“In this ocean of stars we found each other,
and that’s why we are StarTwo”
Welcome one and all to a place where words become artworks.
We invite you to become a dreamer and surrender to imagination as we share with you our work, thoughts and inspirations.
★There will always be a comfy seat waiting for you at Starlitden★
Art by StarTwo
Strength, Tranquillity and Health
Aphorisms, proverbs and expressions. They permeate our days in discrete appearances and references until they fall out of use to the point of being forgotten and sometimes that means losing important pointers.
There’s one in particular we have been hearing less and less since we were younger. In latin “Mens sana in corpore sano” translates to English as “Healthy mind in a healthy body” and is an aphorism with an earlier similar Greek saying: What man is happy? “He who has a healthy body, a resourceful mind and a docile nature”.
To the both of us, it reminds us that the secret to the best life is to take care of both body and mind, to cultivate knowledge (not just the type you get out of books, but also the practical kind) since mind or body alone won’t become healthy without the other in the long run. We interpret the “docile nature” not in the literal meaning, but to be someone who doesn’t jump to conclusions.
For such a plan, we remind ourselves that change comes with small or even baby steps, let alone some studies mentioning that a new habit -in average- will need from 1-2 months to become an automatic behaviour and being so close to the popular time line of habit turn-arounds – New Year – it’s never a bad idea to think about what would bring us closer to our personal most favourable mind and body healthy ideal.
★stay healthy and stay inspired★
Art by StarTwo
It’s time for the lines of the The Lightbearer under the Guiding crown, the linework for our illustration of the turn of phrase “In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is King”.
We’ll soon share another aphorism illustrated by us but before that, make sure you read the post of the full colour illustration to know more about this expression!
★stay inspired★
Art by StarTwo
He that gives his goods before he’s dead, take up a mallet and knock him on the head (Scottish verse)
Elderly people who trick their ungrateful children into caring for them is yet another recurrent theme in the world of folktales.
The first records of such tales appear in the Middle Ages and spread across Europe, but the theme also appears in places as far as Kashmir and Sri Lanka.
As for the Portuguese version, we found one nearly identical to the German story, though the latter is shorter and provides dialogue to the characters, and also sets the number of daughters to three, unlike the Portuguese version, where there are only two daughters (guess the Portuguese decided to be more cost-effective).
Let us narrate the StarTwo translated adaptation of the next folktale.
The Ingratitude of Children
Art by StarTwo
This is the linework where you can see clearly all the elements we picked for this Magician’s apprentice illustration.
Each one of them is meant to link to the story, so make sure you don’t miss it by reading the tale and see the full version of the original illustration. You can quickly go there by clicking on the link below!
Click here to see the story and full colour illustration!
★stay inspired!★
Art by StarTwo
The Lightbearer under the Guiding crown, a close-up detail of the illustration we made for the turn of phrase “In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is King”.
★Stay inspired★
Art by StarTwo
Our Enchanted Moorish Maiden still lingers waiting for someone to break the curse, knowing that freedom will require someone with bravery – and knowledge of the dangers. Here are the lines from her Creature Feature full colour post.
★Stay inspired★
Today’s folktale was first transcribed in 1879 and it’s a recurrent theme in folktales around the world, this theme being of a magical restraint.
It also happens that similar versions of this tale can be found in Russia, Italy and Great Britain and here from Portugal there are two main versions: one from the south of the country and another from the north.
We present to you our translation (and adaptation) of the southern version since it’s a bit cheekier, in our opinion!
Without further ado, let’s begin!
THE MAGICIAN
