The Gift

Original size 8.5x.11 ©2016 Alex Ledante

While there is a huge influence from Hayao Miyazaki's Laputa, I feel that this piece contains a completely original flavor which still retains the strong taste of the manga which inspired it. Indeed, an earlier iteration of this work had the girl offering a flower to the golem instead but simply for reasons of composition, it just worked better with her caressing the stone which is the golem's fingertip

Once again, there is a girl looking up against a luscious skyline (which I will work into any pose given the slightest opportunity) so that's always a good thing. I've also managed to evoke a strong environmentalist vibe without being preachy at all so I am quite proud of that

If you'd like to see the evolution of this piece, there is a short film describing the process below