Picture Thursday 35: Tattooed Mage by Jason Rainville

Lyssa by Jason Rainville

I don’t know exactly where this painting is from, or what it is called, but I do know that the artist is the impressive Jason Rainville.

There’s so much to like about this piece, I hardly know where to begin.

My first impression is one of danger. Those ceramic totem-snakes are menacing as fuck, and I have the distinct impression that the character is angry about the viewers presence. She appears violently insane. Even turning to run would likely provoke an attack. All I can think to do is hold up my hands and back away slowly, and hope she calms down.

Speaking of those serpent creatures, have you ever seen anything so cool in your life?

I’m also quite fond of her nudity. This isn’t nudity as you often see it in fantasy art. This woman is not attractive at the moment. She is, as I mentioned previously, terrifying. My eyes are not drawn to her breasts  or her ass, despite both being shapely and pleasant. Her nakedness is not sensual. It’s a sign of her madness and her desperation. It is the nudity of a screaming newborn. It is feral.

Fucking fantastic. Absolutely fucking fantastic.

5 thoughts on “Picture Thursday 35: Tattooed Mage by Jason Rainville

  1. Probably is some sort of celtic shaman (wait, weren’t those called druids?) chatting with the gods in a spiritual trance.
    The tattoo patterns are clearly celtics, druids used to wear white and golden coats like that and the faces of the snkaes are also similar to those on celtic art. Look at this one of a god: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3089/3224344685_4a1aee2a82.jpg Or these two guys: http://images.artparks.co.uk/sculpture/big_img/sculpture_artwork_nicholas_rowsell_celtic_dogs_and_birds_3.jpg
    Maybe I have just stated the obvious?
    But, anyway, I totally agree with you, this picture is impressive. It makes me nervous.

    1. Whether or not it’s obvious to others, it wasn’t obvious to me. The tattoo pattern looked cool and “tribal,” for lack of a better word, but I didn’t recognize it as celtic. Thanks for the info!

  2. Hey there,
    I’m the artist of the image, and it was created for the “Lyssa” Artorder evolution challenge. Basically the artists were given a very general brief (fantasy woman in white and gold) and the artist had to come up with whatever they could to impress the judges. I knew everyone was going to try to out-fantasy each other with flowing robes, and beautiful, stereotypically confident women and all of the standard accoutrements… so I went the other way. To be specific, the totems and designs are all of norse origin. She wasn’t made specifically to be a druid. I was one of the 5 winners as well 🙂
    Thanks for featuring the piece!

    1. That’s so cool you found this, thanks for commenting!
      The piece is anything but standard fantasy woman fare. You outdid yourself.

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