u/Fuwafuwa_Usagi2525

In religious art, Satan has often been shown as grotesque and visibly inhuman, with horns, serpentine features, or other traits that make his nature immediately obvious.

I’ve always found the opposite approach more interesting. Given the associations with temptation and deception, I can imagine Satan appearing beautiful and refined, perhaps even as an alluring woman. Something familiar and almost ordinary in appearance yet still captivating would feel especially fitting. A figure that draws people in before revealing anything sinister seems more convincing to me.

The characters in the attached images are, in my view, fairly close to the kind of depiction I have in mind. How would you depict Satan, and what qualities would you emphasize?

I’m working on a drawing of Mary as the New Eve and want the theology to be clear without simply copying traditional imagery.

I’m thinking of depicting Eve seated while Mary stands close behind her and brushes her hair, as a reference to the traditional theological motif of Mary untying Eve’s knot. I also want them to look nearly identical, with only their clothes, posture, hair length, and perhaps the placement of their moles distinguishing them. The resemblance is meant to emphasize the typological parallel between Eve and Mary as the New Eve.

For the serpent I plan to draw an androgynous human-serpent figure similar to those found in Renaissance art, with its head beneath Mary’s foot. I also plan to use a fictional character called キガ as a reference for the serpent’s design because of her androgynous appearance.

Do you think it works to depict Mary and Eve as nearly identical? And would an androgynous human-serpent work in this kind of imagery, rather than a conventional snake?

I’d be interested to hear what other Catholics think. Thank you.

P.S. The attached drawing is Mary and Eve by Sr. Grace Remington. It was what first gave me the idea.

Most blessed of women be Jael,
the wife of Heber the Kenite,
most blessed of tent-dwelling women.

(Judges 5:24)

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I have always found the story of Jael and Sisera in the Book of Judges incredibly visceral and striking. For this piece, I wanted to create my own interpretation of the scene, focusing on its psychological intensity and the contrast between Jael’s agency and Sisera’s vulnerability. Jael’s presence was loosely inspired by a manga character whose characterization I found oddly fitting for the scene.

The title on the right is 士師記 (Judges), while こめかみ at the lower left means “temple,” referring here to the pterion. The numeral 4 refers to Judges 4, in which Jael kills Sisera by driving a tent peg through the side of his skull.

Because the emotional weight of the scene rests largely on the characters’ expressions, I paid particular attention to the eyes and facial details. The facial details are best viewed up close.

I listened to this song while drawing. HIGHLY recommended for the mood.

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Tech specs: Drawn in CSP using the Real G-Pen at size 9–10 with weak anti-aliasing, along with several custom brushes from Clip Studio Assets. I limited the palette to the default red, blue, and black, using clipped Multiply layers and screentones at different frequencies for shading. Lock Transparent Pixels was useful for the typography.

The clothing is largely interpretive, as I found few reliable references for ancient Kenite women. The piece was originally composed in a 1:1 aspect ratio, but I later cropped and retouched it to accommodate Reddit’s preview format.

I’m also trying out different styles and ways of drawing faces and expressions, mostly to keep things interesting (a rather presumptuous thing for an amateur to be doing, but it keeps me motivated to draw after work even if I don’t get started until after 10 p.m.)

Thanks for looking.

I want to illustrate Bible scenes as faithfully as possible, including the more graphic and gory parts.

I’ve thought about it a lot and did my best to stay within the line, but I feel like the most honest approach is to depict it realistically without glorifying or filtering it.

Is that allowed?

Then Jael Heber's wife took a nail of the tent, and took an hammer in her hand, and went softly unto him, and smote the nail into his temples, and fastened it into the ground: for he was fast asleep and weary.
So he died.

“So God subdued on that day Jabin the king of Canaan before the children of Israel.”
(Judges 4:21, 23)

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What if the Book of Judges had manga covers? Here’s my take on Jael and Sisera.

I was really impressed by the direction in an anime ending I watched earlier this month, which inspired me to start this piece. I’ve always found the Jael and Sisera scene in Judges incredibly brutal, so I wanted to draw my own take on it. The mood was inspired by the song You Can’t Run From Me from Cyberpunk Edgerunners 2.

Tech specs: Made in CSP. Real Gpen (size 9-10, weak anti-aliasing) along with some custom brushes from Clip Studio Assets that I wanted to experiment with. A small tip: locking the transparent pixels on each layer can make coloring much cleaner and easier. I kept the colors to the default red, blue, and black palette, then used clipped Multiply layers and screentones for the shading.

At 12 years old, Jesus sat among the teachers in His Father’s house, listening, asking, and answering.
His words left them stunned.

They had spent their lives studying the written Word.
Then the living Word sat before them.

The Word became flesh. (John 1:14)

I drew an earlier version of this piece some time ago, but it always felt unfinished. The new anime trailer brought me back to the idea, so I decided to redraw it properly.

Every textual element in the piece comes from Scripture. Behind Him, I placed Psalm 119, the longest hymn to God’s Word, using the Hebrew text of the Masoretic tradition (I should have used a version without niqqud for historical accuracy, but it was too difficult to revise). For the scroll across His lap, I used Leviticus 4–5. Along the left side, I added the Latin Vulgate phrase Verbum caro factum est, meaning “the Word was made flesh.”

The asymmetrical eyes and cruciform halo were inspired by the Christ Pantocrator of Sinai. Within His glowing unearthly right eye, I placed the blood-red דבר (dabar), meaning “Word,” to represent His divinity. His left eye has a softer and more boyish quality that reflects His humanity. Together, the two eyes show Christ as both fully divine and fully human.

For the title at the bottom, I chose お父さんの家, “Dad’s house,” rather than a more formal expression. The childlike お父さん emphasizes that He is still only twelve years old. I also used the katakana イェシュア(Yeshua) instead of the conventional Japanese イエス(Iesu) to retain more of the Hebrew pronunciation of His name.

The mole beneath His earthly left eye matches the one in an older drawing I made of the Virgin Mary. It is a quiet reference to their human bond as mother and son. I also made their eyes intentionally similar.

This piece is made in CSP. I used the Gpen at size 7–9 with strong anti-aliasing and soft airbrush. I rasterized the background text, warped the scroll text with mesh transform, and shaded the piece with screentone layer and duplicated coloring layers set to Multiply then clipped everything on top since I hadn't started from a grey base (rookie mistake).

I listened to Stand For You while revising this piece, and it suited the mood surprisingly well. I had it blasting at full volume, highly recommend it!

I hear summer break has started in the US! I hope everyone is enjoying some quality time with family. As for me, I’ll continue making my way to the office at my firm...

I was recently really impressed by the direction in a certain trailer, which inspired me to start working on this piece. I’ve always found the Jael and Sisera scene in Judges incredibly intense, so I wanted to draw my own take on it. The mood was inspired by the song You Can’t Run From Me from the Cyberpunk Edgerunners 2. I personally recommend checking it out!

The milky white tear through the middle represents the milk Jael offered Sisera before killing him. I used CSP’s Real Gpen brush with weak anti-aliasing at size 9-10, along with some blood brushes from Clip Studio Assets that I wanted to experiment with. I kept the colors to the default red, blue, and black palette, then used clipped Multiply layers and screentones for the shading.

I finally completed the drawing of Jesus in the temple at age 12 by adding the typography and making a few final adjustments to my previous draft. As you can see, I strictly limited the color palette to black, white, and red this time to create a highly restrained look. Finding the specific font was more difficult than I anticipated, but I am glad because my workflow will be much faster from now on. For more details, please check my previous post.

For context, the overall mood and composition of this piece was deeply inspired by the song AIZO by King Gnu. It is one of the most experimentally structured songs among the works of 常田大希，so I recommend it!

You might have noticed from my profile that I have been drawing a bit lately.

I am finishing a drawing (colored manga cover that took me almost 3 weeks) of Salome and the severed head of Saint John the Baptist. I want to ask this community about the limits of religious art.

The head is painted with intense realism. It clearly shows bone marrow, muscle layers, spine, esophagus, spinal cord, and carotid arteries. My goal is to contrast the toxic relationship between Salome and Herodias against the brutal reality of martyrdom. In my drawing, Salome (a teenage girl) has bloody hands and holds the silver platter. She is crying while forcing a smile as her beautiful mother gently caresses her shoulder and cheek from behind.

Does this level of graphic detail cross the line into disrespect? Christian art often shows the harsh reality of martyrdom, but I want to ensure I am honoring the saint rather relying on shock value. Where is the balance between realism and reverence? I would appreciate your thoughts.

Edit: Just so you know, the attached image is NOT my drawing. I simply included this classical painting by Callisto Piazza as a reference to show what the cross section of decapitated neck in my drawing would look like.

I started this CSP piece last week and just finished it. This piece portrays the 12 year old Christ in the temple. My goal was to manifest him as the Logos, the divine Word made flesh. I sought to capture the transcendent gravity of that instant when teachers confront a boy who embodies the living Word. I intentionally drew his eyes differently to represent the dual nature of Christ as both human and divine. The composition draws inspiration from the Star Child scene in 2001: A Space Odyssey and the song 愛憎 by King Gnu.

The background text is Psalm 119 in Hebrew, rasterized using PPT despite my never expecting to use it outside of work. The scroll He holds contains Leviticus chapters 4 and 5 in Hebrew. Please excuse any tiny or distorted text on the scroll, as this was my first time using the mesh transformation.

I gave up using the halo as primary light source for shading because of back pain. Make sure to stretch regularly!

Greetings from Kanto. As you might tell from my profile I spent a long time studying his style and recently made a Reddit account (a friend of mine told me Reddit has many art experts) to post my drawings but I do not think I have entirely mastered it.

From what I experienced so far, his approach is quite straightforward and relies heavily on solid fundamentals rather than flashy techniques. Do you think I should focus more on basic drawing practice like dessin?

Just so you know, the banger I am listening right now is 本能 by 椎名林檎。

As you might notice from my profile, I’ve been focusing on drawing Christian figures lately. For my current practice piece, I chose St. Lucy. Her story involves her eyes being gouged out and a dagger to the throat, and I am drawing it exactly like that, emphasizing realistic blood and severe physical trauma.

Traditional paintings always make these martyrdoms look super clean and peaceful, but I decided to highlight the brutal physical reality of what actually happened.

I want to know how you guys view this kind of violent artistic approach. Does extreme gore distract from the spiritual message, or does it make the reality of their sacrifice hit harder? I am really curious to hear your thoughts.

This is a fast study I made yesterday. I used only the CSP Gpen set to size 6 to 7. Minimal coloring was added rather than leaving it as a simple inking. The piece was created while listening to McDonald Romance by King Gnu.

P.S. Looking at the details again, it really looks lazily inked...

Hello, I am working on a small art project, and for my next piece (which I'm designing as a manga cover), I am drawing Herodias' daughter.

Though unnamed in the Gospels and historically identified as Salome, she is often depicted in later art and Oscar Wilde's works as a malicious, seductive femme fatale who personally wanted John the Baptist dead.

However, Matthew 14 and Mark 6 show her asking her mother what to request. Historically, she was likely in her early to mid-teens. As the stepdaughter of Herod Antipas within the Herodian royal family, she was a politically powerless girl caught in a violent situation controlled by her mother.

To reflect this biblical and historical context, I want to draw her holding the platter with John's head, but looking deeply traumatized, sweating, and terrified instead of proud. For her psychological state, I am referencing the character Kobeni from the anime Chainsaw Man. That character is known for being constantly terrified, pressured by her parents, and forced into traumatic situations against her will. I also plan to emphasize Herodias' imposing presence in the composition to highlight who was truly in charge.

Would this terrified, manipulated portrayal align better with a Christian understanding of the biblical text than the traditional seductress image? I would appreciate your thoughts.

Hello, I am working on a small art project, and for my next piece (which I'm designing as a manga cover), I am drawing Herodias' daughter.

Though unnamed in the Gospels and historically identified as Salome, she is often depicted in later art and Oscar Wilde's works as a malicious, seductive femme fatale who personally wanted St. John the Baptist dead.

However, Matthew 14 and Mark 6 show her asking her mother what to request. Historically, she was likely in her early to mid-teens. As the stepdaughter of Herod Antipas within the Herodian royal family, she was a politically powerless girl caught in a violent situation controlled by her mother.

To reflect this biblical and historical context, I want to draw her holding the platter with St. John's head, but looking deeply traumatized, sweating, and terrified instead of proud. For her psychological state, I am referencing the character Kobeni from the anime Chainsaw Man. That character is known for being constantly terrified, pressured by her parents, and forced into traumatic situations against her will. I also plan to emphasize Herodias' imposing presence in the composition to highlight who was truly in charge.

Would this terrified, manipulated portrayal align better with a Catholic understanding of the biblical text than the traditional seductress image? I would appreciate your thoughts.

Hello from a tired Tokyo office worker!

Mary Magdalene is my favorite biblical figure. Since I’m currently studying Tatsuki Fujimoto, I decided to draw her in his art style. The mood of this piece was heavily inspired by first death by TK from 凛として時雨 and Deep down by Aimer, with the latter being my personal pick for its elegiac lyrics.

This was my first time using Clip Studio Paint, and I already prefer it to Procreate. The vector eraser, blending brush, 3D models, and Clip Studio Assets are excellent, but the brush feel stood out most. The G pen brushes felt especially natural and let me make full use of my drawing fundamentals in a way Procreate never quite did.

I had to rush the shading toward the end because my wrist started hurting so please excuse any rough spots. I am planning to draw other biblical figures as manga covers and would appreciate any feedback you have on this idea.

P.S. Sadly, Reddit seems to seriously degrade the colors and details when I upload artwork. It might look better on desktop, or if you zoom in. Just so you know, drawing the title on the right took the longest wwww.

While listening to the opening theme of the anime Bocchi the Rock! (ぼっち・ざ・ろっく!), I felt inspired to draw St. Peter in the style of its official art. The overall drawing process was pretty straightforward thanks to the cel shading, but the calligraphy took some time as I tried to accurately match the official style.