Toronto-based artist Rebecca Yanovskaya recently completed the second piece in her Winged series of ballpoint pen and gold leaf drawings on Moleskine. Called Descent of Man, the bowing angel took the artist about two weeks to fully create. It’s the sequel to the first piece shown below called Ascent of Man and the Destruction of Magic. The artist was inspired to create the series after a trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. “Klimt, Mucha, Herbert Draper, Bouguereau, Waterhouse, Frazetta, and a sculpture called ‘Mourning Victory’ from the Melvin Memorial were all inspirations for this,” she states.
“I have planned three pieces in the first installment of Winged,” she tells us. “In broad terms, the three moods I hoped to convey were a high energy (‘Ascent’), a low (‘Descent’) and a neutral, which will be the next piece titled ‘The Guardian’. I enjoyed this world and its characters so much, though, that I’d love to explore them in a second series of three.”
She continues, “When I plan an illustration I always create a story to give context to the scene. In ‘Ascent of Man’, I saw a time where magic reigned supreme but was suddenly destroyed by the overwhelming force of the winged being’s presence — the very landscape disintegrating from its intensity.
“With ‘Descent of Man’ I attempted a subtler feeling. I tried to depict willful submission between two equally strong forces, with the winged creature demonstrating conscious respect in its flared wings. As I work on the pieces it helps me to keep these ideas in mind.”
Gorgeous. Just ordered up a print of Descent of Man.
