Wednesday, May 03, 2006

Greek gods

I've been working on a series of drawings based on characters I've drawn on my trips to Greece. It all started with the first two drawings here. Exploring Kos 2 years ago I saw these locals on the roadside & drew them later from memory. The Greek islands are beautiful & the culture & environment so relaxed but it got me wondering what became of the Olympians & the lesser Greek gods? Did they grow old & retire? Do they tend olive trees & pick lemons? Do they now live amongst mortals?

HERMES


PERSEPHONE


CLOTHO (one of the Fates)


POSEIDON
( God of the ocean & guardian of the beaches)

The painted sketch above helped me work out the colour scheme for the digital version below.


DIONYSUS (In a restaurant I sat close to this Greek businessman who stuffed himself with wine & food while taking calls)


SIREN (This beautiful apparition will lure you to certain doom)

16 comments:

Jastolfo said...

I love where you're going with this.
Can't wait to see more.

MikeS said...

Funny that Poseiden gets annoyed at those pesky gulls too!

More gems from Jones!

yoborob said...

yeah greatpics - the once greek gods just turned into greek guys . and they invented steam baths ? in that climate ! what next a haagen daaz factory in greenland .bicycles in the himalayas.hang on i've got more....no i haven't.

Bob said...

This is fantastic stuff! I really love it. I was a classics minor in college and have always had a special place in my heart for Greek mythology. Please keep up this work. Something with all of them together would be awesome if you're taking requests. Ha.

Elliot Cowan said...

Doom never hurt anyone.
Terrific drawings.
Several of them look like Grillo.

Matthew Cruickshank said...

The greek god throwing the stone really doesn't work for me. The arms echo the legs too much. I would have put the stone into more of a shot putt pose which would have opened the pose up and made it less symmetrical.

But all the other work is splendid. You have captured a very Searlesque look to the lobster eater. Would love to see you take that style and make it your own. Great stuff.

It's all Greek to me.

Boris Hiestand said...

fantastic man! love Poseidon

Richard Mitchelson said...

I am really loving Poseidon, great colours, looks like he's been out in the sun for ages. A particular fave of mine is the LOBSTER. nice detail.

Willie Baronet said...

Matt, love your stuff! These Greek gods are a riot. :-)

Adriaan said...

Persephone?
I call that Perse FUCK.
Where is the phone anyway?

Matt Jones said...

Hey Bernie, thanks for the pat on the head, appreciate the feedback fellas.

Oscar Grillo said...

Poseidon is the Gold Medallist!!

Skid Knee said...

You should read American Gods by Neil Gaiman, if you haven't already. Its all about people forgetting about the old gods and the gods are trying to take over and this big war starts to break out. Its pretty awesome, though its mainly about Norse gods but your post reminded me of it.

p.s. awesome ideas!

alberto mielgo said...

Fantastic all of them.
What great watercolor o whatever is( poseidon in jeans).

I love the chest hair of the first one , such a greek type hair?

Uli Meyer said...

Hey Matt,
These are incredible! The lady in black reminds me of the one in Dick's film that bashes the thief about. Hope you don't mind me saying so.
Hilarious!

Matt Jones said...

Yeah, the Nanny character right? She's great, I was just watching those scenes with her the other night.