Maiden of the Maize
Watercolor, gouache, ink
2024

This project began with rolling a pair of dice. Each face of the dice corresponded with a set of prompt words. The prompt words I rolled included satisfaction, happiness, growth, antagonism, danger, release, wisdom, methodical, and longevity.

I had corn mazes on my mind because I had just been to one the night before, which lined up nicely with the prompt word growth. The moon cycle comes from the prompt word longevity, and the constellation in the back, Centaurus, is thought to depict Chiron (a centaur from Greek mythology) so I associated it with the prompt word wisdom.

The prompt words antagonism, danger, and release, are present in the central character, whose design is inspired by the manga artists group Clamp. I unintentionally drew her to look very similar to a character from Code Geass, Nunnally. Coincidentally—or not?— the character designers for that show were Clamp.

I didn’t have a specific story in mind for this illustration, but I think you could form one with all the different elements. I wanted to leave it relatively ambiguous as to what is happening in the scene, so that the viewer can form their own story if they choose to.