Checkmate
The painting "The Chess Players" (1831) by Moritz Retzsch depicts a young man in a desperate match against the Devil for his soul. According to legend, chess master Paul Morphy realized the "checkmate" was an illusion, famously declaring: "The King has one more move!"
This painting and story served as the inspiration for me to depict a chess-playing astronaut. Bitcoin is the middle class's "last move" to break free from subjugation by the profiteers of the Cantillon effect and the consequences of money printing, allowing us to finally achieve self-sovereignty. An astronaut felt like the perfect protagonist for this scenario and we all know why.
Rat poison
Warren Buffett once said that Bitcoin was “rat poison.”
Ironically, in a certain sense, that’s true because Bitcoin is poison for those who have profited from the fiat system for decades.
Above all, it threatens misguided, ideological state and state-adjacent structures - the real rats of our society.
The biggest winners of a Bitcoin standard, however, will be ordinary people like us.
01
Rough outlines
For this artwork, I took my time with the first sketch. Normally, I create a rough outline using a hard pencil to minimize stress on the paper, as any marks can become visible later when working with a ballpoint pen. In most cases, I develop the precise details directly with the pen rather than in the initial sketch.
02
Rats in suits
I love drawing animals or mythical creatures. Rats in suits are, in my opinion, a very symbolic image of our society today.
I also love drawing movement, which is why in many of my pictures you can see at least one motion or action.
03
Macro Vignette
The challenge with ballpoint pen drawings is when you want to give the artwork a large macro vignette, because that isn’t as easy or quick to do as, for example, with pencil, graphite, charcoal, or paint. Large areas can only be darkened very, very slowly if you want to create a smooth overlay.
04
Blocktrainer terminal
I always add the time/block height to my artworks when I finish them - as I did with this piece. I also make a Bitcoin on-chain transaction using the OP_RETURN method and write something about the artwork - that transaction corresponds to this piece. Recently, I’ve been using the Blocktrainer Terminal to quickly see my block times.
05
Final artwork
I left this artwork entirely in black and white - without the additional cadmium orange that I usually use in most of my pieces. I felt the artwork looked better this way, and I didn’t have an idea of how to best integrate the color into this piece.
The drawing process of
"The Great Fall Artwork"
