OLYMPIANS POSTER! A complete walkthrough

The upcoming Olympians poster is as finished as it's gonna get. I thought you might like to see this step-by-step process of how it was made, from the finish all the way back to the sketch.

finished color

finished inks

pencils

sketch

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #25

Olympians Book 3, Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory is finally coming out July 19th. To commemorate this momentous occasion I will be posting a drawing from my enormous cache of sketchbooks each weekday until Hera hits the shelves. I'll be going through them chronologically, with today's piece coming from a sketchbook from sometime in latish 2006.

Today's sketch is a near-complete assemblage of the gods. Unfortunately, as you can tell, I drew this across the spread of my sketchbook, so we have a big ol' crease running down the middle. From left to right we have Poseidon, Dionysos, Ares, Aphrodite, Hephaistos, Hera, Demeter, Apollo, Artemis, Hermes and Athena. At this point in time I was toying with the idea of Hestia not having a human form at all, but just being personified by a hearth (that's her in the middle). Eventually, I compromised and made her a humanoid figure composed of flame. Conspicuously absent is Big Daddy Zeus himself-- that's because this drawing is done from a Zeus eye view. We're viewing this family get-together from his seat at the table.

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #12

Olympians Book 3, Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory is finally coming out July 19th. To commemorate this momentous occasion I will be posting a drawing from my enormous cache of sketchbooks each weekday until Hera hits the shelves. I'll be going through them chronologically, with today's piece coming from a sketchbook from, oh. let's say September of 2006. I honestly don't remember right now.

Today's piece is a kinda groovy group shot of a bunch of the Olympians. It's kinda loose, but I think I can make out, from left to right: Demeter, Poseidon, Hera, Athena, Hephaistos, and I think that's Artemis and Apollo on the end. The figures up front would seem to be maybe the Muses. Kind of a neat little drawing, if I do say so myself, somewhat reminiscent of the illustration in the header of this very blog.

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #4

Olympians Book 3, Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory is finally coming out July 19th. To commemorate this momentous occasion I will be posting a drawing from my enormous cache of sketchbooks each weekday until Hera hits the shelves. I'll be going through them chronologically, and today's piece is from a sketchbook dated August 2006.

Today's piece is of the Divine Twins, Artemis and Apollo. Both of them are looking quite similar to their eventual appearances in the Olympians books, but it seems that since I drew this they've both visited the hairdresser. Artemis has two, count 'em, two moon pieces going on in her hair (the published version retains only the one in the back) whereas Apollo looks as if he actually lit his hair on fire. In keeping with the ancient Greeks' view of Apollo mainly as the god of the arts and a protector of young men, and not as the embodiment of the sun (a view that comes much later in antiquity) I've shifted that flaming 'do to Helios, the Titan who quite literally is the sun. I also dig the little bow on the front of Artemis's dress. What was I thinking with that?

The Divine Twins vs. The Wonder Twins

As I do from time to time, I share appropriate warm up sketches I draw with my friends here on the Olympians Rule blog. Today our topic was "twins", so I drew everyone's favorite twin deities, Apollo and Artemis, vs. the old cartoon superheroes the Wonder Twins.

Apollo and Artemis won.

Sketchbook Sneak Peek: Apollo and Artemis

This installment of the sketchbook sampler is a shot of those divine twin archers, Apollo and Artemis. So far in the series they haven't had that much to do, storywise-- unlike, say Hermes or Athena, they tend not to be "guest star" gods in other myths. A myth that features Apollo or Artemis in it tends to be all about Apollo or Artemis. Their own books aren't scheduled for a few installments down the line, so for now, they will tend to be background characters. I like to keep in shape drawing them, though, because when the time comes to tell their stories, oh man, you'd best believe they'll shine.

Guest Artist Gallery: Tim Hamilton

It's the latest installment of a new feature where some of today's most exciting artists lend us their own vision of a favorite god, monster or hero from Greek mythology. In this edition, Mr. Tim "T-Money" Hamilton shares with us his jaw-dropping depiction of Artemis, Goddess of the Hunt and the Moon.



When the other guest artists saw his entry to the Guest Artist Gallery they gnashed their teeth and cursed Hamilton's name, so beautiful is his piece. A few people redid theirs, to compete on the new playing field Tim had elevated. This is what the man has to say about his amazing mixed-media masterpiece: "I love dogs but have never hunted. Females surely are the stronger sex in every culture. Artemis, I fear her and I love her."

The early life of the man called Tim Hamilton is shrouded in mystery-- he is rumored, like Romulus and Remus, to have been raised by wolves, which may account for both his love of dogs and love/fear of the Goddess of the Moon (Werewolf, perhaps?). What is known for sure is that he has been active in the comics field for over two decades-- first coming to prominence as the penciler of the Gerard Jones-written satire "The Trouble with Girls".

He is a founding member of the web comics collective Act-i-Vate, contributing both the dog-themed gangster story Pet Sitter and the ongoing time travel mystery Adventures of the Floating Elephant. He has recently released the graphic novel adaptation of Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, which hit the New York Times bestseller list. More recently, and this is absolutely true, Tim appeared as part of a $1,600 question/answer on the the famous television game show Jeopardy's College Tournament. The category was "Graphic Novels." The answer was: "Tim Hamilton illustrated the graphic adaptation of this Ray Bradbury novel."

Having achieved the highest standard of fame attainable by a cartoonist, being a Jeopardy question, Tim Hamilton has unfortunately peaked, and will begin his slow, painful decline at any time now. He is able to grow a full beard in under twelve hours and has no qualms about wearing biking shorts to the studio.

Can you draw, paint, operate a camera, sculpt, etc.? Have a desire to capture the essence of your favorite figure from Greek myth and see it pictured here on this site? Send me a scan of your work, a few words about yourself and the piece, and I'll put it up!

Myth Manners- On Refusing the Gods

Plagued by jealous gods? Bedeviled by man-eating monsters? In love with a centaur but you're allergic to fur? Maybe Myth Manners can help you!



Dear Myth Manners,

I’m a priestess of the goddess Artemis. One day, when I was in a forest on the edge of the ocean, Poseidon came up to me and started flirting. He’s super strong and handsome, and I like him a lot! But I know that Artemis won’t be happy about that. My first instinct is to risk all for love, but I’m not sure what I’m risking! Can you tell me how Artemis might react if I start dating Poseidon?

Sincerely, Aquatically Attracted

Dear Attracted,

When you make a commitment to one of the gods, it’s hard to get out of it – even with a commitment to another god. Something similar happened to one of my friends a few years ago, except she was a priestess of Athena, and when Athena caught her dating Poseidon, she ended up being turned into a monster (snakes for hair and everything!) for the rest of her life. But if you turn down Poseidon – well, drowning might be the least of your problems. I’m afraid this is not a situation you have any hope of getting out of safely.