Hello everyone!
For my contest piece, I wanted to think outside of the box and stray a little from the usual iconic cupid. I decided to take the story of cupid and psyche and give it a dark twist.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cupid_and_Psyche
It's about Psyche, the youngest and most beautiful daughter of a king. She is indeed so beautiful that people started worshipping her instead of Venus, the goddess of beauty.
Psyche and Cupid, Venus' Son, fell in love with each other, despite him being tasked to murder her. He flees after his real identity is revealed, leaving Psyche desperately searching for him.
She seeks out Venus in order to find him. After a number of sadistic trials, Venus sends her to the underworld to bring her dose of the beauty of Proserpina. After obtaining the box and returning, Psyche opens the box and falls into a deep sleep.
This is where the twist I came up with for this picture begins. Instead of being found by cupid, Venus finds Psyche and punishes her for her audacity. To keep her forever from her beloved, Psyche is turned into the opposite of Cupid and is thus doomed to bring despair and dismay to the hearts of people for eternity.
To further mock her, Venus gives Psyche a bow that resembles a winged Serpent, the creature Psyche believed she was to marry before she found out about Cupid's true identity. Venus: "Now, you surely think you would have been better off with a winged serpent. I will grant you your wish."
This was the last straw that plunged Psyche's soul into darkness. First she suffered, then she embraced her new existence. She will let them all feel the pain she felt, they will all suffer as she did. Whenever she manages to split one of cupids arrows with one of hers, the effect becomes even more grave, to an extent at which that person feels the exact feelings she did.
Psyche is usually pictured with butterfly wings, so it was only natural that my dark cupid will get a pair of those too.
This was so much fun to work on, especially the wings and the bow. Every minute was well spent and I'm so happy I decided to go for this concept.
