Cyber Taur

Quick little assignment I did , to take a break from animating a chicken.
I really enjoy working with Illustrator now. I wondr why it took me so long to come around to using it?

Happy Easter

Hey, where's the New Guy that came in on Friday? He was in the pit last night when you punched out. 
Better make a few calls and try to figure out what happened. Maybe it's just a paper work snafu, you know, a scheduling problem.
Why did this have to happen at the beginning of your shift?
The Boss is gonna be a little more than miffed.
There's gonna be Hell to pay.

Charybdis

Here she is, Charybdis. Once again, a beautiful maiden, transformed by an angry god into a monstrous beast that sucks down whole ships, devouring all on board.

Sciapods

One of the most unusual races found in the Greek myths, is the Sciapods.
A race of one legged men, incredibly swift, capable of covering large distances in their leaps.
They live in hot climates, and use their gigantic foot to give them shade.

Satyr

The original frat boy, satyrs were only concerned with drinking, chasing nymphs, and maybe playing a little music.

The Sphinx

The mysterious Sphinx, poser of the famous question, "What walks on all fours in the morning, two legs at midday, and four legs in the evening?"
On a side note, when I was Art Director at Stone Mountain Productions, a discussion was taking place about how "sphinx" should be pronounced.
A woman was asking why you didn't say "spinks" instead of "sfinks", and a co-worker said because the ph made the f sound. She argued that it didn't make sense, and he countered with, " It's the same reason you don't say "telepone".
Good times, good times.

Buddha Bot

A character I created for a new client. This robot Buddha was a lot of fun to create.
All done in Illustrator.

Teumessian Fox

The Teumessian Fox was a terrible creature that was ravaging the countryside of Thebes. She devoured people and livestock, destroyed crops, and couldn't be stopped because she was destined to never be caught.
Remember yesterday's beast, Laelaps, the hound that always caught its prey?
Well, they sicced him on this monster.
So, a never ending chase ensued, and Zeus, who hated conundrums like this,
turned both creatures into stone and threw them to the heavens, where some say they became Canis Major,(Laelaps), and Canis Minor,( the Fox).

Laelaps

Magical dog given as a gift by Zeus, destined to always catch its prey.

Argus

Argus, the Goddess Hera's watchman, was charged with guarding one of Zeus's girlfriends, Io, who was in the form of a white heifer and chained to an olive tree.
Zeus sends Hermes to sing Argus to sleep. After all of Argus' eyes close, Hermes  bashes him in the head with a rock, and takes that hot cow back to his boss.
Hera recycles all of those peepers by putting them on the tail of the peacock.
Ta daa!

The Minotaur

Talk about Jerry Springer material, here's the tale of the Minotaur in a nutshell:
King prays for white bull, as a sign that he has Poseidon's approval to become king instead of one of his brothers.
The bull appears, but the new King refuses to sacrifice it to Poseidon because it's so beautiful.
Aphrodite, to punish the King, casts a spell that makes the Queen fall in love with the bull. The Queen is so in love, that she crawls inside a specially made hollow cow so she can get 'busy" with the bull.
The Minotaur is the result of the mating. 
The Aristocrats!

Hippocampus

The Hippocampus, thought by ancient Greeks to be the adult form of the seahorse.
They pulled Poseidon's chariot through the seas.
On a side note, a lucrative freelance gig helped me to save a nice sum of money.
At an art fair, I saw a fantastic carving of a Hippocampus, like you would find on a carousel. Tempted to buy it, the Voice of Reason told me to use the money instead as a down payment on my first house.
True story.

Scylla

Today's Greek mythological beastie is Scylla. You may know her from the Police song "Wrapped Around Your Finger". 
She was on one side of a narrow strait of water, and Charybdis, a creature that would suck down whole ships in a whirlpool in order to eat the crew, was on the other side.
So, just like being caught between a rock and a hard place, sailors would have to choose whether to lose six of their crew, Scylla had six dog heads that would snatch the men from the deck of the ship, or risk losing everything to the whirlpool.
The stories vary about how this beautiful woman came to be transformed into this monster, but it is safe to say that it was tough to be good looking back then.
Goddesses and other magical beings were very jealous in those days, and often put the smack down on those blessed with straight teeth and clear skin.
Things must have loosened up quite a bit in our times, otherwise Hollywood would be full of monsters.

The Chimera

Today's sketch is one of the most unusual beasts in Greek mythology, the Chimera.
Body and head of a lion, the head of a goat in the middle of her back, with a deadly serpent for a tail.
Fire breathing with poisonous breath and venom, a real beauty of an obstacle for any intrepid hero.

Medusa

Sketch of my favorite Gorgon sister, Medusa.

 

Cerberus

Growing up, I always loved reading the Greek and Roman myths. To a kid who loved science fiction, the creatures in these stories really appealed to me.
So, here I present Cerberus, the guard dog of Hades.

Cyclops

Feeling like I am in a "mythological zone", so today I did a sketch of the Cyclops.
Nobody ever mentions it, but his sheep were monsters. too. They were big enough
for Odysseus and his men to hide under their bellies.

Centaur

I bid on a job on the oDesk board, and lost out to another designer.
The job was to use an existing character and turn him into a centaur.
The more I got to thinking about it, I realized that I wasn't bummed about losing the project, I was miffed about not drawing a centaur.
Then I thought, why not draw your own?
So, here he is, with sword and shield,(even though they were expert at the bow).