Tribute to Mynki, oil and digital painting, Painting II assignment, November 2024

On October 18th, 2024, Digital Extremes shared that Michael “Mynki” James Brennan, one of the pioneering forces behind Warframe's art direction, had passed away on the 15th. At that point, I had just started gathering ideas for a painting class assignment. Originally, I was going to depict a portrait of Dante being grasped by many Murmur hands in the hope of finishing by Tennotober 2024 Day 29: Murmur, but when the news broke about Mynki I chose to shift the painting to instead be a tribute to him.

I replaced Dante with Qorvex in his Raxpart alternate helmet; a design originally concepted by Mynki and a personal favorite of mine. I also replaced Dante's Noctua with a glowing lotus flower inspired by a sketch done by Mynki, and the grasping Murmur instead became a field of lotus flowers and shining light.

This is really my first time grappling a subject matter this serious in my art, and as such it has truly meant so much to me to do this. I have many thoughts and feelings about this piece, and I feel I will continue to struggle to process it all for a long time to come.

Thank you Mynki.