This composition was inspired by George MacDonald’s fairy tale The Golden Key, a tale about the journey to the afterlife. In it, a creature, as the one in this composition, serves as a guide for a short while to the main characters on their way to the first stage of their journey. They serve this purpose gladly because they wish to be cooked alive after so that they may move on to their next step of existence. In my piece, this creature is shown up high, seemingly aimless, as though it is lost and unable to find its way back so that it might take its next step.
In this piece, I found the use of smart objects extremely useful in simplifying my workflow after creating the creature. Clipping masks were also extremely helpful in cropping the textures of the creature so that it fit the description in the tale of a creature that moved and looked like a fish, but with the glimmering feathers of a hummingbird instead of scales, and an owl's face in place of a fishes.
I feel like surreal compositions allow for more creative expressions than realistic compositions. They allow for visual metaphors as well as more novel concepts that allow them to communicate more complex ideas and make the viewer think more.
Related website
