Pallas Athena

I've been making a lot of images depicting gods and heroes from ancient Greek mythology lately. I've published close to none of them so far as I want this series completed and I don't feel it's time to let the cat out of the bag just yet. They are mostly an attempt at a Mycenaean or Minoan interpretation, style-wise, as most of these stories were said to take place in the late bronze age. This image of Athena, one of my favorite Goddesses of all time, is an exception. She's fully a familiar figure from classical Greece. I needed a new business card and web banner so I put her on it. Obviously this isn't the finished card. 

I've been reading T.E. Lawrence's translation of Homer's Odyssey and it's got me on a Greek mythology kick again. I'm not sure this meeting between Odysseus (Ulysses) and Poseidon (Neptune) is in the book, since I'm not finished with it. I was influenced really by the movie with Isabella Rossellini and Armand Assante that came out a few years ago. Although they never really showed Poseidon in that adaption. I started making the sea god with white hair, but I don't like Zeus or Poseidon as grandfathers. Proteus and Cronus seem more like gods that would be depicted as aged. Half way thru I considered making the god's skin scaly. But the ancient Greeks saw their gods as being a lot like people. I also wanted him titanic in size to reinforce this man-vs-nature contrast.

Poseidon's Warning

Pencil, Photoshop

May 2013

Pan, lord of the wild

I had mentioned that I also create images with mythic themes and here's the first of MANY I've made over the years. A slight deviation from so much of the Sci-fi related stuff I've been posting as of late. I'm sure Pan needs little introduction. As usual the image at left is reduced to 12% of the original and the detail image at right is reduced to 25%. So these previews are TINY! Enjoy.

Pan

Pencil, Adobe Photoshop

August 2012

Atlantis of the Mind Part One

While its very likely that the legend of the lost kingdom of Atlantis introduced by the ancient greek philosopher Plato in his dialogues Timeaus and Critias is a re-telling of the factual volcanic catastrophe that wiped out the ancient Minoan civilization, there have been many modern ideas and fantasies that have led some to believe that Atlantis was possibly a culture of extra-terrestrial origins. While I for one personally lean toward the recent archaeological Minoan theory, I still enjoy journeying in my mind to an Atlantis of the imagination. A few years ago, from 2004-2008, I began making several drawings and sketches for Atlantean buildings, people and machines of a more science-fictional bend.

Disciploid Two

2005

Pencil on Paper

Disciploid Two (detail)

Disciploid One

2004

Pencil on Paper

Disciploid One (detail)

Sketch for Plato's Atlantis

I have always been an aficionado of the Atlantis myth. This interpretive sketch is inspired by the ancient philosopher Plato's account of a pre-Hellenistic society that has led some believers and adventurers to speculate that its ruins lie submerged in the Mediterranean, among other places. In fact, archaeological findings are pointing to the Minoans and their volcanic catastrophe on ancient Thera as the probable origin of this legend.

Plato's Atlantis

2004

Pencil on Paper

Plato's Atlantis (detail)

Plato's Atlantis (detail)