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Butterflies – Zahhak keyframe

A Zahhak-inspired villain developed for a worldbuilding personal project named Butterflies.

My patrons are receiving hi-res artworks and insights of the characters, stories and locations in this project.

Software: Clip studio Paint.

Digital painting of a town's alley, viewed from under a masonry archway that frames the image. The buildings have middle-eastern inspired features such as tiles in contrasting colors (ablaq) being used as adornments around doors and windows. The buildings are tall and narrow, and a set of stone slab stairs leads the viewer towards more houses, and a stone fountain on which a nude man with an asymmetrical, distorted, and angular body shape examines his face on the fountain's water reflection. This is Zahhak. He has visibly twisted and unnatural features, such as a pair of dragon-like wings and a skull sprouting from his back. A crown of angular spikes protrudes from his forehead. Near the POV, in the archway's walls and floor tiles, ten small lizards stand partially hidden in the shadows, as if watching the man transform.

A view of Borborema’s alleys as the villain examines his curse.

Under blinding light, a burning fever and watchful eyes, Zahhak becomes ungovernable.

Long Description

This session has a long text description of the image above.

Digital painting of a town’s alley, viewed from under a masonry archway that frames the image. The buildings have middle-eastern inspired features such as tiles in contrasting tones (ablaq) being used as adornments around doors and windows. They’re colored yellow and purple. The buildings are tall and narrow, and a set of stone slab stairs leads the viewer towards more houses, and a stone fountain on which a nude man with an asymmetrical, distorted, and angular body shape examines his face on the fountain’s water reflection. He has visibly twisted and unnatural features, such as a pair of dragon-like wings and a skull sprouting from his back. A crown of angular spikes protrudes from his forehead. Near the POV, ten small lizards stand partially hidden in the shadows. Their heads are turned to the man.

A close-up of Zahhak's features and extra limbs.
Close-up. He is having a bad day.

The dragon engraving

Close-up of a blue dragon painting on a wall.
Close-up of a wall detail.

Silly story time:

The dragon engraving above has a popular saying in my language. I turned it onto a stretched script and ‘etched’ it onto the wall. It wasn’t meant to be readable; or you’d need to read it really close to notice that those were words that meant something.

The saying relates to the scene. However, as I painted it I completely forgot the phrase, context and meaning.

It may be something about shadows.

Zahhak concept art

A painterly sketch of a pale man whose body was mutated onto new sprouted limbs with saturated, bright purple extremities, which I painted to remind the viewer of poisonous creatures and lizards. The man, Zahhak, has large, asymmetrical hands with black claws. Three long, muscly limbs sprout from his back. Two seem 'unfinished', as if still sprouting, the 'formed' one has a gray-and-purple-ish skull at its end, the expression permanently halted as a vacant-eyed, wide-open jaw screech. The skull's sockets still have eyes attached to them — they're watery and unfocused, like a zombie or dead fish. It's a dummy head. The real man's head has a crown of purple bone protuberances sprouting from it. The man's expression is resentful, painful. His eyes are red — from rage, and tears.
Zahhak craves draconic power, to be free of gods, mentors and beasts. This is taboo, forbidden art. He steals treasure keys from a young priestess. Easy job. He leaves with the artifacts and an unnoticed gift. Hours later, the gift sprouts.

Development

Color sketches

I painted the initial sketches for the story in a single file, to visualize its colors and moods in a single place.

The green and red scene with a snake became this keyframe painting with Chew and Yara, the main characters.

Zahhak References

References — a collage of photos of lizard heads with open jaws, skulls, alleyways, and old paintings of the real-world Zahhak myth.
Lizards with open jaws, skulls, alleyways, and old paintings of the real-world Zahhak myth.

Zahhak or Azhi Dahaka is an antagonist in Persian mythology and Zoroastrianism. This figure is also known as Zahhak the Snake Shoulder.

I’m grossly summarizing the figure’s role (so please check the source linked above or Wikipedia for further detail), but it is also associated with tyrants, plotters and arrogant rulers.

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