Please take a moment to view full size. This is another work done by both Vintorix and myself. Ralph did this gorgeous landscape and when I saw it I wanted very much to populate it. When I read it was Narcissus's pool I hesitated but Ralph encouraged me to give it a try. And so I have done. It would have been easy to overwork this piece but I have tried to keep it simple, the main goal being to "fit" the characters into the landscape and so tell the story of Narcissus and Echo. Ralph's trademark real/surreal mix in a single landscape make retrofitting 3-d characters a special challenge. This time he gave me a layered file which was a huge help - making this truly a collaboration, for I was able to remove a few elements and to change the structure/color palette, on both his and my layers. This let me blend my characters into his layers and to make the scene a bit more vibrant - for the first time I was able to blend elements of my style into Ralphs. There are many versions to the legend of Narcissus and Echo. Here is one from a compilation of several Greek and Roman authors. When Hera, wife of Zeus, the King of the Olympians, discovered that the nymph Echo had been covering for her Husband while he was having affairs with other nymphs, she took away Echo's lovely voice, except to repeat the shouted words of others. Echo fell in love with a vain youth named Narcissus, who was the son of the nymph Leiriope. Leiriope had been seduced by the river god Cephisus and Narcissus was their child. Seeking council about her son's future, Leirope called upon an oracle called Teiresias. Teiresias told Leirope that Narcissus would live to an old age, as long as he never knew himself. That is he could never see himself. Narcissus grew to be a beautiful young man but he was incredibly vain; he haughtily rebuffed all attempts at romance. He left many broken hearts in his wake. One day when Narcissus was out hunting, Echo followed him into the woods, longing to tell her love for him but unable to speak first. When Narcissus finally heard her footsteps and shouted "Who's there?" Echo answered "Who's there?" And so it went, until finally Echo showed herself and rushed to embrace the beautiful boy. He immediately pushed her away and demanded of her to leave his sight. A heartbroken Echo did as her love requested and faded away into the woodland glen, with only her voice remaining. The Goddess Artemis heard her sad song and made Narcissus drink from the pool in the woods where he had rejected Echo. For the first time he saw himself reflected in the pool and he instantly fell in love with this exquisite being he saw in the waters. However, as Narcissus reached in to touch him, the being would disappear. Tormented by his rejected love, a torment he had caused so many others, Narcissus jumped into the pool in a vain attempt to hold on to the being and thus he was drowned. Echo still calls back to us from magical places and though even as we look for her she will never be seen. Please take a look and leave a comment at Ralph's original here: Heliconian Summer

"Heliconian Summer"
Narcissus is the beautiful Quinn by GypseyAngel at DAZ.