She Sings From Somewhere You Can’t See

Just a little mascot I made for one of my websites.

Here’s what I turned into ChoW:

San Francisco: A laid-back city where you can remove the masks you wear. Kind of a techno-pagan. She’s got a long history and a history of activism and culture. She’s friendly to artists and crazy people. She’s environmentally friendly (and while you can’t tell, her clothes are probably made of all-natural hemp.) Of course, every so often she throws a tantrum, and you end up with a major earthquake, but most of the time, she’s just chilling, making her own beat.

Annotations to the symbols: gold dust (for the gold rush), heart-in-a-cage tattoo (double duty for Alcatraz and "I Left My Heart In San Francisco"), goggles (technologically inclined), marijuana leaf border on her tank top, sash turning to fog, djembes (Hippie Hill in Golden Gate Park), rainbow peeps (gay pride), Chinatown, the railroad (railroad barons built SF), the Golden Gate bridge, cracked ground (earthquakes), portrait of Emperor Norton (the most famous craaaazy person in SF history), Chinese coin, and a parrot from Telegraph Hill.

This was really supposed to be a quick sketch for the CA forums. Sometimes these things just sorta beg for more. But sometimes you also just gotta call it finished. If I was going to work this further, I’d refine the hair and shirt a lot more–they didn’t get the same attention the face did. But then with portraits, the face is the most important part.

Here’s the links to the in progress shots — the big versions are on Flickr. Feel free to click to see ‘em bigger.