Wow, finally done. This started out with me being in a mood where I wanted to create something dark and sinister. Originally, it was going to be a vampire image... but it soon found it's way towards a new subject... the Crow / Common Raven.

I then started to do a bit of research, and found a lot of inspiration from "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe (this piece is named after the words the Raven mutters in that poem), as well as learning the many depictions of the Crow or Raven in culture and mythology. The movie "The Crow" also served as inspiration along the same lines. Generally, the Crow or Raven is seen as a bird of ill omen, and is often associated with death, or are even seen as messengers or "go-betweens" from the afterlife and our living world (as Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven" eludes). The lantern sort of serves as a contrast or counterpoint to that concept.

PLEASE VIEW FULL SIZE, thanks!

This is one of my favorite works that I've done... I'd like to do more like it!

Thanks to reference stock from:
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[link]

This was done in Painter.

Thanks for looking!

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DD! Holy crap! I am amazed and extremely happy that I got a DD. It's so easy for work to go unnoticed here since so much deviations are posted every day... so I honestly never expected that I would ever get a DD. This definitely makes my month.

To all of you who have looked / commented / faved / watched -- thank you! I am reading every single comment, although I probably won't be able to respond to each one personally. So this is my thanks right here... thanks!

And thank you $spinegrinder [link] for the DD, appreciate it!