Illustration - Working Methods, Week 2: "Angels/Demons"

This week our project theme was "Angels and Demons." I was pretty stressed out for most of the week. I kept getting hung up on the religious iconography behind the topic: angels, demons, jesus, the cross and the crucifixion, the church, the pope and the vatican... and as much as I didn't want to literally represent angels or demons, I just couldn't get the images out of my head and felt very stuck in a rut for several days.

I then decided I was going to go cartoon on the project and do a robot-angel motif, or be completely blasphemous and do a caricature of the pope looking more demonic than he does already. But, then I re-read my project brief and noticed it said to draw your own 'personal' angels or demon. That added to the stress a hundred fold. By this time it's Wednesday and I've already come up with two 'perfect' ideas and scrapped both; I don't have time to start from scratch! Not only that, but what exactly is a 'personal angel or demon"? Time to dig deep.

After a long brainstorming session, with angel on one side and demon on the other, 'seven deadly sins' appeared on the page, so I wrote them down and realised the only one I could connect with was sloth. I know I'm the opposite of sloth, and many would say I don't have a lazy bone in my body, but I have to fight sloth more than anything.

Theme: Angels/Demons
Working Method: 'Break out of your comfort zone'
Requesite Materials: A3 portrait size cartridege paper
Materials used: A3 paper, acrylic paint (oops, forgot to orient in portrait!)

The concept behind the piece reflects a portion of my view on what it means to be slothful. The sloth comes from the 7 deadly sins as represented in the bible, and I chose to represent sloth because it was one of the few sins that I could connect with. I don't consider myself particularly slothful, but that is only because I fight sloth in myself everyday, by keeping myself active and occupied.

The image is a man who has let himself go; he is reclining in a state of undress, in an unfurnished room save for the mattress he is sitting, which is barren of sheets, and a cross which hangs on the wall. The fact that he is lounging and drinking a beer is not the matter, it is more the fact that he is alone and he is taking for granted an activity that should be enjoyable. He is bored and contemptible.

The cross on the wall is a deliberate reference to the church and the man's supposed belief/faith, and it's juxtaposition in the room is meant to signify the man's disconnect with his faith and how he is not truly living in accordance with 'Christian values.'