The Fair Reaper

This sketch was done this year when I took an interest in the personification of death. This is the first time I've drawn a proper guy (chibis not counted) that looks like a guy... I think... And I was inspired by a variety of artist from deviantart. This is my idea of how Death might look like personified: His hair is not too long not too short, he wears the chaperone of a jester with a bell hanging at the end of the hood's tail, beneath the chaperone is a diamond-patterned harlequin-like shirt with long loose sleeves, and a pair of slacks with boots (that can't be seen 'cuz its off the paper). Though I didn't color him, I imagined his hair to be white, his visible eye to be silver, his skin to be fair and his clothes to be black and white (the bell will be silver)... so altogether, not much color either. 

Since I got the idea of him being an angel of death, so I drew one large white feathered wing emerging from his back on his left side. As for his right side, I thought, since he represents death, he should have part of himself fading away. That's why the right side of his clothes are frayed and his right arm is missing, pieces of it drifting away in the form of falling flowers. The idea of flowers came from the idea of life and death being closely entwined with each other. His right wing is also missing as it has dissolved into mist. Oh, and his left eye is also missing, though I had the missing eye covered by his side-swept fringe. The right side of his face is also cracking, like a broken mask. In his left hand, he holds the classic Grim Reaper scythe and there's a lamp hanging from the handle of the scythe by a long piece of fabric. The scythe would be his tool to reap the souls of the dying, while the lamp is to light his way in the dark. 

I think of Death as someone lonely, someone sad, who has the job of taking the souls of the dead to the afterlife. But to those who go with him willingly, he would smile and dance them away in the Dance of Death. He is also fair, in the sense that he isn't biased and takes both the poor and the rich, the good and the bad, and no one can escape him when it's their time. I think I'm quite satisfied with this drawing... it turned out better than I expected. I may consider coloring it someday, or I may leave it as it is, since it seems to look quite alright in black and white.