My astrological sign and an obtuse reference to my smoking characters.
My own initials appear frequently in work. They often appear in a cartouche, on labels and on hearts.
A character from Greek mythology. Cerebus is the guardian of Hades (the realm and the god) and acts as his confidant and is sometimes his harshest critic.
One of the Seven Holy Virtues, the character depicting Charity is based on Krissy Bailey.
A character from Greek mythology who acts as a foil and audience to Hades's actions and emotions.
Cheated on Guy (CG) is a character that was created when the Smoking Guy evolved into a villain and vacated the role of doomed cuckold. CG came to prominence when the scorned SPG went to his arms to spite the Emperor's Son. Once SPG forgave her former lover, she abruptly left CG. Since then CG has been a regular background character in the drawings.
The acting of cheating on ones romantic partner has emerged as an important story element and theme for a couple of reasons. It is an archetypical melodramatic story line as evidenced in some of my early influences such as the TV show Beverly Hills 90210 and the film Dogs in Space. The other reason has to do with my own infidelity in the past and trying to reconcile the feelings that lead us to those actions. On the art, cheating was a central theme of CW2 with William cheating on Jerri, Tempest trying to get Jerri to cheat on William and the Young Emperor cheating on Dabbel among others. Cheating came up again in a prominent way when the Emperor's Son and SPG split due to his tryst with FPG. In retaliation, SPG went to the arms of CG (Cheated on Guy) whose entire origin revolves around being a reject and a cuckold.
Cigarettes are used for tow reasons. One is purely for style and aesthetics. The second is as a sign of satisfaction or to signify a recent sexual act.
Cleodalinda is the maiden in the Story of St. George who is taken to be sacrificed by the Dragon. She is not pure however and her lasciviousness made St. George give pause to rescuing her. She is modeled after FPG who is also part victim - part victimizer. As Cleodalinda exists in a separate world from the main narrative, she only appears in a book or on the label of a bottle.
The act of clipping wings was done to an Angel to show the Emperor trying to hold her down. The Devil-Angel Doll also had her wings clipped as a sign of past tragedy.
Colette Mxxxo once gave me a silver ring as a friendly gesture. After some time the ring became a personal identifier for me and thus was incorporated into the Emperor's character. The ring was then used as a sign of the Emperor's affection and intention. It was worn by the Emperor's Consort and refused by Passion. After a significant personal setback, I stopped wearing the ring and so did the Emperor. Its absence is now a sign of despair and defeat.
A collar being undone is a sign of the loosening of a characters inhibitions. This device is used particularly often with characters wearing armor. The act is also a subtler version of the act of undoing a belt.
Condoms have obvious sexual imagery so much so that I have shied away from depicting them in many scenes. I have however used the a few times as a real object with a drawn label.
Cups is one of the suits of the Lesser Arcana.
When I was younger (between ages 12 and 15), I drew a series of drawings set in a fantastic version of the real world. It was dubbed at the time "Chris World 2" (CW2). The drawings and story primarily focused on a character based on myself and various groups of skaters. The skating component was later replaced by a New Wave/Puck scene and even later - demons showed up. In my current work I have revisited some of the stories and characters originally created in CW2 and integrated them into the saga of the Emperor and his friends, family and emotions.
Czar is a word associated with the original Strength to reflect the Russian origins of the person he was based on and as a spoof of the Rex/Emperor title.