I have a shoulder angel and a shoulder demon, except I don’t imagine them as being small. You’ve seen the Angel in a few other drawings and paintings, including the header, but I think the Demon has only showed up in one so far, and maybe I haven’t even put that picture on the site yet. (click for larger picture)

The Angel just wants me to be the best person I can be. He protects me as much as he can from doing the wrong thing, saying the wrong thing, thinking the wrong thing. He’s the strict, but loving personification of my conscience. He’s not good at showing his emotions, though; he rarely smiles, and rarely gets angry. The glare he has on in the header is maybe a bit overdone. He’s not that bad.

The Demon is a number of things. He is the little voice in my head that tries to beat me down, make me doubt myself, make me hate myself. He’s the one who tells me that other people should share my opinion. He’s the one who tries to nudge me into being less than understanding. He’s the one who presents unhealthy things as the thing that I want to do.

This is not to absolve me of responsibility for my actions. I am in control of myself. But these two share my mind just as much as any other character or persona in my head, and the Demon especially loves to talk to me. I’m getting better at ignoring him, at least for the moment. He is currently failing to make me hate myself. Does the Angel help me love myself? No, because that’s my job, not his. Being a good guy means tough love sometimes.

They’ve been rather active in my head this last month. I’ve wanted to draw them for a while, but this time has been difficult (again) for me so this was the time for it, I guess.