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zyphryus — The Quartz of Darkness

Published: 2011-11-03 01:49:27 +0000 UTC; Views: 989; Favourites: 22; Downloads: 11
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Description Fan Service for The Dark Crystal!!

Renamed "The Quarts of Darkness" as a humorous play on words, in no way do I mean offense or make an attempt to skirt copyright issues. I just liked the play on words.

This is a favorite movie I grew up on, explains a lot about me.

This skeksi was made up after 2 days of staring at skeksi scenes and looking through a book.
I love the overwhelming rotting baroque-like quality to their cloths, and it looks as if they have been wearing the same cloths for the 1000 years they've been around, imagine the stench!
Now I want to make a skeksi costume.... maybe someday!

The original was graphite, this is a digital enhancement.
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Comments: 23

spiritcage [2012-02-04 18:51:38 +0000 UTC]

(: LOVE it.

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Torquinox [2011-11-07 01:30:45 +0000 UTC]

This is quite nice. You've done a lovely job of bringing strong, expressive drawing to your digital work.

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zyphryus In reply to Torquinox [2011-11-08 04:06:25 +0000 UTC]

Thank you! The drawing was traditional, and the coloring was digital. I find it a bit hard to draw this well on a tablet.

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Torquinox In reply to zyphryus [2011-11-08 15:50:50 +0000 UTC]

It is a different experience.

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Engel08 [2011-11-06 07:24:33 +0000 UTC]

This piece is awesome. The look and feel of the skeksi is spot on.

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B3NN3TT [2011-11-03 11:29:32 +0000 UTC]

Brian Froud would be pleased.

This is brilliant.

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zyphryus In reply to B3NN3TT [2011-11-04 03:47:42 +0000 UTC]

Thank you!
I had so much fun with it. And now I am obsessed with over-embellished garments.
I wonder how he *would* feel about it - I am very hesitant sometimes about doing fan art.
OOH, maybe you could give me advice! Sending a note~

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SylvanSmith [2011-11-03 02:57:02 +0000 UTC]

Skeksies used to scare the hell out of me. I saw this movie in the theaters when I was a kid.

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zyphryus In reply to SylvanSmith [2011-11-03 05:09:02 +0000 UTC]

OOOH to see it in Theatres!!!

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SylvanSmith In reply to zyphryus [2011-11-03 05:47:17 +0000 UTC]

I barely remember it. XD Benefit of being old. But I grew up in an age of Jim Henson. For Kids stories, they were full of death and loss.

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zyphryus In reply to SylvanSmith [2011-11-04 04:13:27 +0000 UTC]

Indeed. This movie and others of his truly encompass so many aspects of life.
This movie has love, death, cuteness, children and innocence, evil, good, nudity, music, foreign languages, humor, freaks, prophesy, and is freakishly EPIC. As a kid I loved anything EPIC. I called it QUESTY. Even my first taste of epic metal in *gasp* college, I called it 'questy' music before I knew the genre name.

Hm. I think I just had an Epiphany about my taste for 'questy' things. Maybe I need to focus on making my art look more 'questy'. *grin*

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SylvanSmith In reply to zyphryus [2011-11-04 22:13:52 +0000 UTC]

I can remember just about all the aspects of that movie you had mentioned - but the nudity is new to me. XD. Then again my memory is poor. Brian Froud does have a lot of naked faeries running around in his pictures though. XD.
Yeah, I like the epic stories too. Questy is a good word. The quest being the need for action- and action is conflict, and conflict equals drama.
Some movies have gotten dangerously formulaic though (like the epic battles at the end of every movie), but the Dark Crystal wasn't.

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zyphryus In reply to SylvanSmith [2011-11-05 13:05:59 +0000 UTC]

I love how the end of the movie was so different to anything I've ever seen (or have seen since) I mean, there were similar elements as there are in all prophesy epic questy things... but this was so unusual.

Oh, and the nudity was the first time we Encounter Jen by the pond. I wouldn't have noticed it because it was so natural, but I was watching it with Brian Froud commentary, and he mentioned it - because the puppet artists were worried about having to create a nude Jen and still make it look real and without visible seams.

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SylvanSmith In reply to zyphryus [2011-11-06 00:55:11 +0000 UTC]

I do remember the end (somewhat). How the fractured essences of the beings were once more merged. It was a mistake to try and separate them. I have to watch it again. I can remember that one Skeksie that always went HRMMMM! (I must have had many nightmares about that as a kid)
I kinda remember that scene now that you mention it. I always remember the scene of those bunny creatures dying whilst fighting the beetle creatures (I hate it when animals die) and how that blonde Gelfling rode them.
Now that you mentioned prophecy epic questy things, have you ever seen David Lynch's Dune?

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zyphryus In reply to SylvanSmith [2011-11-06 02:07:34 +0000 UTC]

Yes I have, but its been a LONG time since I've seen it, and I need to see it again now that my brain is bigger.
I remember that sometimes I drifted into sleep while watching it, but I did seem to catch parts of it on tv a lot.

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SylvanSmith In reply to zyphryus [2011-11-06 02:48:06 +0000 UTC]

The books by Frank Herbert are actually really good, and Lynch's movie takes liberties, but it was a very interesting story. The movie won't entirely make sense by itself, but then again David Lynch does not have to intellectually understand everything he does.
I like the stories that try to make you think a little and have layers.

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zyphryus In reply to SylvanSmith [2011-11-08 14:33:18 +0000 UTC]

I heard the original directors cut movie was like 6 hours. Might make more sense to watch the whole thing, but its a bit of a stretch to watch it.

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SylvanSmith In reply to zyphryus [2011-11-08 22:36:33 +0000 UTC]

No, they edited down to under 2 hours. There were like 6 books or more - but the movie is all that takes place in the first book. David Lynch has interesting films. Did you ever see Blue Velvet?

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zyphryus In reply to SylvanSmith [2011-11-10 01:07:08 +0000 UTC]

You know what, I don't think I've ever seen Blue Velvet. I just watched the trailer and nope, doesn't look like I have. Need to put it at the higher end of my list of movies to see!

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SylvanSmith In reply to zyphryus [2011-11-10 01:24:24 +0000 UTC]

Dennis Hopper's portrayal of Blue Velvet's villain, Frank Booth, was regarded as one of the best all time screen villains. His character was pure Freudian Id, and he played it so well. XD. I actually found his part hilarious (although in real life I wouldn't find it funny- but it is so surreal and absurd it is funny). You might like it, but is a little dark.

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sakanakin [2011-11-03 01:58:58 +0000 UTC]

Just wow. I feel so very deeply for the dark crystal, one of the best cult movies there is. I love this. Alot. And the shading? Amazing!

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zyphryus In reply to sakanakin [2011-11-03 02:17:28 +0000 UTC]

Indeed, my love for the dark crystal goes way back, and I've seen it so many times. As I watch it as an adult I can pick out so much that influenced me!

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zyphryus In reply to sakanakin [2011-11-03 02:16:18 +0000 UTC]

Thank you!!

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