Pirates vs. Ninjas

I had the wonderful opportunity to be in a group show at the Weavver Art Gallery in Fullerton, CA back in July. The theme was "Pirates vs Ninjas" to which I instantly thought of sky pirates. I was stumped for a long time about what the equivalent ninja class would be. Eventually, my research led me to the idea of cloud ninjas.

I focused mainly on the characters during my exploration and brain storming phase, which I always have fun with.

 It was easier with the pirates to express their personalities, as later most of them were influenced by my friends. With the ninjas, on the other had, I played mostly with shape and how the clouds could be used as clothing.

 What originally made me be bias towards sky pirates was the fact that I loved the idea of a boat sailing across the clouds. Later I had a difficult decision on whether or not I wanted to include more of the boat or more of the characters for my final piece.

 The final pieces focused more on the atmosphere of the battle than it did on the characters. I tried to include more of the characters in the ninja piece at least because I could not figure out a vessel for them to travel in. Where as with the pirates, I figure the appropriate sub-vessel for fights was planes (a la Tailspin). I completed these pieces in oil pastel. 

(Note: The yellow shapes in the bottom left of the pirates piece is supposed to be the gunner hiding out in the clouds. A last minute, sloppy detail.)

I've always had an idea to write a story about sky pirates, and participating in this show has kindled that flame of inspiration to pursue it. I will say it's a possibility, but there are other stories I would like to share first before I touch up on this one. It will be easier when I do revisit my sky pirates again to have more characters to play with, instead of just the captain.