Three years ago, the park near my childhood home began to undergo construction. The paths were the first to go—ripped up in order to make way for a new pavilion. Orange barriers began to sprout in the grass as the towering oak whose roots I used to dribble soccer balls around was cut down to clear the way for grassy fields. This digital painting is a rendition of one of the only photos I’ve ever taken of the park as it used to be. I don’t dislike what the park has become; the space has become more lively with visitors and children’s laughter than ever in recent years. However, visiting the park comes with a feeling of melancholy to its change. Nothing lasts forever, and even though it’s still a minute walk up the road, I can’t ever visit my childhood park again. It’s not disappeared but exists in my memory along with my countless memories of it.
I have always loved drawing and storytelling so I wanted to try and push myself with this illustration. I took a lot of inspiration from Todd Mcfarlane's "Spawn". More specifically the way in which he developed the character, using emotion and feeling as the base for the character, taking a more abstract approach. So I decided to use the same method in order to develop my own original piece. I then used some techniques I have been developing in my digital media Essentials class in order to construct the background and support the figures' presence as much as I could.
Darkness falls upon an onyx sky
Charcoaled trunks and blackened branches
Thick pea soup layers the roots
Colossal thorns line the path
Growl
Creatures stalk the woodland floor
Guards kept up
Protecting the forest master
In the center stands a tree
–beating like a drum
Gnarled bark and twisted veins run along the ivy floor
Still, the tree is un-whole
Wooden chips scattered ‘round
Pulsing branches slowly fallen
A broken heart
