Tomam - Goddess of the Birds

Tomam is the bird goddess of the Ket people of Siberia. She is supposed to welcome the migratory birds during winter in Siberia and send them back there in spring.

My version of Tomam doesn't only welcome the birds, but gives them a home and she's able to save them from death as well. Call it artistic freedom

<sub>TECHNICAL ASPECTS:
I'm rather proud of this one because I spent so much time on it trying to get the shadows and lighting just right (I know it probably isn't perfect, but hey, what ever is?). Usually when I'm studying I get impatient even faster than usual because I only have a fraction of the time for art I usually do or would like to spend on a piece. This time I tried to hold myself back and not submit it at the first possible moment but instead close the psd and come back to it the next day with fresh eyes.

There was quite some retouching done on various parts of the girl, the dress's flow was matched to the ground, its left side was lit up with the magic glow. The girl's hair was blended into the nest. The birds on top of her were retouched in terms of colours and shadows, the birds on the ground were blurred according to their distance from the viewer, so was the ground itself.

I hope I was able to make it as realistic as possible (because in my eyes, surrealism only works if realism doesn't fall by the wayside - it's supposed to twist reality, not alter it completely), however, if you find something that would need correcting, feel free to tell me. Just don't expect to me get back to it asap. I rarely ever go back to pieces I once considered finished, instead I like to keep the tips in mind for the future.</sub>

Details can be found here [link]


Stock from ~Eirian-stock, ~FoxStox, *hellfirediva-stock, sxc.hu (ground from [link] by runrunrun) and my own.

Prints will follow once I get the necessary permissions