Hi all!

So I decided to put up an explanation of what I'm working on right now, since it's probably all that I'll be posting. I'm doing art for my HSC (final school year exams in NSW) and have to do a body of work for the end of year. It can literally be anything you want, but you're marked equally on both technical skill and concept, so there has to be some kind of idea/meaning to it.

Ok, so I decided on a whim that I wanted to use fantasy creatures in my artwork. After much pondering and exploring, I also then decided I would use the creatures to paint a story, because I'm interested in illustration and it's an easy way to incorporate concept. The concept is meant to be a 'reflection of your world', and since I'm big on nature and animals and things I thought I'd put an environmental twist on my tale.

So, onto the story. It begins in a swamp forest/river delta-like environment by the sea. There are many creatures (showing biodiversity), the most prominent of which look like swan-fox-stork-bird thingies that feed on the fish in the swamp. These guys are like the main characters. We shall call them swan-foxes.

One day some new creatures arrive from the sea by rafts. They look a bit like deer-goat-wolfy-dog things. I'll refer to them as goat-dogs (oh I'm creative). At first they seem to fit in, they eat grass so they fill in a little niche by grazing on the grassy hills bordering the swamp forest.
The area is a river delta, however, which means there are seasonal floods. The goat-dogs, neither knowing this nor being adapted to it, consequently lose a number of their kin who are swept away.

So here we have a threatening problem facing the goat-dogs - what do they do?

Some of them have observed how the swan-foxes live on top of the trees, thus avoiding the dangerous floods, and learn from example. The majority, however, feeling they need to make things as safe and comfortable for themselves as possible, decide to instead 'fix' the problem (this could show the way humanity treats the earth in general as mostly selfish). They go about this by using the trees to build a big dam-like wall, blocking most of the water (a reference to fact that humans are the only living organisms that change the environment to suit their needs). With all the trees gone and barely a swamp left, there is much more room for the grass to grow and there seems to be food for everyone. Or so the goat-dogs think - what about the swan foxes? (a reference to farming and croplands, perhaps? Or monoculture? Or land clearing in general)

The landscape is now filled with hundreds of goat-dogs, who have reproduced prolifically in their cosy surroundings (overpopulation!). There are barely any other creatures left (this could also be a reference to introduced species. In fact this whole story, if you want to look at it completely differently, could be a metaphor for colonisation!) After a while, though, grass and water start to run out as there are simply too many eating too much from an unbalanced environment (unsustainability!) Fights break out over food, but eventually most of the goat-dogs decide to leave the now desolate land.

A few remain behind and break down the wall to let the water run back. Over time everything regrows and the other creatures return. This time the goat-dogs that remained behind adapt to their environment, instead of adapting it to them, and they are able to live peaceably in the swamp forest (sustainability!)

The End!!

Feel free to discuss any of these points, I always love a discussion!