sk8r goddess of DOOM!!! Kali-fornia style!!!

[Sweet_Baboo]

notice that she wears a knit beanie over a baseball cap. totally sweet, right?

[Kazu]

hehe. totally sweet. I like this one a lot, Miwa!

[Kean]

Hahaa! This one is great. I really dig her skirt and skateboard. Oh so clever.

[Stick]

hmm.


i'm not sure how to take this.

I'm a hindu, so seeing Kali on a skateboard saying "holy cow"...


this is probally better.. she's usually on top of a guy she's disembowled.

[Sweet_Baboo]

Stick - sorry if you find it offensive - yeah, i was thinking about changing it to say something different.

I'm reading more about her on the web... very interesting. She's normally on top of Shiva, and is the feminine element of Shiva, right?

I guess I just really wanted to draw her - she has so many interesting things about her that made me want to.

[Stick]

dang.. was the forum down or something?

anyways.. this is what i posted earlier.. luckily i saved it on notepad.

Stick - sorry if you find it offensive - yeah, i was thinking about changing it to say something different.

I'm reading more about her on the web... very interesting. She's normally on top of Shiva, and is the feminine element of Shiva, right?

I guess I just really wanted to draw her - she has so many interesting things about her that made me want to.

I'm so sorry!

I was NEVER offended by the picture. it was just "unusual". I would be offended if i worshipped her. And if i worshipped her... then i'd have some serious problems.

Funny story.. about how Kali came to be. From what I know about hindu mythology (through an indian comic book series called Amar Chitra Katha)...

Kali was created by Parvathi as vengence for the death of her son Ganesh.


I might as well tell you. If i'm wrong, sorry, but this is what i've learned reading these books.

Now this is just the JIST and from what i vaguely remember....

Parvathi, whenever she bathed, liked to have privacy when she did. However, whenever she did, she being the wife of the almighty Shiva, the other gods would frequently come to where they "lived". however, they would pass by and walk into where she would bathe without any consideration.

Basically Parvathi was pissed... and when she complained to Shiva about it, he shrugged off her complaints.

This REALLY got her peeved.. so she decided to create a son of her own, to stand guard over the house as she bathed. So she "created" Ganesh from a mud stature she molded herself of her ideal son and gave life to him. and thus ganesha was born.

however, Ganesha did not have the head of a Elephant, as he does now. Rather, he had the head of a normal boy. Once he was "Born", parvathi asked Ganesh to stand guard over the house while she bathed.

He obeyed, and while she was bathing... Ganesh stood guard in front of the door.

Now on that day, the other gods came as usual, and wanted to go into the house, but ganesha didn't permit them to enter.. angry they tried to fight him, but they quickly lost. (i forgot to mention that Parvathi gave Ganesha extraoridinary strength, that even a god didn't have).

Even with their best efforts, they weren't able to defeat Ganesha. They also didn't know who he was.

So they went to Shiva and told him about the strange boy who was standing in front of his house and permitting anyone to enter the house.

Shiva, not knowing that his wife created a son... thought that this was unacceptable and went for himself to confront the boy.

however, the boy defeated shiva in battle.

This enraged Shiva and him and the other gods set a plan in motion to get rid of him.

While the gods attacked the boy from the front, Shiva would strike the boy with an arrow.

the plan worked, and Shiva decapatated Ganesha. So imagine this. all the hindu gods patting themselves on the back, getting rid of this "troublemaker", with Shiva having a big smile on his face, when out walks Parvathi from her bath.

Seeing her dead son with no head and the other gods standing around her didn't sit too well with her.

Enraged, she cursed the other gods including Shiva, and in her vengence, she created Kali, bringer of D00M as you put it.


Well. to make things REAL short now, Kali started kicking everyone's ASS left right and CENTRE. Things were REAL bad. In her anger, Parvathi created a being so powerful not even the gods themselves could handle together. And shiva.. well.. he just found out he killed his own son...


I don't remember the rest too well, but the gods and shiva were told, that in order to appease Kali, they would have to appease Parvathi. And that involved bringing Ganesha back to Life. They were instructed (i don't remember who, i believe another god told them), to get the head of a certain elephant and use that as Ganesha's new head.

And so they did. The got the head, stuck it on the body of ganesha, and Voila... Ganesha as we all know and love!

This appeased Parvathi's anger and Kali stopped kicking everyone's ass. she instead started to kill demons.. which was a good thing.


Well that's the jist! sorry about the long post.

[Sweet_Baboo]

phew, am i ever glad. yeah, i guess the drawing's "unusual", but like i said, she's a fun subject to draw - i LOVE her tongue. and her skirt of arms. and skulls. super neat.

I came across her at some point in art history, although we didn't talk about her in depth - Here's one website I found that talks about her - most other websites that I found talked about her only in reference to other goddesses or the Mother Goddess.
http://www.exoticindiaart.com/kali.htm

of course, like they say for college papers, don't trust websites, they are not a completely reliable resource.

I guess I've had a lot of issues about Japanese culture getting bastardized - which ranges from creepy Japan-freaks to how the art director and costume designer for the Last Samurai weren't Japanese (at least they used real Japanese actors, I guess) But I also know how skewed some Japanese people's ideas are about American culture.

In this Japanese fashion magazine there was a little section with a short interview of about 15 girls that they did photoshoots of - "If you could be reborn, what would you want to be?"
The most common answer?
"A caucasian model" (with big boobs/long legs/really white skin - were some of the variations)
second common?
"A man"

I don't know if I should applaud them for their honesty, or spit venom.

well, I kinda went off on a tangent. I guess the point is that I know there's a whole spectrum of what can be "wrong" culturally - everything from downright offensive to "eh, it's just a joke" to "I didn't even notice"

...and that I just didn't want to put anyone in a position where they were in "Mr. McGee, don't make me angry. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry" mode.

I mean, I'm making a big deal all by myself, aren't I.

sigh.

[Sweet_Baboo]

let me just say that I'm pleased with how her arguile socks came out.

[Stick]

phew, am i ever glad. yeah, i guess the drawing's "unusual", but like i said, she's a fun subject to draw - i LOVE her tongue. and her skirt of arms. and skulls. super neat.

I came across her at some point in art history, although we didn't talk about her in depth - Here's one website I found that talks about her - most other websites that I found talked about her only in reference to other goddesses or the Mother Goddess.
http://www.exoticindiaart.com/kali.htm

of course, like they say for college papers, don't trust websites, they are not a completely reliable resource.

I guess I've had a lot of issues about Japanese culture getting bastardized - which ranges from creepy Japan-freaks to how the art director and costume designer for the Last Samurai weren't Japanese (at least they used real Japanese actors, I guess) But I also know how skewed some Japanese people's ideas are about American culture.

In this Japanese fashion magazine there was a little section with a short interview of about 15 girls that they did photoshoots of - "If you could be reborn, what would you want to be?"
The most common answer?
"A caucasian model" (with big boobs/long legs/really white skin - were some of the variations)
second common?
"A man"

I don't know if I should applaud them for their honesty, or spit venom.

well, I kinda went off on a tangent. I guess the point is that I know there's a whole spectrum of what can be "wrong" culturally - everything from downright offensive to "eh, it's just a joke" to "I didn't even notice"

...and that I just didn't want to put anyone in a position where they were in "Mr. McGee, don't make me angry. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry" mode.

I mean, I'm making a big deal all by myself, aren't I.

sigh.

i see what you mean. I see it all the time in india.. especially with young women.

Products that advertise that say that they can make your skin complexion actually fairer are HUGE markets here, with girls who would do just about anything just to be 3 shades lighter. It's ridiculous.

[enrico]

Sweeet ! Sweet Baboo ....


awesome !! Great idea and style .....

E

[dik pose]

Great concept, I too like that skirt. Very cool.

[douglas a. bot]

The skirt of arms rocks!! Great peice.

I like the Holy Cow.

d.

[neil]

As a mostly non practicing hindu, I'm cool with it too! This is my favorite of yours so far, in fact.

Indian (and Japanese, etc.) culture bastardization peeves me as well, but I dunno, I think there's something funny and embracing about your little drawing. I feel like you're giving Hindu mythology props, rather than ripping it off to be cool. (The beanie is especially touching, hehe.)

But I'm not sure if I want to see Ganesh the skater-punk.

[Patachu]

Stick ... that story is exactly the kind of thing that would make a brilliant comic. If only I had the time and skill to draw it.

And Baboo ... that picture is just -- for lack of better words -- unspeakably cool.

[Sweet_Baboo]

thanks Patachu.

wow that's an oldie you revived, from a month ago.

yeah, that drawing/character was very fun to draw, would like to do more, once i find the time...