One more pic for the good and evil contest...

You know why I'm entering this contest? Not because I think I will win... that is like expecting to win the lottery, there are so many entries! I am entering because I like the theme.

I know, shadow monsters has been done, but I haven't seen it to portray good vs evil, and I rather like the idea (it fits Ryu so well.). I hope that my way of doing it makes it more unique.

When you think of good vs evil, you generally think of the symbolic good guy hero angle light fighting the dark, evil devil villain type. People draw symbolism of dragons against knights and angles against demons. I think of that too, but the thing that really appeals to me is the battle of good against evil from within.

Every person has a dark side and the thing that defines someone as good is not the absence of evil thoughts, but rather the choice not to act upon them. A real hero is someone who can do wrong and chooses to do right. Most people portray that with a split of a person being drawn two ways (either as two people or as one person cut in half)... but I want to do it a bit differently.

I wanted to focus on Ryu, because in all truth, he is my most angle/good/pure character (in spite of how people tend to think of him)... and just because he has wings... he is also the most haunted. He is haunted by his shadows. These shadows are the thoughts that cross his mind, the temptation to give in to them. They are the dreams he has, and his past... they are the guilt he bears for the things he has done... always wondering if they were really the right thing. Anyone made to fight and kill in the name of good has to face this conflict... but Ryu is a gentle person who is unfortunately skilled at killing... and he needs to come to terms with it. He thinks of himself as some kind of a monster, and part of him is right... but he also knows that he can choose not to be one. It is the hardest path and he is constantly followed by these shadows of himself.

To see more Ryu art, follow the link below:
<--Previous<-- -->next-->

From in the Time of Dragons

The nightmares were getting worse. Ryu found he wasn't sleeping well anymore. He knew they were his only link to his past, but part of him wondered if he even could handle facing it.

As he wiped the sweat from his forehead, he felt his heart rate slowing. He felt the dream slipping away. Tempted to let it just vanish with the night, he hesitated. No. He had to look at it. Reluctantly, he started to focus on his meditation... slowing his breathing, seeking inner peace, and letting enlightenment find him, he reflected upon his dream.

There were shadows in the night. He heard people screaming out in fear and pain; always cut short by a chilling silence. He saw a samurai laying in a pool of his own blood, Ryu's sword stuck into his chest. He saw the man's face, terror and disbelief eternally etched into it. Something came plummeting from the sky, it tore into the figures below, running in a panic, trying futilely to escape the phantom shape that came from the heavens, wings stained red with blood.

Images of hungry black dragons and ghosts surrounded him, pointing accusing fingers at him. Some looked at him hungrily, they were beckoning for him toward them... join us They seemed to say. join the cursed ones... this is where you belong. But all of it disintegrated in a fire that turned everything into white ash. A figure was standing on top of a hill, death scattered all around. It was almost a silhouette, but he could see the eyes glowing in the fire light, a look of hateful satisfaction emanating from them.

Startled by the image of those eyes burning into him, he snapped out of his meditation, gasping for breath again. He wanted to deny what he was seeing, but there was no escaping it. He was a monster.