Battle of CMYK

When my teacher said we were making a magazine spread, I had no idea it was going to be this work intensive o_O This picture ended up being about 150 layers in Photoshop.

Now, I don't have the text on this particular version, but part of the project was to include text from an article of our choice. I picked an article about the link between creativity and bipolar disorder because it's something pretty personal to me. I've had these character for a long time and they represent various things.

I called this picture the Battle of CMYK because the characters fighting represent cyan, magenta, yellow and black.

Byzantyan (the multicolored, winged dog on the left) is the purveyor of gold light and stands for creativity and complexity. She is the "manic" portion, always running forward and creating, bringing life to desolate areas, and making whatever is around her more complex and beautiful. She is sometimes known as "Laelaps" or the Dog that Catches anything and is always after Harbinger, her mortal enemy.

Harbinger (the disfigured teddy bear with a noose on his neck) is the purveryor of blue light. He is a representation of my suicidal and self destructive thoughts. He stands for simplicity, flat logic and destruction. He destroys anything he sees and unnecessary (which is everything). To him, the more simple things are, the better. He is in a constant struggle with Byzantyan and is sometimes known as the fox that cannot be caught.

Altarflux (who is actually the three flying diamonds) is the purveyor of magenta light. "He" consists of three separate entities that act as one. He has a logical side, an emotional side, and a mediator (who always carries the staff and does the talking). Altarflux stands for balance and is in a constant struggle to keep Byzantyan and Harbinger from fighting, for when the two fight they threaten to tear apart Splithia (my universe).

Ka'hos (the black amorphous thing) is the purveyor of darkness. He stands for chaos and always tries to stop Altarflux from doing his job.