Whoah!
I hadn't ever really realized that there was quite a number of closet fans of my artwork that were belly dancers! It just never really seemed that anyone ever noticed much, and I just did them because I not only LOVE belly dance, love TO belly dance, but I also LOVE drawing and depicting ethnic, and exotic dancers (as well as Ravers or Go-go dancing).
But, when I did a search of "
BlackUniGryphon" or "
Black UniGryphon" I found several dancers had made accounts on DeviantArt
just to fav' my work, and ended up hooked on the art sharing site.
So, just a lil' bit about me:
Hi! I'm the artist alias "
Black UniGryphon" (BlackUniGryphon).
My real name is:
Kandice Kathleen Zimbleman
My legal name is:
Kadice Kathleen Zimbleman-Wang
My Chinese name is:
任思麒 (Witten in mandarin Pinyin as: Ren Si-Qi)
(Sounds like: Run Szzz Tchee)
This is how you write "Black UniGryphon" in Chinese:
In Mainland People's Republic of China use Simplified Chinese like this: 乌独角兽
But, in other Chinese places on islands like Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Macao, it's written in the Traditional old script like this: 烏獨角獸
And I would also use the Traditional way if I were to do something dealing with Japan, because I don't think they can read modern simplified Chinese.
I actually wrote the Chinese translation of "Black UniGryphon" to mean mean a type of magical or mythical unicorn, or 1-horned beast. It actually means "Darkish/Blackish Unicorn" because I didn't want to use the commonly used word for "Griffin" which is actually a VULTURE! I take offense to that. Griffins are pretty & graceful, as well as robust. Vultures are ugly & clumsy, and have bad taste in all things. I also didn't use the common word for "black", I used a more educated, and prettier & poetic sounding "wu" instead of "hei". "Wu" can also mean very dark, but not in a bad way.
Many people in Chinese will tell me that using 乌独角兽 sounds too manly, or masculine. But, I don't care. Even in Chinese culture they have a story of the Dragon Princess "Long Nü" which is a female character, even tho' "Long" (Dragon) is generally ONLY used for a man's name. In my culture, equines & unicorns have become more effeminate, even tho' they were originally masculine. (Look it up, it's true.)
"
Black UniGryphon" is my
Fursona which comes from the Furry Comunity.
NO, despite what rumors you MAY have heard from Vanity Fair, Episodes of X-Files, etc.
I DO NOT GO TO SEX CLUBS DRESSED AS AN ANIMAL! That is TOTALLY FALSE! Most Furries don't do that! But, I did go to several conventions, namely
Anthrocon. Often
as a dealer, or
as an artist, and was even published in their Convention book. And, yeah, I did wear either wings, or a tail. But, people bring kids, and there's no weird sex going on.
I have also been publishing my artwork online since 1999, under the aliases:
ZBlackUnicorn, BlackUnicorn, or EbonyUnicorn
Anyways, dance & music have always been an important part of my life. When I was a kid, I could've become a musical prodigy, but instead I chose visual art, and my music teacher was furious. I used to play violin as a kid, the recorder, and even had to take guitar class in middle school, plus I used to be in chorus, and even stared in several talent shows as a singer. I often times regret having not done more with music. But, instead I went crazy with arts & sciences. (That's a long story.)
Dance,
however, has helped my life very much. It helped me to deal with depression, once I'd realized that my artistic dreams, after graduating college and trying in vain to go back to school were crushed by the 777 stock market crash that caused the Bailouts and the "great recession" which I actually call "the economic melt down". So, my dreams of going to CAL-ARTS were crushed. I was devastated, and I would stay in bed crying for years.
What pulled me out of that was an interest in belly dance, which also got me back into Yoga. But, I've taken a few lasses by
Zoe Jakes, and also Taiji Chuan (tai chi), Taiji Gungfu Shanzi (Tai chi Kungfu fan style), Taiji Jianzi (sword Tai chi) and a lil' bit of Qigung (Chigong). I'm not an expert in either of them, but I can dance improvisational belly dance not too bad, and I'm not perfect with yoga, but I can do some advanced poses with my likes like butterfly & lotus stuff.
So, naturally, my artwork began to reflect my interests.
Generally, when you see my artwork, you will notice that the human figure of a woman, is usually my character "
Lively".
But, I have noticed that many of the dancer fans whom like my work, also like my Chinese inspired work (much of which I'd created when I lived in China), or my fantasy work as well like Unicorns.
The easiest place to find my work is my gallery on
Deviant Art: Here
If you like dancers, you will want to check my "
Maidens" sub gallery.
My
Chinese Inspired Art:
Here
And, my Fantasy stuff is all over the place in there. It's mostly what I'm known for on the internet.
But, when I was a kid, I liked to draw American comics, and especially exotic beautiful ladies.
I still like those things. But, much of my Furry/Anthro audiance wasn't exactly happy with me when I switched back to drawing human figures again. But, I just CAN'T be stuck in being a
Furries ONLY, or BEASTS/ANIMALS only artist.
As for my interests in dance, I do have a Pyrate Cosplay character that I dress up as:
Marshall Kändiß (Or Marshal Kandice)
Which I've mostly dressed up as in Philadelphia, but a tiny bit in Boston.
But, enough of me, I'm sure you're more interested in my art than my dancing.
;-P
Anyways, here are a few examples of my artwork, if it's dancers that you are looking for:
Well I guess I ought to blog a complete list of my dancer pieces.
I have so many, and many different kinds.
I notice belly dancers tend to like many styles of dance as well.
Artist "Black UniGryphon" 烏獨角獸 Kandice Kathleen Zimbleman 任思麒 and her creatively made stuff, thoughts, or sharing.
Whoah!
