Hello again everyone,

Phew.... What can I say about this image other than the fact that it has taken me a long LONG time to finally complete it? Oddly enough, I had finished the drawing of it in early August but it wasn't until recently that I had begun painting it. As for the story of the piece, about 3 months ago my friend Danielle had come to visit me and she reintroduced me to an interesting playstation 2 game titled "Shadow of Destiny." Though she had showed the game to me in the past, I found myself strangely intriqued by the plot of the game which involved mystery and time travel and especially, one of my most favorite elements in any book, film, game or series that I have liked in the past. I was so interested in the game that I soon found myself not only acquiring a copy myself but I also felt inspired to try my hand at some fan art too.

In all honesty, however, the game's graphics do not compare much to the ones being released these days. I suppose they were impressive at the time, but being that the game is more than 4 years old, the distinction is quite noticeable. But it wasn't the graphics that pulled me in anyhow. And aside from that, the game also featured some "still" art in the instruction booklet as well as the game's beginning and end that seemed anime influenced. I then decided to base some fan art on that type of art work, rather than the 3-D characters that are playable in the game.

My image contains various elements feature in the game that reveal important plot elements. What I can say about it is that the image featurs the main character Eike Kusch, sitting on a stone bench. The game begins with this character being killed, mere minutes into the game's introduction! Standing to his right, dressed in black, is a mysterious creature called Homunculus who has the power to shift through time. It is he that first approaches Eike, seemingly offering him the opportunity to not only prevent his own murder but also the chance to discover the cause of it all. Being that time is an important element in this game, I also included a portion of the game's intricate clock on the right side of Homunculus as well. The left portion of the piece hints at the very ending of the game, or rather one of the numerous endings that I found the most interesting and shocking of all; so if you don't want to be spoiled, stop reading now!!


SPOILERS BELOW







It is important to note, that not much is known about the main character of Eike Kusch...... Throughout the game, though he seems to be a very kind youth, it also seems that his mind appears to be a bit.....clouded. Much of this is never explained however, and even he does not question important things like where he is from or what the earlier part of his life was like..... As the game progresses, Eike travels to many different time periods; not only hours or days from the present time, but 20, 100 and even 400 years into the past as well!

In one portion of the game, he is drawn to the year 1580, namely because of a familal link; or so he has been told..... Notably, he meets a scientist/alchemist named Dr. Wagner, a middle aged man who claims that he has "grown old in his laboratory" and that he "envies Eike's youth." Upon meeting Eike, Dr. Wagner asks that he bring him something called the "Philosopher's Stone," which is also the red stone in this very image. It is not until the very end of the game do we discover the truth. The creature Homunculus is the result of an experiment of Dr. Wagner's; an experiment which utilized the tank on the far left of my image, and the Philosopher's stone! When painting the image I wanted to make a connection with these three elements, which is why I wanted to line Homunculus with the tank and the stone itself.

As stated prevously, the game contained many endings, all of which depended on the choices that were made throughout the game. One of those endings not only revealed how Homunculus was "born" but it also revealed that Eike Kusch IS Dr. Wagner! Though the two, in my opinion, looked nothing alike, it seems that when Homunculus had awakened, he claimed that his "master" could make any wish, at this cost of his immortal soul..... In one scenario, Dr. Wagner wished for his youth, and as a result, Homunculus turned him INTO Eike! Only Dr. Wagner attempted to betray Homunculus afterwards, by returning him to the Philsopher's Stone.... Angered by his actions, Homunculus then wiped "Dr. Wagner's/Eike's" mind of memories, "damning him to the eternal night of youth......"

I have to say that I thought that it was all pretty intense! I never in a million years would have predicted that plot twist! Granted there were various hints throughout the game.... but I suppose I wasn't able to put two and two together. Sadly though, aside from that, nothing else was explained, namely why Eike has no recollection of any events AFTER that had occured. The player is then left wondering what has he been doing for the last several hundred years! Argh!! But anyhow, on the left I have also painted "Dr. Wagner," now resembling Eike, still dressed in the attire of 1580. Being that the game has still art that is toned in browns and other such colors, and that the "tone" of 1580 is also colored in browns (each time period had its own color to differeniate them from the present day) I attempted to make the left side of the image similar to that. To do this, I attempted to use my water color paints in a more washy manner, using much less paint, allowing the water color paper to come through. The rest of the painting however is done in opaque water color.