Stone Age Scene

I've always had strong interest and curiosity for the Stone Age. I love to learn about how our far ancestors might have lived. How did they survived the obstacles Nature put on their way? How did knowledge go around and through the generations and the different families and groups? How complex was their society at the time? How did they show their love for each other? What were their customs? How different were their customs from group to group? Did the various groups meet to learn from one another?

Jean M. Auel wrote a serie of books called "Earth's Children", where we follow the life of a main character by the name of Ayla. I can't say the story is interesting all through the 6 books, but the first 3 books are my all time favorites.

- The Clan of The Cave Bear
- The Valley of Horses
- The Mammoth Hunters

I've read them numerous times in French and in English and am planning on reading them in Danish soon. The author travelled and learned from researchers and specialists on the topic, and is using our knowledge of the Stone Age to build a story that is extremely believable.

Anyways... All that to say that it is this story that inspired the following creation. It is a scene I imagined of Ayla and her mate, Jondalar, with their first born. People in the Stone Age did not actually lived IN caves. It is more accurate to say that they chose sites against rock cliffs to build their dwellings, so that the rocks would help protecting them against the elements.

But here on this image, Ayla, Jondalar and the little one are travelling, and this is a small cave they are temporarily using for protection.

Digital painting done from scratch on MyPaint with the use of a Wacom Bamboo Pen tablet. 

While the shape of Jondalar (the silhouette standing) is off, I am still quite content with the over all result. I particularly enjoyed making this scene warm and cozy with the fire and light in the little cave. It was a very good practice piece for light and shades, especially with the baskets. 

What are your impressions?