Finally I made in time to finish what I planned to do for the Brazil Day Art Contest. I wanted to work on different subjects that inspired me the most, ofc the most obvious was the national founder, Pedro I. I initially planned to work on a more realistic tone but then I switched for a mix of cartoon and caricature and I liked the overall effect. I forgot a medal, I know but I couldn't change it because I noticed that once I basically finished >.<'

Pedro I

Born in Lisbon, Pedro I was the fourth child of King Dom John VI of Portugal and Queen Carlota Joaquina, and thus a member of the House of Braganza. When the country was invaded by French troops in 1807, he and his family fled to Portugal's largest and wealthiest colony, Brazil. The outbreak of the Liberal Revolution of 1820 in Lisbon compelled Pedro I's father to return to Portugal in April 1821, leaving him to rule Brazil as regent. The Portuguese government's threat to revoke the political autonomy that Brazil had enjoyed since 1808 was met with widespread discontent in Brazil. Pedro I chose the Brazilian side and declared Brazil's independence from Portugal on 7 September 1822. On 12 October, he was acclaimed Brazilian emperor and by March 1824 had defeated all armies loyal to Portugal. 

Smiles of Brazil

The children were made in a cartoony style to practice with both children cartoon style (working with circular lines to get the neotenic traits right was fun as heck) and skin tones. Playing with skin tones while looking at the reference was the most fun and satisfying part. Humans are fun to draw and paint. These children bright me so much joy by both looking at them and painting them. In this cartoonish style I tried, as best as I could, to convey this sentiment of joy. I wish them all the best!

Boiuna

Boiuna is a mythological creature in Brazilian mythology, known as the Cobra-Grande (translated as "Large Serpent") and the Mboiaçu. It is one of the most widespread and polymorphic myths of the Amazon basin. The name is applied to concepts and creatures ranging from a goddess of the water to a synonym of the green anaconda (Eunectes murinus). This is why I wanted to give him an anaconda's body but the head is more similar to a boa because I aimed at a more hybrid species. Boiuna is the most powerful creature of the rivers within the Amazon rainforest. It can take on various shapes in order to frighten away any fishermen that enter its territory. Some of the forms the Boiuna can take on are a canoe, a sailboat and a woman. If you know Portuguese you can read this very short, but interesting article about him: https://www.ufmg.br/cienciaparatodos/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/leituraparatodos/e5_30-alendaamazonicadeboiuna.pdf

Sometimes a boa constrictor that grows too big becomes a boiúna. Sometimes a boiúna is spawned from human behavior. The boiúna of the Itacaiunas River was conceived by a girl who became pregnant and hid her condition from her parents. When she gave birth she was too scared to tell her parents, and threw the baby into the Itacaiunas. There it metamorphosed into a huge snake that terrorized river traffic. The boiúna revealed in a séance that it wanted to be disenchanted; the way to do so involved luring it with hot milk, slashing its throat, and turning around without looking back. Nobody took it up on the offer (1).

For the Brazil beneath him I used a map of the country to get size and proportions right. You can still see some rivers, well those are the rivers of Brazil but of course they are almost all covered by the snake because I wanted him to symbolise all Brazilian rivers

MS Paint Capybara

Nothing to say about this except that I completely made it with MS Paint because I wanted to challenge myself with something completely different and it was quite a revelation. In this short journal I explain my experience.

Rio's Christ Redeemer

And this is my last work of my gallery for this contest. Here I wanted something totally different: a simple, geometric-like style that emphasizes one of the most famous monuments of Brazil. Notice how most of these works feature Brazil's flag colours.  This statue is an Art Deco statue of Jesus in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, created by French-Polish sculptor Paul Landowski and built by Brazilian engineer Heitor da Silva Costa, in collaboration with French engineer Albert Caquot. Romanian sculptor Gheorghe Leonida sculpted the face. Constructed between 1922 and 1931, the statue is 30 metres high, excluding its 8-metre pedestal. The arms stretch 28 metres wide. Originally the statue was planned with a globe in one hand and a cross in the other, but then it was changed. It is an important symbol of Christianity around the world, and has also become a cultural icon of both Rio de Janeiro and Brazil and was voted one of the New 7 Wonders of the World.

The title of my collection is Tupi language and means "Land of the Palms". I had so much fun but at the same time I couldn't draw more stuff because I was busy irl. I originally planned to draw stuff that touched many aspects of the country, mainly less known. But yeah I'm still happy I managed to finish it^^

See you next time!

References and footnotes:

Pedro I

Smiles of Brazil from: https://www.insightguides.com/inspire-me/blog/the-people-of-brazil

Boiuna

MS Paint Capybara

Rio's Christ Redeemer

(1) Barbosa, A. L. (1951) Pequeno Vocabulario Tupi-Portugues. Livraria Sao Jose, Rio de Janeiro.

Cascudo, L. C. (2000) Dicionario do Folclore Brasileiro. Global Editora, Sao Paolo.

Fonseca, F. (1949) Animais Peconhentos. Instituto Butantan, Sao Paolo.

Galeano, J. G.; Morgan, R. and Watson, K. trans. (2009) Folktales of the Amazon. Libraries Unlimited, Westport.

Osborne, H. (1986) South American Mythology. Peter Bedrick Books, New York.

Smith, N. J. H. (1981) Man, Fishes, and the Amazon. Columbia University Press, New York.

Smith, N. J. H. (1996) The Enchanted Amazon Rain Forest. University Press of Florida, Gainesville.