Fire Salamander

Interestingly enough, salamanders have a rich mythological history. The first I heard about it was when I was about 10; a friend of mine told me that salamanders were originally thought to be fire creatures. He was exactly right of course; apparently when people in ancient cultures went to burn rotting logs, the salamanders hiding within would (understandably) freak out and wiggle their way out. This led people to think salamanders were born from fire, and thusly the critter cropped up in ancient lore as a weird fiery monster thing.

Anyway, I didn't really think about any of this while painting this piece, but it was present in the back of my head so I'm guessing that is where the whole smoky, fiery theme came from. Plus the fact that I have three salamander pets now; definitely a critter I'd recommend (they're cute!).

I also wanted to make a painting that didn't end up with me inking the entire image once I was done. I used some colored pencils to flesh it out instead and it actually looks pretty good I think. Yay experimentation!

Also, I don't get why people hate watercolor/gouache so much. It's probably my favorite type of paint actually. What can I say, I love layers!