Karin Y. Schmitt  [NSFW]

“A Natureza (The Nature)” – 2007

This work is a way to say that nature still is what creates and protects us irrespective of its destruction promoted by us, humans. It was the first time I painted in Photoshop and I used a mouse.

“Grenat” – 2009

My most recent work; this is the first piece of a series I’m doing, called “Precious Stones.”

The name grenat derives from granatum or pomegranate, a symbol of the womb since antiquity. Being associated with the feminine life force, people believed it should only be used by women and, when placed near the forehead, would help to give information from past lives.

At the same time, this stone is one of the representatives of Aries, the sign associated with Mars, the Roman god of bloody war. Its color is red – from blood and not from love, as is translated in popular culture – and the animal is the red eagle, the symbol of dominion and power.

Painted with Photoshop CS3 and a Wacom Tablet; references were used especially to draw the brooch and the sword. Furthermore, some textures and custom brushes to paint the boots, the sofa and her blood.

“Primavera (Spring)” –2005

I firstly drew it with a pencil on a paper, then I did some retouches and applied some filters in a program I used to use, called VCW VicMan’s Photo Editor.

“Jaciaba” – 2009

I’m lately interested by human figure/anatomy, so I present you an indigenous portrait, a theme I particularly love to paint. It doesn’t have anything much special – I just I tried to explore nudity and body expressions, putting as few details as possible. “Jaciaba” means “hair of moon” in Tupi language.

Dolphins – 2005

“Beware Of Your Imagination” – 2008

When I thought, one day, about “consequences” of a fertile creativity, I had this idea: a girl, reading an ocean tale book, before sleep, goes too far with her imagination and is carried to her own world of fantasy!

In this drawing, I also pretended to put together the cute (a girl with pink pajamas, holding a bear) with the terrifying (a sea monster getting out of the depths of a furious ocean), resulting, at least for me, in a weird, but funny contrast. To paint some parts, like the sea, its waves and the maelstrom I took, with my digital camera, many pictures of water, with the purpose to study it’s behavior, observing how it flows and splashes. As I didn’t find good pictures on the Internet, I also watched Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End to get a sense of a more defined maelstrom; it was one of the best parts!

As for the sea monster, I used, as source of reference, some real deep sea creatures’ photos and prehistoric animal pictures found through, mainly, the National Geographic website. I tried to mix some parts of weird animals starting from the bone structure of a creature that really existed on Earth, called Thalassomedon (it looked like the Nerse Lake Monster, but about 15 times bigger); lots of textures from different reptiles (example: iguanas and snakes) were used during the process as well. In the end, I think I did spend a total of about 160 hours, maybe.

“Gothika” – 2005

“Paper Lanterns” – 2008

An idea I had to picture the term “illusion.” Used direct references during background painting, and some custom brushes for water.

“Butterfly” – 2005

I used the same process with the same program as “Primavera” but, this time, I defined more the strokes, gave textures, filters and applied more lightning.

“Carnevale Di Venezia” – 2008

I always admired masks and costumes, mostly from the Venice carnival, which are particularly beautiful, then I decided to do something inspired from it. Actually, my intention was really to get a more visually exaggerated result, with many colors, clothes, etc., because I’m going through a stage a little like this in my life, so I wanted this moment to be “registered.” I did the glitters with a brush made of small points, adjusting the layer to Vivid Light mode, to appear glow and a bit of transparency. As for the fabrics, most of them I used a hard edged brush, polishing with a soft edged brush in the end; for textured fabrics, I used a brush made of a few lines.

“Nyx” – 2008

This is my personal version from the Greek goddess and personification of night, or Nyx. It was the second time I painted with a tablet.

“The Pursuit” – 2008
(Entry for “The Nordic Art & Graphic Challenge 2008″)

This is an illustration based on the norse myth of Sól and Sköll: “Sól or Sunna is the Sun personified in Germanic mythology. [...] She is foretold to be killed by a monstrous wolf, called Sköll, during the events of Ragnarök, though beforehand she will have given birth to a daughter who continues her mother’s course through the heavens. [...] Her two horses, Árvakr and Alsviðr, drag her chariot through the sky every day, while Sköll tries to eat her.”

My objective was, basically, to depict the wolf Sköll in pursuit of Sól and her two horses; I added flames, in spite of the horses’ manes, when I also read that Árvakr and Alsviðr bring the light (while Sól brings the heat). My purpose doing this was trying to create a magical atmosphere in the picture.