So, I decided to shoot for another digital painting. The above image is NOT the complete picture, so if you want to view the full painting (including up close shots of the details in certain parts, please click the read more. Also, I suppose considering this image is kinda dark and macabre, expect a slight explanation and my reasoning behind it.
This is another one of my attempts to digital paint. I wanted to do a full scene, and having Hiccup, Toothless, and two other dragons all together in one painting was quite a challenge (and possibly over ambitious...). The style is a little bit like my Toothless Yawns painting. I do a line art, and then I paint beneath it. That way it keeps kinda the crisp line-art look, while attempting to add the pop and emotion of color. It was very time consuming, probably about eight or nine hours of painting (and I copied this line art off of an earlier piece). This style is easier for me than most... but I still don't know if I'd call it good. When I look at other HTTYD artists, they all seem to be head and shoulders above my work. Still, practice makes perfect, and I tried some new techniques with this.
As for the themes behind the images, the title makes it a little obvious. To love is to be vulnerable. That is just the way life is and there is way around it. If you allow your heart to care about something or someone, expect to get wounded either by or because of them. Now, that sounds awfully bleak, and I don't want to leave it that way. I have learned through lots and lots of hard times and unpleasant turn ups that the things I love are often the things that cause me the most pain. Even HTTYD has done that. But it hurts because you care, and that leaves you two options.
1) Seal yourself off. Don't care about anything or anyone. Be passionless. You'll be safe and your heart will be protected.
2) Risk it. A life lived in fear is no life at all. Sure, you will get hurt, but in the end you can also know love. Nothing great is ever achieved without taking risks or suffering loss, and in the end, I do believe that love is worth the pain. Love of others, love stories, love life, and love God. Yes, it will hurt. You'll fail, others may fail you (though thankfully I can state with confidence that God will not), but in the end it is worth the wounds.
And that, though it may not strike you at first, is part of the above message. Hiccup has been wounded, and wounded by an enemy of Toothless because of Toothless. Then there is a Skrill, a dragon that (at least in this painting) would not be particularly interested in Toothless, but is very keen on making a snack out of Hiccup. Hiccup and Toothless's loyalty to one another is causing both of them great pain. Their both wounded, grounded, surrounded. But, I do just want to note what Toothless is doing. He's looking in on Hiccup, and he's taking the blows. He's let Hiccup be hurt, and his eyes are teary in apology. He has turned his back on his own rival, and his body is facing the enemy that wants Hiccup, not who wants him. And that is what I want to display. Even in the pain and loss and hurt, loyalty and love still exist, and in this they exist visually. Toothless is desperate to keep Hiccup safe, desperate enough to turn his back on himself and face in, ignoring his own bleeding wounds. And that's what love is, it's a putting of others before yourself. If you do that, yes, you'll be hurt, but you'll also come to understand that a life lived for self is truly worthless, and a life lived in love is a shockingly beautiful thing.
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