The dawn breaks, rays of glorious light crest the distant horizon and cut through lazy morning clouds. Birds are singing as the dew glistens upon the crisp vegetation. Your heart is touched by the elegant beauty of this magnificent yet simple time of the day. The power within rises with the sun, powering you, body and soul. This is not just the morphons, this is the ancient legends of your people.
Okay, so perhaps I got a little over verbose with the description there, but I wanted to convey what inspired the art of this card. Dawns Embrace was inspired by Native American and Aridoamerican cultures. I often over-research my subjects, which stems from my professional career as an Author, which requires a lot of research.For the card, I wanted it to reflect power and serenity at the same time, the idea that fire may not always represent power and destruction, perhaps it can represent calmness. This gave us not only a unique card, which features a Native American hero, but also a movement card.
For the art, this one was rather simple once I had the ideas in place from my research. I wanted the person to have the appearance of a Native American, particularly the Aridoamerican genetics. This meant slightly darker skin than more northern Native Americans and high cheek bones. I wanted him in flight, so I lifted his body high and elongated the figure. I used the longer hair as a method of demonstrating air movement. The fire in his hands was actually a little more difficult, I didn't want it to immediately feel threatening, more like something he is merely holding or gathering. His distant gaze was given to allow for that serenity I wished to convey. Finally, putting him in the sky was obvious for flight, but I purposefully let the sky be a contrasting deep blues and whites against his strong oranges, yellows, and reds. Helps him stand out and better conveys the impression of dawn rather than dusk.
Naming the card had a bit of a fun start. I almost went with, Huitzilopochtli's Embrace. (That is the name of an ancient MesoAmerican sun god.) However, I felt that it might prove to be a bit....confusing to use such a tongue twisting word for a basic power card. So, I changed it to just Dawn's Embrace. (You're welcome)
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