kudos legend

Beautiful piece. 

You know what besides some details (like the feminine/masculine, pisces, trinity...) I'd say we're pretty close yet I wouldn't have put that into the same words at all. I think I've failed (didn't put much effort into elemental face tho, maybe I should have)  convey that the elemental could indeed be the reflection of the woman.

For the rebirth part, yeh I believe there are enough elements to indicate that yet I would have say something like "letting go of the past" instead. I associate water both with change and memory, and the fact that the water comes directly from the ruins is there to remember/warn that even if you try to let go of the past, it still holds alot of power on how the changes occurs and thus still hold a grip on the future. Maybe if you got rid of it completely...

I see the tension between the characters as the conflictuous feelings we have for our past selves, including tenderness and resentment, and how confronting it can help you accept it and make peace with it. The fact that the elemental is not a straight copy can also be conveniently interpreted as the way we don't even recognize our pas selves sometimes, and how are memories are not as reliable as we might think

One detail that I like too is that looking at the water, the ripples indicate that the woman is in movement, yet the elemental, even though it's still emerging from the water, doesn't look like it's producing ripples. Not sure what it could mean though.

And the nudity indicate that I'm yet to learn how to draw clothes, and the fact that they are women indicate that the model was also a woman. The extensive use of spray tool is indeed a pretentious and grotesque attempt at a "pied de nez" to the strict rules of pixeljoint, which is becoming itself a relic of the past yet still holds alot of power on the future of pixel art. 

Anyway thank you for giving a shot at interpreting the piece, I really appreciate that 

I'm glad you like it 

Thanks cyangmou! I also believe this was my most ambitious piece yet, though I find I still struggle to achieve the incredible level of polishness that most pixel artists seems to have. Or maybe I'm overthinking and it's just not my thing to carefully rethink every pixel. Thanks again,means alot :)

I'm glad you find it awesome 

Love to hear our interpretation? Ok, I'll play an art critic! 

- Water is often associated with the feminine. Life-giving, soft, associated with reaction, passivity, etc. 
- Water is also associated with chaos. Where the masculine is associated with order and structure, the feminine is the opposite. Instead of a strong structure, ruins. Water pouring everywhere. Plants growing. Chaos. Out of order and stagnation comes chaos and rebirth. The revolution of the proletariat.
- The water gives life to the plants, the woman gives life to the water elemental. There is a circle around the water elemental, like the circle of life. 
- The tension between the ethereal water elemental and the physical woman can allude to Pisces, the water sign. Often associated with fantasy, creativity, art, etc. However, if you include the lady in the stained glass, there is perhaps a Trinity. Mother, daughter and Holy Spirit. Trinity is the female character in the Matrix - a movie which, according to scholars, is awesome. There are three panes of vertical glass in the window. There are three elements: water, air and earth.
- The gothic window has a quatrefoil, the shape of four circles. It's the symbol of four leaves. Again, life and growth.
- The quatrefoil is mimicked in the dithering technique, using "+" shaped clusters. The use of the spray can tool represents rebellion against the status quo.
- The water coming out of the stained glass window again reinforces the idea of rebirth, new life coming out of the old.
- The nudity of the woman and water elemental implies a kind of purity, whereas the woman in the stained glass window is wearing clothes. There's some allusion to the Garden of Eden, but here the female figure is returning to innocence in the ruins of human structures.

All of this artsy-fartsy talk aside, I like to imagine that she's just an ordinary woman washing herself and dancing playfully amidst watery ruins and accidentally bringing to life some ancient magic or a tricky water nymph. Maybe even looking at her reflection, the water begins to take her actual shape. It's easy to imagine different stories looking at this.

So much details! I love this

Gorgeous work, really cool to se it finally finished after all the wip bits.
Definitely your most ambitious piece yet.

Awesome.

Oh god I love the idea of a wizard artist jsummoning demons and what not just to pose as models 

I'm glad you like it 

Well I wouldn't mind it being on the hall of fame, even if I highly doubt It will   thank you, glad you liked it!

your stripey rendering style looks great on the water character, the whole surface of her body looks like it's coursing around her. I like the human hand barely being visible behind her face! My interpretation is that this hydromancer is making a life-size reference model so she won't have to buy proko premium drawing tutorials anymore

And the trees ?  thank you!

Thanks irenaart!

As other comments have already mentioned, this is an extremely impressive piece, especially for just 8 colors! The scene is really nice, I love the palette and shading on everything.

8 colors? I couldn't even tell at first!

It wouldn't surprise me at all if this became a hall of fame piece one day. Beautifully crafted!

magnificent ! 
and you were right about the clouds, they look good ^^

Impressive piece in just 8 colors. Really nicely done!