I’ve fallen a bit behind in posting art lately, so I’m both going to catch up with that and talk about ‘Song Serpents’, a supercool critter I came up with recently… a sort of music-based dragon (music and dragons, two of my favorite things rolled into one 😀 ). I came up with this species after much ruminating on what form my alter-ego-critter, Sekoiya, was going to take next (you know, what I talked about here). I dig this Song Serpent idea, and I think Sekoiya does too. ^_^
A Song Serpent is a small and rather simple-looking dragon, fueled by the power of music and/or creative spirit. Each one has ONE primary color, ONE secondary color, ONE element of nature, ONE instrumental affiliation and TWO modes… Major Key and Minor Key. Major key is triggered when the Serpent feels more upbeat and/or active, and Minor is triggered when he or she feels sad, quiet, and/or passive. The element of nature only can be used in Minor Key, and in Major is replaced by ‘Dancing Flames’, a warm, benevolent fire that doesn’t burn to the touch and can be used to create quite the spectacular display while the Serpent dances! These flames can vary in color between individuals and the Serpent controlling them can conjure them from basically their whole body as well as breathe them. It’s in Major that the secondary color also tends to show up and so do designs that represent the instrumental affiliation (especially in the horns). In Minor, the Serpent is very simple, without long horns or markings or wings, so they cannot properly fly… in this mode, they’d rather crawl and hide. In Major, wings are grown, enabling true flight and greater freedom. ^u^
The Song Serpent above us, the one representing me, is primarily white with a secondary color of silver, a Minor element of ice, and an instrumental affiliation with string instruments (cellos in particular <3 ). Here’s another example… I made this one for a musical friend of mine and she is yellow, with gold as a secondary, a Minor element of plant matter (tropical), and acoustic guitar as her instrument. 🙂
See how in Major her horns look like the tuning knobs of a guitar? The mark on her chest also has ‘strings’ in its design. 😀 My horns look like a cello’s f-holes and though you can’t see them in that shot, I think there are silver designs on the back of my wings that look like the instrument’s bridge-piece.
If you were a Song Serpent, your instrumental affiliation would likely be what instrument speaks to you most when you hear it played (no, you don’t have to play it yourself), and your element of nature would be determined by what sort of natural environment you’d like to hide/seek solace in most when you’re feeling down or just want to be by yourself to think. Mine is ice, because the environment that feels most like a ‘sanctum’ to me is a snowy, wintery climate. When I feel sad and I want to be alone, the idea of burying myself in snow or losing myself in a snowstorm is comforting, and when I’m angry and prickly, I’d love to be able to cover myself in sharp icicles. 😀 Nobody wants to touch me then, do they? xD
Finally, I’ve drawn another Song Serpent themed after my muse… of COURSE. 😀 She’s cello, too, of course, being the one who made me fall in love with that instrument in the first place, and her Minor element seems like water to me… specifically, rain, mist, and fog. She can create her own personal drizzles when she’s sad. xD
If you have speculations about what you’d be like as a Song Serpent, feel free to share with a comment! 🙂
