Comanche Illustration

I wrestle with conflicting sensibilities in subject matter for my personal pieces. I love researching history especially places and times  in the past full of high drama. Some times reading history I get the feeling some events are so unlike how things are now it would be hard to make them up, yet they read like a fantasy novel. In essence some times I come to the conclusion there is no better world building than what has already happened on our planet.

This piece I made while on a western kick. The book non fiction book empire of the summer moon and Cormac McCarthy’s “anti-western“  Blood meridian were my main inspirations. I also did a lot of research about the Comanche and especially about their warriors their regalia and equipment as well  as mounted archery techniques and battle strategies. Then tried to incorporate them. For instance the Comanche were said to fight in a formation much like a wheel without spokes and in my piece the characters whirl around on their horses in a big arch into the back ground to allude to the wheel formation. Additionally in planning the piece I wanted the ranger character in the foreground the two Comanche warriors and the ranger in the back right all pointing their weapons at each other to show the overall cycles of violence in this time and place in American history.