Redux: Grim Tango
What you see above is the original version of my artwork concept “Grim Tango” from 2012. This Day of the Dead inspired idea has a woman dancing with death at the gates of Hell. This original version won an “Image of the Week” award from the now defunct RuntimeDNA.
Read on to see exactly how this artwork has evolved over the years as I tried to perfect it. To see the most recent and/or final redux of this artwork, see here: Grim Tango
Here is what I wrote about the original “Grim Tango” back on January 19, 2012:
“We should all take the time for a grim tango before walking through death’s door.” I think I’ve had this idea in my head for a few years now and even gave it a try back in 2009 but couldn’t get it looking quite right back then. I may have given it a few more tries over the years only to continue to fail at it. Today I gave it one more try…
At left you can see my first try at this concept and at right is the first and final redux from 2018. The biggest change I wanted to make when creating the redux was to create a full 3D setting rather than using a pre-made background like before. I used many, many props by my friends MortemVetus and created a new light setup using IDL. I also used a dynamic gown and made other various improvements to the sugar doll figure almost completely upgrading/replacing the original figure set. The skeletal figure is mostly unchanged. I postworked the artwork very differently using a glow technique I had learned not long before creating this final redux.
We should all take the time for a grim tango before entering the hellish gates of the afterlife.
I love this final redux of Grim Tango! The setting, the colors, the details… I believe it to be as close to perfection as I am currently capable of. There’s nothing about it I want to change so this will most likely be the final redux for quite some time to come.
To see the artwork page for “Grim Tango” and to learn more about it, click here. To find out how to purchase prints and other print products with the “Grim Tango” artwork, see here.
