Hades is done! Long live Poseidon!

I've delivered the completed Hades: Lord of the Dead to my publisher, hooray!

Now I'm hard at work on Olympians Book 5, all about Poseidon!

So far, all of the subtitles for my books that I've come up with (with the exception of Athena: Grey Eyed Goddess) have changed by the time that they were published. I have a subtitle in mind for the Poseidon book, but since past experience has shown that it will most likely change, I was wondering what you, my readers, thought would make for a good subtitle. Please leave your suggestions here, at the Olympians Rule forum.

Chocolate Aphrodite

I don't remember what twisted strain of conversation lead to "chocolate Aphrodite" being today's warm-up topic, but I do know that the best way to a goddess's heart is to give her a milk-chocolate replica of herself. Better than flowers anyday.

I might color this whole thing when I get home. Then again, I might not.

and I did decide to color it. Now it's prettier.

Happy Lupercalia!

So how did a Roman Catholic Saint, of all people, come to be associated with the holiday intended for the expression of intense physical love? Good question.

Like many modern holidays (I'm looking at you, Xmas), what we celebrate today is just a patch early christians threw on over pre-existing pagan rituals (Saturnalia, anyone?). That explains why, say, we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus with eggs and bunnies-- the christian element was overlaid on a pre-existing springtime fertility ritual.

St. Valentine's day is a similar case. Nobody is sure which St Valentine we're celebrating exactly (there were at least three) but his day is an overlay of the ancient Greco-Roman festival of Lupercalia, in which was celebrated both the holy marriage of Zeus (Jove) and Hera (Juno), as well as in Rome the founding of their city (Romulus, Remus, wolves, "Lupe"-- it's all connected). There was all sorts of courting between young folks of both sexes, and it was generally very frolicky. Lupercalia was a very, very  ancient festival, and it had replaced (more absorbed, really) an even more ancient one, Februa, which, you may guess, is where we get  the name for the month of February. Now you know, and knowing is half the battle.

My drawing is of the sacred couple themselves, Zeus and Hera, in embrace, behind a water lilly, one of Hera's sacred flowers.

Persephone pin up, final colors

Here's the final colors on a piece that readers of this blog have seen a few times. I originally posted it in black and white, and then reader Jakob Dailes tried his hand at coloring it, and now, finally, here's mine. This is the final of three distinct looks that Persephone goes through in Olympians Book 4, Hades: Lord of the Dead. How do you like it?

Progress Report: Yet another finished colored page from Hades: Lord of the Dead

It's been a whirlwind of posted finished colored pages 'round here lately! Here's one from the book's central action scene, where the Lord of the Dead himself carries off young Kore to the Underworld. This page is part of the same sequence that these two almost finished pages I posted awhile ago belong to, and I also had previously posted the black and white artwork for it as well. And now it's done!

Progress Report: another finished colored page from Hades

Olympians Book 4, Hades: The Lord of the Dead is all but in the can as I type this (just going over the last few pages making color tune-ups, and adding lightning. Boy, there's a lot of lightning in this book). I thought I would share another finished color page with all of you, so you can see what's coming up.

This particular page has proven to be a favorite of mine-- there's something about the way Demeter looks in these panels that I really dig. In fact, I've shared this particular page with you all before at the finished black and white stage and the concept sketch stage-- I should really go and add the rough pencils in one of these days.

So what do you think?