water_bug_62208 wrote:Very nice! And, there Meriem goes, with her whipping, trailing hair and the splashing of water signaling the last of her. And, when the final strands of her hair slip under the mud's surface, only the lingering scent of her feminine sweat will remain.
The earlier pages were most outstanding, but there's something equally special about this page... perhaps because we've been following Meriem's brave, though futile, struggles from the start, the mud's end game comes across as intriguing. I used to not care for artwork or Quicksand Videos showing women getting sucked under quicksand or mud to their doom until I watched Kristine Lynn do a submergence in Kaol's, "Explorer Revisited"... that made scenes like this far more different.
In spite of Meriem's frantic struggling, the mud's surface shows little disturbance, giving a wonderful feel of just how thick, heavy, and entrapping it is and the power of its suction to hold her fast. And, even if someone were to come along, doubt there's much that person could do to save her... it would take the strength of several people to pull Meriem free of the mud's suction, as well as take effort and perhaps even tools to dig away the goo to dissipate the suction gripping her.
Tiangtam's work on this series has been amazing.
Thanks for sharing!
Indeed. The thick sucking mud closes in over the top of her head, her whipping hair sticking up from the surface in her wake, a splash of water to show the last of her failed struggles as she vanishes down into the bog. Slowly her hair gets shorter and shorter until that final tuft follows her down into the depths, only her fain scent and a slightly disturbed patch of mud left behind, no other traces that the poor cavewoman had ever even been there.
I think it's that this page brings the series to a close, as you say, we've followed her struggle from the beginning, seen her fighting and straining against the grip of the relentless sucking mud, the range of expressive emotions as she fought, her strength and effort clear in each page. A strong primal woman fighting against an even more primal force of nature,... but sometimes nature wins, as it appears to be winning in this fight. I know most don't like to take quicksand sequences this far, but for me a sinking sequence that doesn't end in submergence just seems incomplete,... it seems the natural end to it all. And I feel that it's important to note that it's Not about demise, only submergence,... what happens after that is anyone's guess,... does she perish, does she get out somehow? That is left in the imagination of the viewer, as after the submergence the rest is 'off screen'.
Oh, indeed, the thick heaviness of the mud is wonderfully portrayed by how little it has been disturbed by Meriem's struggling, how tightly its suction is holding her, and yes, how hard it would be for someone to get her out. It would indeed require Hulk-like strength, or a large number of people working together to pull, and likely dig, her free, assuming of course they could do so before she sank completely out of reach. I think the disturbance, or near lack there of, of the mud, also brings another point I find to be very intriguing,... think about this for a moment,... a full sized, and rather buxom, woman stumbled into this mud, sank, struggling heavily, down into it and was completely swallowed up by it,... and yet there is almost no sign that she had ever been there. A fierce and passionate fight for her life and yet to the mud it was just a brief disturbance.
Indeed, every single image in this series has been truly wonderful, Tiangtam really is an outstanding artist.
Very welcome, glad you enjoyed it.
