warm up sketch: Heracles vs the Lernaean Hydra

I do a daily warm-up drawing with the members of my studio in Brooklyn. Occasionally, the topic turns to a matter mythological, and I'll post the result here. Today's topic was "The Lernaean Hydra"

In the swamps of Lerna, during the age of heroes, there lived a great and poisonous serpent, a monstrous offspring of the union of Typhon and Echidna. The destruction of this beast, called the Lernaen Hydra,  became the second Labor of the greatest of all Greek Heroes, Heracles. Every time the Glory of Hera knocked off a head of this creature, two more grew to take its place. It was not until his nephew, Iolaus, had the idea to cauterize the stumps that the son of Zeus was able to vanquish his foe.

Believe it or not, today's topic was not chosen by me, but rather by the lovely Natalie Kim, whose drawing can be found here. For this piece, I recycled my own designs for both the Hydra and Heracles from my upcoming book Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory (coming out in July!) but the drawing is all new-- took me about a half hour, from pencils to scan. Consider it a preview.

New Title Alert!

Well, it will be almost a year until the book hits stores (not like Athena: Grey-Eyed Goddess, out next week, but the book formerly known as The Glory of Hera will now officially be known as Hera: The Goddess and her Glory. The folks in sales thought it was important that we continue the naming style we had established so far with Zeus: King of the Gods and Athena: Grey Eyed Goddess, with the god or goddess's name first, followed by subtitle. Certainly when all twelve volumes are completed, it will look nicer this way, and help people to find the separate volumes easier.

I'm still hard at work coloring Hera: The Goddess and her Glory but let me tell you-- so far it's my favorite of the series. In addition to telling the story of the courtship and wedding of Zeus and Hera, you also get to see the story of Io, the Twelve Labors of Heracles, meet Jason and the Argonauts and see what happens on that mysterious day every year when Hera abandons her position as the wife of Zeus and Queen of the Gods. Cool stuff, if I may say so myself.

Progress report: Cerberus

Heracles, taking the dog for a walk. I'd hate to see the pooper-scooper for this guy, especially since with three heads, he can eat three times as much, if you know what I mean...

Progress report: Hydra

I posted this on my other blog as part of a lame joke I made there. But I figured I'd share this with you all (seeing as how I scanned it and all already). This is Heracles facing off against the Hydra, a monster who, every time a head is cut off, two more grow in it's place. As you can see, Heracles has been pretty busy. Enjoy!

Progress report: The Glory of Hera-- wedding of Zeus and Hera

Update on Olympians Book 3: The Glory of Hera-- at least , that's the title for now. The higher-ups at First Second, my publisher, want to include Heracles's name somewhere in the title. In a sense, the book is completely named after Heracles-- Heracles is a title that translates as "The Glory of Hera". But they want something a little more apparent. So far, we have ideas along the line of "The Glory of Hera: The Twelve Labors of Heracles". What do you think? Any ideas?

Above we have a page of finished black and white art from "Glory of Hera", a scene from the wedding of Zeus and Hera. I was very happy, after their (mostly total) absence from Athena: Grey-Eyed Goddess, to have the opportunity to draw Titans again. I do so love the Titans.

Progress report: The Glory of Hera--Pin-up

Some of the first finished black and white artwork I did for Olympians Book #3, The Glory of Hera, was the pin-ups for the bios at the end of the book. This is my drawing for Heracles ( influenced by the Farnese Hercules), who in a funny sort of way, is actually the title character of this book. Don't get me wrong, this is definitely the story of the Queen of Gods, but the name "Heracles" translates as "The Glory of Hera". Hera and Heracles have quite a complicated history, and the story of their conflict makes up the lion's share of Glory of Hera

Progress report: The Glory of Hera-- rough draft

Update on Olympians Book 3, The Glory of Hera. The last time I wrote about this, I had just finished thumbnailing the book. Now, for your viewing pleasure, a sample of pages from the rough draft, or "dummy" of the book. After I break everything down into thumbnails, my next step is to create an actual "book", called a dummy, of my layouts, to better help me envision what the final pages will look like. The drawings are little more refined here than in the thumbnailing stage, but notice that some characters are still more or less just rough shapes. Especially that cow. Ugh. I need to get some good cow reference, and quickly.

More to come soon!

Antique of the Week: The Farnese Hercules

As it came time to create this week's installment of Antique of the Week, I've been hard at work on Olympians Book 3, The Glory of Hera. Obviously the Queen of the Gods herself steps up to take center stage in this chapter, but the book also focuses in large part on Heracles, the super-strong demi-god son of Zeus. In fact, in a way, the book is even named after him-- the title "Glory of Hera" is a translation from ancient Greek of Heracles's name.



So the statue we're looking at here is of Heracles, the famous Farnese Hercules. Heracles gets his Latin name here because this statue was created for Ancient Rome, and was located in the Baths of Caracalla (possibly a future candidate itself for Antique of the Week). The Farnese portion comes from when the statue was rediscovered in the sixteenth century and was promptly snatched up by Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, nephew of the Pope. Nowadays the sculpture is on display at the Museo Archeologico Nazionale in Naples, which is where I took these photos.




This statue is my favorite depiction of Heracles/Hercules from ancient sources, and my own depiction of the hero in Hera owes a lot to this sculpture. Things I particularly like-- his exaggerated musculature,and the weary, tired expression on his face and posture. I also really like the way that the sculptor worked in so many of Heracles's symbols-- tired, he leans against his olive wood club, around which he has draped the skin of the Nemean Lion- killing and skining that lion was Heracles's first Labour. Then, around his back, we see that he is holding a couple of the Apples of the Hesperides-- Golden apples from the private garden of Hera herself, which for his eleventh Labour Heracles was sent to fetch.

Progress report: The Glory of Hera

So, the third book in Olympians is the story of the Queen of the gods, Hera. Hera is my favorite of the Goddesses, and I hope to paint a more fair portrait of her than the jealous, vindictive wife we often see. From time to time I'll be giving you updates on my progress on her story. I've recently finished thumbnailing the book, which for me is the most difficult part. Thumbnails are tiny little rough drawings of what the finished pages of the book will eventually look like. I've attached some scans of my thumbnails for The Glory of Hera so you can see what they look like. I'll admit, they're not too much to look at right now. Check back soon for a more exciting update.