crazy lineart

I drew this all by hand, and then I used a couple filters in PS to clean it up.
Total drawing time: 6 hours. Straight. My wrist STILL hurts.
Inspired by a piece my mother made before I was born that has always been one of my favorite pieces of art EVER.
HER'S was a lot cooler. It was a very similar piece, with a woman's head slightly turned to the side, with only one eye, the nose and mouth visible. There was more detail in the face, though, and it had a more western feel. Instead of hair, the woman's head was wrapped in a scarf. Instead of just random patterns, she filled it with symbols. Up around the woman's face and the top part of the picture were symbols from various cultures that were universally known to mean good things, like stars of David, yinyangs, a baby wrapped in swaddling cloth, a manora, the numbers 7 and 3, an angel blowing on a trumpet, that sort of thing.
Down towards the bottom the symbols started to bear much more grim meanings, there were skulls, snakes, a dragon, etc.
It was all black and white and she did it free hand, on a whim, with a calligraphy pen.
I used to have a photocopy of it, but I haven't been able to find it, which makes me very sad. It was a beautiful picture. My mother is an amazing artist. I wish she would draw more. Maybe, when she comes back from the war zone (my mother is also a brilliant linguist and soldier. And an excellent martial artist) I will pester her into making an account of her own here, and make her draw more.