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Submitted: August 28, 2012
Image Size: 7.5 MB
Resolution: 1776×2952
Submitted with: Sta.sh

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The Shaman and the Goose-Wifeby ~charcoalfeather

Traditional Art / Drawings / Fantasy

The third story of the epic myth cycle.

Reference for the shaman came from this old photo ([link]).

This picture attempts to illustrate a part of the story of Kiviuq, an Inuit hero, who married a goose, while presenting a Yup’ik counterpart of the same story. The Yup’ik man is usually unnamed, and marries the goose when she is in human form. Her feathers were actually her coat that gave her the form of a goose, so whenever she took off her feather coat, she became human. After marrying the man, she continued to eat grass, as she had done as a goose, and one day, she disappeared and flew away with the geese.

In the Kiviuq tale, the goose flies away with her children (who inherited their mother’s ability to transform) after Kiviuq’s mother expresses her frustration at her daughter-in-law’s unwillingness to eat human food. Kiviuq then goes on a quest to find her, and eventually, with the help of the mysterious Fishmaker and a giant fish, finds himself in the south, where there are no Inuit and where the geese nest every year. This southern land has trees—and this is where our hero finds himself staying for the rest of eternity. His goose-wife loses her ability to transform back into a human, so Kiviuq remains in the south. With each passing year, it becomes more difficult for him to move, as he gets older and lichens grow all over him. It is said that when he dies, there will be no more air to breathe and it will be the end of the world as we know it.

It is strongly implied both men (Kiviuq and the unnamed Yup’ik man) are shamans, because shamans are closely linked to the animal and spirit worlds. As such, they often take animal “wives”, although they did not actually have intercourse with them. Unlike Siberian shamans, who are chosen by sprits, Inuit and Yup’ik shamans choose to become shamans by learning rites and interacting with the spirit world. And that is why I chose to draw the character as a shaman.

2 hours, moleskine blank notebook, coloured pencil, ink, and copics.

~eternalwinters Sep 9, 2012 Student General Artist

Whoa the color and flow of the picture is...mesmirizing...xD

That was an interesting tale.

~charcoalfeather Sep 9, 2012 Hobbyist Digital Artist

Glad you liked it!

~ZestySama Aug 29, 2012 Student General Artist

I love the flow this illustration has. What kind of technique did you use to get that smooth, whispy quality in the sky?

~charcoalfeather Aug 29, 2012 Hobbyist Digital Artist

I just used pencil crayons to make the sky. I blended the colours together to make them look smoother--the wax makes it so.

~ZestySama Aug 29, 2012 Student General Artist

I see

I thought that maybe you used a bit of water color or went over the pencil with a colorless blender marker.

~charcoalfeather Aug 29, 2012 Hobbyist Digital Artist

No, lol, that would actually be quite dangerous, since moleskine notebook (not sketchbook ) paper is rather thin and would tear if it came in contact with too much water.

Have you ever tried using Prismacolour pencil crayons?

~ZestySama Aug 29, 2012 Student General Artist

Is it? Whelp, it's a good thing I never had a moleskin book to learn that the hard way XD

Yeah, I use them quite a bit!

~charcoalfeather Aug 29, 2012 Hobbyist Digital Artist

Aren't Prismacolours awesome? I learned how to shade and mix colours with them as a kid.

~ZestySama Aug 29, 2012 Student General Artist

They really are great. Haha, all I had to work with when I was a kid was Crayola. As much as I love them they are a bitch to blend.
Have you ever tried working with Prismacolor watercolor pencils? They're really gorgeous and I tend to use them more than the regular pencils.

~charcoalfeather Aug 29, 2012 Hobbyist Digital Artist

No, lol, I've never worked with the Prismacolour watercolour pencils. I've actually had very little opportunity to try out watercolour pencils, but I'm bad at watercolours anyways, so meh.

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