Fearful Symmetry by balaa on DeviantArt (original) (raw)

The Tiger
By William Blake

TIGER, tiger, burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare seize the fire?

And what shoulder and what art
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand and what dread feet?

What the hammer? what the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? What dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?

When the stars threw down their spears,
And water'd heaven with their tears,
Did He smile His work to see?
Did He who made the lamb make thee?

Tiger, tiger, burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

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Thank you to *WickedSairah for the name suggestion. Spent about the last 2 weeks bouting insomnia, moreso than usual. I sketched a rough version of this and decided since I wasn't sleeping anyway to go ahead and see what comes of it, if anything. I had always loved the cliche posters of tigers stalking forward, howevr cliche it does boast a powerful presence..so I decided why not try it with an anthroish cat? I knew, however, after I got some sleep that I would dislike much of it (more specifically the stripes on the back). If I decide to paint this, supposing I have the time and still like the idea, I will redo the stripes on the back to match better with the designs on his face. My absolute favorite part of all of this was the paws, I've gone through several different similar poses (most of them either more frontal or more of a sideview) but all of them ended up obscuring at least one of the paws completely..and seeing as I adore big feline paws, I just couldn't have that. I thought about redoing the whole sketch since I ended up thinking I started a wee bit too small for what I wanted to accomplish, but I'm not sure I have the patience to do another sketch annnd a painted version.

compositional/design critique welcome before I decide whether I want to paint this or not. Thank you guys, oftentimes your advice is truly helpful!!

Size: 6x12 inches
tools: mechanical pencil (.3,.5,.7) on smooth bristol
Time: ?
prints: yes 8.5x11, 8$ US plus shipping, note me if interested .

Thank you for looking!