Candle Quarrel

Hello my creative friends and community members, I am sharing the evolution of a drawing that started for the Sept-Amber drawing challenge. The original concept was for the prompt flickering flame, which resulted in a melting wax candle on a dark background. I love the moody atmosphere and the warm colors of that piece so I decided to take the idea further by expanding the composition into a new scene that I think could be funny or thought provoking.

This is the first drawing that became the starting point of my new drawing today. I retained the look of the heavy dripping and warm yellow candle. Then I introduced a second flame to balance the composition symmetrically. At first I was going for a formal candelabra with two candles lit. But that is boring and predictable so I transformed the idea of a candelabra element into a strange, hybrid figure acting as a candelabra and centerpiece.

There is something about the color and the dripping wax that made me so interested and invested in creating and so I made an unexpected narrative. By observing the drip and flow of the melted wax, I enhanced the drips to form gestures, creating the wax hands. That was golden, it immediately turned the twin candles into subjects engaged in a silent quarrel, with one candle pointing an accusing finger at the other. I was quietly smiling with what I had done and this decision transformed the static subject into something thought provoking and funny.

The central figure which is supposed to be the candelabra took another personality and role. With its single eye and a random pearl necklace stuck between the two arguing flames, has now become the mediator for the scene. This decision gave the whole piece a dramatic tension and a quirky focal point. This final drawing proves how a challenge prompt can lead to potential exploration of composition and character design. Given that I was able to maintain everything about the original design and made a new strange world around it.