Relevance of Marks and Gestures - Schin Loong

Throughout the years, I have been a part of DeviantArt (shorthanded as simply "dA"), one of the first and most successful website of its kind. The website acts as a media for artists of all expressions and forms to share, critique, challenge, and learn from each other. Shortly after its inception, DeviantArt began to showcase exceptional pieces, and were given the honor of a "Daily Deviantion" (or "DD").

One of such artists given a DD is Schin Loong, a professional illustrator specializing in fantasy, folk tales, legends, women, and portraiture.

Arguable Miss Loong's most famous piece, "The Four Beauties" captures the legend of the four most beautiful women to have ever existed in China. Three of such ladies met forever cruel fates, and a third, now widely agreed upon by scholars to never have existed in the first place, lived happily ever after. You can read more on their stories here.

Click on the images to view them full size.


What's interesting is that even though the piece manages to portray four different ladies in four respective panels, there is still remarkable balance and utilization of positive-negative form within each column and throughout the piece as a whole. The first three ladies from the left have a significant amount of background compared with the farthest right beauty. But if you notice, the first and third ladies are confined to their panels, while the second and fourth pop out of their respective spaces.

The marks and gestures feature prominently in the piece; the marks and dots in the "negative" background comprise much of the upper backgrounds, and creates texture, sets the mood, and richly evokes the appropriate sensation from each panel. The warmer colors are dotted and painted with large brushes on medium hardness, and about a 20-30% opacity. The gestures and wide sweeping arches that convey "softness" of fabric in the first, the aura of moonlight in the second, the night glow of the third, and the water-rippling in the last panel really complete the look of each lady and harmonizes the final pictorial of contrasting but sensual sensations, textures, and emotions.

Amongst her other pieces:

"The Ascension of Te Wheke"


"The Blood Eater"


"A Brief Glimpse"



"Butterfly Kisses"


"The Fox Bride"