After 2 years, and over 730 hours, I've finally completed it.

This illustration has spanned the most intense (to date) period of my life, and has thrived severely from that. There are intense personal struggles that are relived throughout the textures of this piece, and I invite you to engage it fully with a download, if you care to. The last 2 years of my life have seen complete disappointment, despair, hope, rebirth, growth, and finally utter contentment. I can see all of these thing throughout the various portions of the piece, and this is not just something for the viewer, but acts as a complete timeline for myself of the times passed, and offers a two-way narrative stemming from my conscious versus my subconscious thoughts.

The main objective herein, was to identify the difference between mimicking something with respect, and copying something (or blatantly redesigning something) through vindication or selfishness (especially people who use such things to benefit financially).
The viewer can immediately identify Marvin Gaye in the upper right corner, but Curtis Mayfield is also included in the lower left. They are the two anchors of the piece, and the breadth of my thoughts on contemporary commercial music that utilises samples from classics. The music of these two remarkable artists was often used to evoke feelings of commonality and unity in their original contexts, whereas (in direct contrast) the music which samples those same songs today is oftentimes used to try and simply "make it big" with no understanding or care of the intimacy involved in the former. There is also a very thin line wherein civilization can cross the difference described by mimicking or copying nature in varying manners. Sometimes in outright detest, but other times in full-fledged honour. The decaying/rotting organic hand holding the wilting mechanical flowers should stand as a subconcious expression of that.

The lower right-hand corner is dedicated to Digi, as her body has been crafted by the leaves and stems, and if turned upside down, her name is conveniently located there as "Daga."

The mechanical bee is approaching a flower that represents both the Art-Nouveau movement, and Daoism (the chinese symbol for doaism is located within [it's in there, I swear!]). The moon is represented in its full state, as you would see it from Europe, but I've done a very particular thing with it. I've drawn it as you'd see it with your eye from the earth. Most (if not all) high-quality photographs of the moon are made through telescopes, which show the image upside down, due to the property of magnification. I've used these as a reference for the major craters and seas of the moon, but I paid special attention to have it as you'd see it with the naked eye.

I really hope you all enjoy this, and I'm so glad to finally share it!

Edit: For those of you that can't find Curtis, I've made a cheatsheet here:
[link]

And to see Digi, I've also made a cheatsheet, the left part is her body, and the right, is the illustration turned upside down, and you can see her name spelled out as DAGA:
[link]