30.11.2023

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nice to meet you, where you've been?
i can show you incredible things ✨

incredible things that might want you to throw your phone in a fountain, and if not, i'll be honoured to- oops...

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MAGIC

a scene manip. a scene manip. a SCENE MANIP.

the last time i had done one of these was in 2021 for the "witchlight graphic contest" by khaotdesigns 🥰😭

a short synopsis: we had to portray a monstrous-looking existing/made-up sea creature 🧜‍♀️

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MADNESS, HEAVEN (HELL), SIN

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OH MY GOD, LOOK AT THAT FACE

*pls ignore the self-insert here

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OH MY GOD, WHO IS SHE?

In Greek Mythology, Scylla is a legendary monster who lives on one side of a narrow channel of water, opposite her counterpart, Charybdis. The two sides of the strait are within an arrow's range of each other-so close that sailors attempting to avoid Charybdis would pass dangerously close to Scylla and vice versa.

This leads to the famous idiom: "between Scylla and Charybdis" which means to choose between 2 dangerous situations.

Scylla was mentioned for the first time in Homer's Odyssey and is described as a woman with 3 hounds arising from her hips and 6 heads on long serpent necks.

Her lair is mentioned to be in a cave from where she attacks sailors and destroys the ships that have managed to get past Charybdis.

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I GET DRUNK ON JEALOUSY

According to Ovid's Metamorphoses, the Sea God- Glaucus falls in love with the beautiful Scylla, but she is repulsed by his piscine form and flees to a place where he cannot follow.

When Glaucus goes to Circe to request a love potion, the enchantress herself becomes enamoured with him. Meeting with no success, Circe becomes hatefully jealous of Scylla and therefore prepares a vial of poison and pours it into the sea pool where Scylla regularly bathes, transforming her into a thing of terror even to herself.

In the Graphic War, when the scene was described there were a few lines: "The once beautiful creature, was now a monster. Scars never healed. A grudging sight, to hold, an alluring sea creature, cursed with a grotesque appearance", which I feel, resonates with Scylla so much, so I chose her for this design.

"In vain she offers from herself to run.
And drags about her what she strives to shun."

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DARLING, I'M A NIGHTMARE

✦ I also solved the side quest, and I'm almost sure the answer is "Pearl" because it's the most precious and hidden in plain sight (in a shell/clam). So I decided to use a Magical Pearl as the light source.

✦ The Magical Pearl is the answer to all of Scylla's terrors as it can restore her human form, making her a beautiful and enchanting woman again. So, I search the seas to find it and when I find the shell, I break it to reveal the Magical Pearl. Hence, there's a hand extending from the side of the scene, holding the Magical Pearl and Scylla is shocked to see it.

✦ Whilst, Scylla is stunned, the hounds at her hips, continue to bark. In some sources, it's also mentioned that Scylla's screams sounded like a dog's howls.

✦ There are a few skulls and bones in the cave, and a skull about to drown in the water, signifying how she "isn't fond of mortals".

✦ The scene description also mentioned dark clouds, boulders, seraphic sounds of a siren and tumultuous sea. That is why the cave is also dark and the sea crashes and almost whirls around Scylla. A siren's tail can be caught at the bottom, who tries to escape, scared seeing a brave mortal holding the Magical Pearl.

✦ People focus only on her grotesque features, missing her alluring electric blue eyes and her soft skin that is slowly being covered by scales. The more time that passes, since she was cursed, the more inhuman she becomes.

✦ I edited the main title: Pandemonium, to look a little ghastly, and seem as if the words were being screamed by the various sea creatures who are causing "the chaos at sea".

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DRESSED LIKE A DAYDREAM

✦ I worked on this design for 15+ hours, my longest record probably... excluding resource searching time- that might have been a whole day combined 💀😭

✦ The scene description mentioned that the sky was dark so I obviously couldn't use the moon as a light source, like I did in the previous round. But, I thought the side quest's answer is a pearl so I decided it could shine the light in the darkness! ( the first time I read the riddle I felt like- wth is this?!? but a few minutes later I managed to solve it so yeah, no clowning there 😀✨ )

✦ The base felt so weird to make at first and the face editing- 🤡 probably because I was aiming for Scylla to look a bit malnourished (?) and have dry lips to symbolise how she's losing her enchanting beauty.

✦ In the initial prompt, we were asked to work on our strengths and I had chosen mine as Typography & Illustration, so I was like- I have to DRAW this?!? 💀

✦ But then DarkWizardess and I expressed our moral quandary because drawing the whole scene would defo take a lot of time. Xero allowed me to use manip if I wanted, or draw it if I could and I, like the total 🤡 I am, decided to draw the whole Scylla scene- being delulu that I can do something I've never done digitally before. (I can only draw cute illustrations, period.)

✦ Then, I had a Typography Idea with Charybdis and was about to head in that direction (in case Scylla art failed) but the prompt requirements changed and we were asked to do manip only- 😶 I guess I got saved from completely embarrassing myself then.

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Sources for Scylla's Story:
www.wikipedia.com
www.britannica.com

last but not least, a shoutout to NikkieKookie again for ranting with me about the "chaos" we went through whilst making our designs 😂

also, the night before the prompt was published, i was writing the prompt for a scene manip for my graphic contest: felix felicis- i guess i accidentally manifested the prompt for neverland as well 😆

this was definitely the most stressful round and i might be eliminated because I'm already 2nd last on the list but let's hope for the best 🤡✨

and yes, always remember:
boys only want love if it's torture~

don't say i didn't warn ya!