from their areas to see if they had any common traits. Since three out of the six goddesses were asian, this wasn't too difficult, though being several centuries apart did give them notable differences. Once I had finished researching clothes, I then went to a website called Artbreeder. This website allows you to create realistic faces and it lets you blend together different ethnic features to create one face. This was very helpful, as I strived to make my goddess look ethnically diverse, as she was a blend of Chinese, Japanese, Greek, Welsh and Aztec. After getting a good grip on what her face would look like, I then proceed to sketch out story ideas as quick as they came to me.
After that, I simply finalized and colored in the designs
|