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

As promised, more lil Olympians

Dug up some sketches to share...

POSEIDON: EARTH SHAKER on the NYTimes Bestsller list!

A huge, heartfelt "THANK YOU!!!!" to everyone who helped put it there. Meanwhile, eternal middle child Poseidon celebrates a victory that little bro Zeus's book never quite managed.

Poseidon interview with Geekmom at Wired.com

Well, it's not the actual god of the sea that they interview, but rather me, talking about my latest book. I had a really great in-depth conversation about Olympians in general and Poseidon in particular with Melissa 'Geekmom' Wiley over at the incredible Wired.com. If you're interested in giving it a read, as well as seeing a photo of my Masters of the Universe collection, click here.

I'm an official (MTV) Geek now!

This is just a screenshot-- see me talk and draw at the link below 

I sat down recently with the good folks from MTV Geek for a video interview where I talked about how to draw Poseidon, the Olympians series, and my very own special feud with the God of the Sea. You can see it all here.

Poseidon Bookstore appearances!

Did I mention Poseidon: Earth Shaker has been released? I'm making a few appearances in the next few days to promote it. Here's a sampling:

 March 20th, 4 PM-- Community Bookstore in Park Slope Brooklyn!

 March 21st, 6:30 PM-- Voracious Reader in Larchmont, NY

 March 22nd, 4 PM-- Watchung Booksellers in Watchung, NJ

 March 23rd, 11 AM-- Greenlight Bookstore, Fort Greene Brooklyn!

Hope to see you there!

RELEASE THE KRAKEN!! Poseidon: Earth-Shaker comes out today!

I know, I know, the Kraken isn't really from Greek mythology (in fact, if you've ver seen me in person,  I devote a chunk of my presentation to how bogus the Kraken is) but it does make for a good headline.

OLYMPIANS BOOK 5-- POSEIDON: EARTH SHAKER COMES OUT TODAY!!! GO! GO!! GET A COPY!!!

Please get a copy, that is. I'm very excited :)

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #73

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 every day until Hera hits the shelves. I'll be going through them chronologically, with today's piece coming from a sketchbook from April of 2007.

Today's drawing is a shot of Poseidon striking the ground with his earth-shaking Trident. I've been working on Olympians Book 5, Poseidon lately and have had many occasions to draw a variation of this pose.

I've gotten pretty good at it.

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 #14

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 piece is of the Kind of the Sea himself, Poseidon. He was one of those designs that I arrived at more or less completely right away-- though he's since lost the crown. Too Triton-ey from Disney's The Little Mermaid. I've been drawing a lot of the Earth-shaker lately, as I'm in the middle of writing Olympians Book 5, all about Poseidon.

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.

Another Poseidon

For your viewing pleasure, another Poseidon. I must be getting warmer, because I like this one quite a bit more than yesterday's.

warm up: Poseidon

Don't know if I've actually announced this anywhere officially, but volume 5 of the Olympians of going to be dedicated to the god of the sea himself, Poseidon. As a result, I've been spending a lot of time in  my sketchbook getting used to drawing the old Earth Shaker. I'll be posting a lot more sketchbooky goodness so check back often.

Sketchbook Sneak Peek: Polyphemos

Here's something to give you an idea how far ahead I work on this series. Both this monster, Polyphemos the Cyclops, and the previously spotlighted Minotaur, are not due to make an appearance until Book 5 of Olympians, dealing with Poseidon. Right now, I'm hard at work on the finished art for Book #, The Glory of Hera, and so far, only book 1 Zeus: King of the Gods is available in stores. Still, these guys are appearing in my sketchbook now so that when it comes time to draw them down the line, I've worked out all the kinks of their design.

Myth records two very different interpretations of the Cyclopes. There's the Earth-born "uncles" to the Olympians, allies of the gods, whom we've met already in Zeus. Then there's the terrible cannibalistic brute Polyphemos as depicted in the Odyssey. I've opted to depict them as different species entirely, with no more in common than they both must have monocular vision. The head of Polyphemos here is based off an elephant's skull, as it has been often theorized in modern times that the Ancient Greeks would find the skulls of extinct pachyderms and mistake the trunk-hole for a giant eye cavity. I can definitely see that. Looking at the skull now, I wonder if I shouldn't give my Polyphemos some tusks?

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.

Sketchbook Sneak Peek: A Very Strange Poseidon

It's a Poseidon-y kind of day around here, so I thought I'd share this strange little drawing I uncovered from my sketchbooks of the Earth-Shaker himself. There's more things wrong with this drawing than I can count, yet, oddly, I still find it very compelling. Enjoy!

Antique(s) of the Week: The Temples at Paestum, formerly Poseidonia

Since last week we dealt with a statue that has been attributed as being either Zeus or Poseidon, I thought I might continue the theme of mis-attributions of the sea god with a look at the ancient Greek temples at Paestum, in Italy. Paestum began its life as a Greek colony called Poseidonis in about the 7th century BCE. On the left, we have the large structure identified as a temple to Hera. On the right, we have another temple, for years believed to be a temple to Poseidon. Makes sense, to have a temple to Poseidon, given the fact that the town was named Poseidonis, right?



Turns out, however, that this temple was yet another temple to Hera. What? Another temple? I mean, I know Hera was a very important Goddess, but she got two temples, right next to each other, and poor Poseidon gets none?



I find this very interesting, especially because there are many myths wherein Poseidon vies with another god for dominion over a particular place, and strangely, he always seems to lose. He famously competed with Athena to be the patron god of Athens (and lost), and he similarly alternately flooded or dried up Argos when they chose Hera as their patron deity over him.

The above, by the way, is a shot of the full moon taken by yours truly from the altar of the contested temple. Pretty cool, huh?



Finally, a sculptural representation of Poseidon himself, or rather his Roman counterpart Neptune, as sculpted by the great Baroque artist Giovanni Bernini. This image was sent in by reader R. Clancy, who photographed it himself at the Victoria & Albert Museum in the UK where this sculpture resides. Special thanks to Mr. Clancy for providing the inspiration for this installment of Antique of the Week.

Antique of the Week: The God from the Sea

From my own trip to the National Archaeological Museum in Athens.

This is one of the most famous bronze statues that have come to us from ancient Greece. It avoided the fate of most ancient bronzes (being melted down) by being lost at sea-- it wasn't rediscovered until the 1920's! Most scholars believe that this statue represents Zeus, but others believe it be his brother, Poseidon (which would be cool, given how it was dramatically rescued from the Mediterranean sea). Notice that his right hand was obviously meant to be holding something-- like maybe a lightning bolt, or perhaps a trident. It's too bad it's empty, because whatever he once held would undoubtedly have told us the secret of the God from the Sea!