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Description
An illustration for a women's retreat. Created in Illustrator.
Unfortunately children's books and Sunday school have reduced the book of Jonah to a simple children's story about a guy being swallowed by a big fish and barfed up on land. Usually the moral of the story is that you don't run from God. And people get hung up on debating whether or not a large sea creature could swallow a human. However, the book of Jonah packs some deep truths that are for adult understanding.
God's incredible mercy is expressed throughout the book of Jonah. God loved the Ninevites and wanted to have mercy on them, that is why He sent Jonah with a message. God knew the Ninevites would repent of their sins if they were warned and given opportunity. Jonah knew that God was patient, forgiving and abounding in mercy, that was why he ran as far as possible in the opposite direction. God wanted to save Nineveh and Jonah was effectively giving them the middle finger. Even though Jonah was still being a pouty brat about it, through his 4-word message their hearts were changed and they repented of their sins. God had great mercy on Nineveh. And on Jonah.
I'm hoping that through this illustration people might have a new interest in reading/studying the book of Jonah with fresh eyes.
Unfortunately children's books and Sunday school have reduced the book of Jonah to a simple children's story about a guy being swallowed by a big fish and barfed up on land. Usually the moral of the story is that you don't run from God. And people get hung up on debating whether or not a large sea creature could swallow a human. However, the book of Jonah packs some deep truths that are for adult understanding.
God's incredible mercy is expressed throughout the book of Jonah. God loved the Ninevites and wanted to have mercy on them, that is why He sent Jonah with a message. God knew the Ninevites would repent of their sins if they were warned and given opportunity. Jonah knew that God was patient, forgiving and abounding in mercy, that was why he ran as far as possible in the opposite direction. God wanted to save Nineveh and Jonah was effectively giving them the middle finger. Even though Jonah was still being a pouty brat about it, through his 4-word message their hearts were changed and they repented of their sins. God had great mercy on Nineveh. And on Jonah.
I'm hoping that through this illustration people might have a new interest in reading/studying the book of Jonah with fresh eyes.
Image size
1320x2100px 1.84 MB
© 2014 - 2024 Emberblue
Comments35
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Overall Vision Originality Technique ImpactI really, really like this. Conceptually, this is a very strong piece. You've taken a well-known idea and displayed it in a compelling way.
In terms of composition, a general rule is to have things point to the subject and not off the page. But what you did, I think, is particularly clever. You use the contrast of the whale against the background and the centrality of Jonah on the page to make him the first point of focus. But then I found my eyes wandering up the beam of light and off the page. This really makes the composition more about God and His mercy than about Jonah and his predicament.
As far as the execution of the art work goes, you did a fantastic job--particularly with the lettering. I also like the waves, but the light blue wave above the white section has an awkward chunk cut out of it that disrupts the flow found in all the other waves. This isn't a big deal, and I understand why you did it (the angle coming off the tall wave would have been tough to position relative to the white waves).
I like the look of the whale, also, but I'm a bit torn with the design of Jonah himself. The knee area feels too heavy.
But the textures, layers of color, and overall style are absolutely wonderful.
All that said, I want to clearly state that the issues I brought up are very minor--I was definitely nitpicking. The overall impact of this piece is quite strong, and the women's retreat is blessed to have such a good design.