The Chiblia Work in Process: The Judgement of Solomon
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This is just another one of my cute Chibi works in process. It is a scene from the book of Samuel II. It features King Solomon passing judgement. He was always praised for his Wisdom, at the start of the book. It is interesting to note that the book is named after a prophet. The overall theme of the book, is not that Kings were awesome, but that they started amassing. Both Solomon, and his father David used to be righteous men. They fell into sin because of love. Solomon fell for foreign women, who brought outside religion. As for David, he sent one of his soldiers to die in a war, in order to marry his wife. Both of the fellows get chastised by the prophets for abusing their powers.
In the old testament, the prophets were a check on the power of the priests and the Kings. Most established religions do not have such a check. The whole prophecy thing has fallen out of style. In part, because people choose to take the word of the priest above all others. There is also the issue with listening to voices in one’s head. People cannot tell if they are listening to God, or to a demon. According to the Bible, when God talks to you, you have no doubt that you are talking to the fellow. So, if you have doubts, then you are not talking to God.
Still, you must also be warry, because the devil is a great impersonator. At least, this is what he would have us believe, anyway. As you may expect, I get all religious when talking about the Bible. It is really hard not to do so, when you are showing off your chibi Bible manga. Before you get all religious on me as well, I want to make a couple of things certain. I am not making fun of the word or the Lord. I am just trying to make a Bible that is easy for children to read. Anything that is remotely funny as far as religion is concerned tends to get people excommunicated these days. A good example of this is the works of the painter Jehan Vibert. The previous master of the church school had commissioned satirical works featuring Catholic priest. They were all well liked in the temple for like 70 years.
When that fellow died, there came a new master and he had no sense of humor. He had all those pretty paintings that his predecessor had commissioned removed. He also talked a great deal of evil against Jehan Vibert. The general trend of today within most religious groups is that one has to take a serious stance as far as religion is concerned. You make even a small joke, and they get all up in your face. As far as Christianity is concerned, people forget that Jesus was a great jokester, and a lover of parties. Just think about it, his first official miracle was to turn water into wine. God did not create humans to suffer, but to party. If you think about it, Jesus spent most of his time at dinner parties, preaching to others.
Humor should have a place in the world of religion. You cannot be serious all the time. This is why I depicted the Judgement of Solomon in such a humorous fashion. There is one time when I was super serious. It was when I was depicting the passion of Chibi Jesus. I have a very fine looking chibi Jesus design. My design is pretty unique from that of others. Mainly, I moved away from the patrician look of modern day Jesus. There is a lot of Greek elements in the Catholic iconography. Both God and Zeus look pretty much the same way. The same treatment is given to Jesus. He is depicted like a young Zeus. In some of the oldest depictions of Jesus, he appears without a beard, to emphasize his youth. It is for this reason that my Jesus doesn’t have a beard. As for his skin color, well, you will find out once I get around adding color to the rest of the Chiblia. I will put an end to the whole is he black or is he white debate.
Old depiction wise, Jesus has always been beardless, and dark skinned. He only got lightened up when the Barbarians became the ruling class of Europe. In the old days, religious iconography was also political propaganda. Jesus was always made to look like the ruling class. This was meant to reinforce the mandate of heaven thing that the Kings invented for themselves. They were Kings because God meant it so, and they were above the law. This all ended when Queen Elizabeth had Queen Mary Stuart decapitated for plotting against her. This set a precedent which allowed for the French to put their own King and Queen to death during the French Revolution. What does this have to do with the Bible? Plenty, if you have been following the gist of the conversation. Anyhow, I am glad I found some usage for my refrigerated knowledge. It is important to bring it out from time to prevent frost damage. As for this drawing itself, I made it with Strathmore paper and Sakura Pigma micron pens. These two are what I mainly use to produce all my serious graphic novels. I hope you find this information useful.