Final paintings: set 2

Some Ideas for the future?

Why do I get inspired at the last minute???  I doubt I'll have time to finish these along with my main 8 paintings, but I wanted to post drafts for fear of eyes and fear of heights.  The compositions still need a lot of thought, but I wanted to sketch out some colors and initial "camera views."  I will add these to my collection as soon as possible.

Final Paintings: Set 1

These are all up to a level I'm comfortable with.  If I find myself with extra time, I may touch up some things, but I'm going to work on the last four first.

Although I'd like to continue to work down my phobia list, I think these will be the set I refine for the fall show.  I need to take some time now and go back and work on details and other changes.

being bound

chins

decisions

failure

gaiety

hair

hands

swallowing

An overview of all the phobias I have already created environments for:

fear of being bound
(notes: adjust the lighting to add more tension, reference http://www.viz.tamu.edu/courses/viza643/11fall/light.htm )

fear of chins
(notes: make the stalactites a little more obviously chin shaped)

fear of making decisions
(notes: make each of the creatures look different, add more "indecisiveness" to the environment)

fear of swallowing
(notes: make the bug spikier)

fear of gaiety

I revisited "fear of swallowing" in an attempt to add more tension between the creature and environment  Now he is surrounded by food that is too big to swallow, and too much water to drink.  This image (which is 70% done) will replace the previous forest scene.
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Phobias in Environments

Fear of Gaiety/Happiness/Joy

Fear of Swallowing

I made some more skeletal plans for different phobias.

fear of eyes

fear of hair

fear of hands

fear of swallowing

For now I have decided to veer away from the fearful/feared object duo.  I have compiled a list of phobias I want to include in my final:

Swallowing

Hands

Eyes

Gaiety

Chins

Being bound

Pain

Failure

Decisions

Hair

Other possibilities I am considering:

Insanity

Sitting

Being alone

I saw this image in a National Geographic issue a while back.  The article was discussing if fear is primarily a learned or instinctual behavior.  I can't find the article, but I'll keep looking.

EDIT: Here is the article.  The section in question is page 9, titled "Afraid of What?" http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/health-and-human-body/human-body/mind-brain/#page=9

Fear of anger (or of expressing one's anger): This is a creature who has the potential to be dangerous (claws, teeth, quills), but is intentionally restraining itself (claws are scratched dull, wears a muzzle, etc.)

Fear of making decisions: choices lead to action, so the main part of this creature (containing all the vital organs) has become a static, almost plant-like shape.  Its multiple appendages serve as proxies that allow it to experience the result of different choices without the dread of missing out by "choosing wrong."

Fear of insanity:  This creature's fixation on the state of its mind has become such an obsession that it focuses on nothing else.  Its gaze is turned inward so outward senses are diminished: eyes have developed cataracts, muscles have atrophied (I want to redesign this and make its legs more spindly).  It has placed its brain in a place where it feels it can be protected.

In the spirit of delving into the the biological classification of these creatures, I am interested in the possibility of showing some of their skeletal structures.  This is "fear of chins":

I've also created a clay mockup of "fear of failure."  Unfortunately I discovered too late that my camera has disappeared, but I will bring the object to class.

Here is an initial attempt at setting creatures in an environment (it's just a rough sketch).  The fearful/feared creatures for "fear of pain" seemed like they would live in an arid climate, so I painted a hunting scene in a giant plain.  I also tried to make the feared object spikier and more painful looking.

In an attempt to break away from just doing phobias of the senses, here is a design for "fear of failure."  On one hand, it has somewhat adapted to its sedentary lifestyle: coloring helps it camouflage with the foliage it lives in, forward-facing eyes allow it to see upwards when it lies in wait for food.  On the other hand, I wanted to show that this lifestyle isn't completely natural for it: it has the ears, nose, and legs of a creature meant for motion.  Ultimately this is a creature that is so paralyzed by the thought of messing up, that it can only lie there and wait for food to come to it and exerts no effort of its own.

I've gone back to pen drawings for now.  I want to work out more ideas before I get into color.

Fear of being tied up or bound: The fearful is flexible like a snake, able to bend in almost any direction.
He is equipped with various blades and claws, which are able to cut through many materials.

Fear of being bound: The feared wraps its prey in tentacles and consumes it slowly, using a proboscis to drain fluids.

 Fear of chins: The fearful at the top and the feared at the bottom.

I tried to rethink fear of the dark: the feared object.  I wanted it to have more of a connection with the fearful object, so here is my new design.  The predator is small, it has a phosphorescent appendage of its own that it uses to attract the fearful object.  It consumes the fearful's light-casting appendage and stabs out it's eyes, permanently blinding it.

Fear of hair: fearful top, feared bottom

 These don't have predator/prey counterparts, but here are some more (I was trying to be more spontaneous with the designs, but I don't think they work as well).
1. fear of meat (herbivore)
2. fear of sitting (it's a head with legs, so it can't physically sit)
3. fear of perfection (this is the feared object, and none of its structure is symmetrical)
4. fear of numbers (the only thing I could think of was having no identifiable body parts that could be counted)

Then just for fun I started combining phobias.
Fear of smiling......and snakes.

 

Fear of bats and geese: