Amaterasu

I did a piece of art for a project in my Mythologies class....this is Amaterasu, the Japanese sun goddess. To sum it up, she went in a cave, the world was dying because it didn't have any sun, the other gods all gathered and laughed at Uzume's dancing, and hung up a mirror on a tree outside the cave. When Amaterasu finally got curious about what everyone was laughing about, she peeked out and saw herself in a mirror for the first time and was fascinated with her own beauty...they pulled her out, blocked the cave behind her, and everything was good again. Yay. And pretty much everything in the painting has a symbolic meaning of some sort, maybe when I get unlazy I will type it all up.

edit: i submitted the whole paper thingy that i wrote to accompany this painting, feel free to go browse it if you are curious about the mythology or the symbols of the painting: [link]

Anyway.

Pencil, paper, and PSP 6
20+ hours

I used a lot of different references...but unlike some people, by references I really do mean I just referenced, and didn't copy. So yeah. The closest thing to copying was the phoenix design on her kimono, but even that isn't exact.

Yeah. I definately found myself wishing I had my oils to just mix the dang colors I wanted instead of trying to find them on the little color wheel thingy, but oh well. I survived. Sort of. (Although she still looks like a zombie..)

I digress....at any rate, hope you guys enjoy