Strive: Sun’s Chosen

Featured from “SYNDICATE XVI” 2025 Illustration MFA Visual Thesis Exhibition, FIT

The Acolyte Faction was another group that was certain to me: a religious faction that worships something very real, the Sun. In my mind when I was thinking who would comprise this devout group, I thought of my cats always finding the tiniest spot of sunlight to lay in. Cats, lizard folk, average humans and anyone else who valued the life the Sun’s light gives. So when it came to creating a leader, I wanted to challenge myself to illustrate a lizardfolk (something I had never done before) and make him a bit ironic. His white, iridescent scales constantly reflecting the Sun’s light was a wordless display of worship that I thought was very clever way to claim power for a zealot.