the dungeon of lying lights

this piece is a passion project of mine. every now and then i'll get a creative surge, some idea, some concept, yearning to be drawn exactly the way it presented itself to me in my mind's eye.
this time it was an image of a dungeon, a dark and gloomy place that exists beyond the jurisdiction of time and space. a never-ending castle with infinite corridors and mysterious gates, illuminated with lights that whisper thoughts in your ears and enchant your eyes with visions of desire.
and at the center of this dungeon pictured in my mind i saw a beat-down hero, a reluctant savior forced to delve into this maddening prison, for some purpose greater than himself. perhaps to rescue someone dear to them? maybe in search of some incredible treasure? there's no way of knowing... but what we can know is that this hero is headstrong; this is someone who can, with great effort, see through the lies of the dungeon lights.
maybe this is the one hero who will finally be the first to leave... the dungeon of lying lights.
here are some variants of the project because i'm a bit undecisive when it comes to colors. i wanted to capture the atmosphere of the image just the way i imagined it, so i tried a bunch of different color combinations to see what felt right. there were many many many more, but i narrowed it down to these...