The Battle of the Five Armies

Heracles and the Sea Serpent: The Rescue of Hesione

This is my second drawing for Mosaic Medley (the subject being anything to do with water this time). I almost didn't get it done in time, and in fact was planning on doing a different drawing. I thought I'd do my first final drawing of Cecilia the mermaid from my Lunch Note Project. But in doodling to come up with a composition, I ended up drawing Prince Jason battling a sea monster, which morphed into Heracles battling a sea serpent instead. Sooner or later my mind always ends up back at mythology.

For those who know about Heracles' Twelve Labors, this is a side story – or rather, a side story from that side story. Before Heracles could finish all his labors (which, incidentally, would make him a god when he finished), he heard about the Quest for the Golden Fleece, and decided there was no way he was passing this up. This was supposed to be lead by Jason, a favorite of the goddess Hera. The same Hera who was busy trying to kill Heracles with the Labors, for the completely understandable reason that he was her husband's son by another woman. So the last thing Hera wanted was Heracles joining her pet project.

Naturally, all the other heroes are delighted to have Heracles on board, and just as naturally Hera wants him dead even more than before. So en route she sabotages her own mission by having giant six-armed monsters come and attack the Argo (the very ship they need to get the Golden Fleece) simply because the rest of the Argonauts left Heracles to defend it.

This, of course, doesn't work – Heracles manages to take out all the giants and look even more amazing than he did before. This amazing streak continues even after Hera finally manages to get Heracles off the Fleece project and back to the regular way she was trying to destroy him.

What relates to this drawing is the fact that Hera's method never worked. Why? Because this is the side story to the Fleece side story. On the way, Heracles learns that Hesione, the daughter of Troy's tightwad King Laomedon, is to be sacrificed to a sea serpent for some particular bit of double-dealing by her father. So as a fun side project, he decides to take on the monster.

If that's his idea of fun, you can see why Hera was totally on the wrong track.

Another person on the wrong track was Laomedon, but more on that in a bit. The monster comes, and Heracles blasts it with arrows. This has absolutely no effect whatsoever. Just when it looks like Heracles is doomed, and the serpent darts in to swallow him whole, he picks up a giant rock and bashes the monster's head in. Just like that.

Where Laomedon goes wrong is by not learning his lesson and continuing to be a cheapskate. The rescue fee was to be some quality horses, to be picked up at a later date. Having been threatened with divine wrath once, and barely getting away with it, you'd think Laomedon would have the horses all packaged up with nice big bows. But no, he decides to cheat Heracles out of them, or, in other words, cheat the guy strong enough to divert divine wrath.

The outcome is hardly a surprise – Troy is sacked by Heracles and his 18 ships (or even, in earlier versions, 6), Laomedon is killed, and Priam is made king in the aftermath. The same Priam that is king during the big Trojan War. In fact, one of Agamemnon's captains is a son of Heracles, who can't help but point out that dear old dad managed to do with 6 ships what Agamemnon hasn't been able to accomplish with 1,000.

On a final note, Hesione stands out for me as one of the smartest people in all of Greek mythology. After her rescue, when asked if she wanted to go with Heracles or back to her family, she immediately opted for Heracles. Sure, she got saved this time, but if her own father is ready to sacrifice her every time he sees a chance to save some cash, she'd be better off high-tailing it out of Troy. And Heracles wed her to one of his heroes, so she got the happy ever after. Unlike just about everyone else in the city of Troy.

The Wholly Inaccurate Valentine

So I discovered the perfect Valentine's Day gift for my wife. When I ordered it, though, the site indicated that I was way late to receive it in time for the holiday. Undaunted, I made that my idea for the holiday card. Inside, I wrote "Cupid: Great at inspiring men to lifelong love. Not so good at getting them to order mail on time."

However, by the time that was all finished, not only had the present come in the mail but she had opened it! Since I wasn't expecting it, I hadn't warned her off any packages. In other words, it not only got there on time, she saw it even earlier. Hence the completely wrong Valentine, without time to draw a different one!

New Sketchbook 3: the other daughter's request

My oldest daughter wanted me to draw a picture of her. I like doing that – she's old enough to sit still, and I get practice doing faces.

With this one, it looks like her – three years ago. I guess parents really do think of their children as little, even when they're still little. Either that, or my ability to shave years off a subject when drawing them means I will have an incredibly lucrative portrait business.

New Sketchbook 2: a son's request

The kids have pillow pets – if you don't have kids, you may not have heard of them. If you do, you've probably heard (like us) the theme song sung repeatedly: "It's a pillow! It's a pet! It's a PILLOW PET!" All three kids have one.

Gavin's is a bee, so he asked me to draw a picture of him as a bee. But then he said to add a beehive. Then honey pots. The guy knows what he wants in a drawing.

I offered to color it for him, but he said he wanted it as a coloring page. So I decided to not only oblige him, but see if I could make a downloadable coloring page for the site. Here it is, and maybe this will be the first in a series of coloring pages – especially if they keep giving me requests!

One other thing – after I drew it, I remembered from a while back that Bee Movie had the main character in a turtleneck. Just to make sure, I looked it up – he does wear one, but they look quite different. I thought about changing it anyway, except that we live in New England. I haven't seen Gavin without a turtleneck in months, so it was only natural to draw him that way.

Mosaic Medley - my entry

A friend of mine is starting a themed illustration site. I'd explain it, but I'd only be reiterating what she already said, so click here to go there. It also has submission info, if anyone's interested!

The theme for this first one is snow. As a person who lives in New England, this is about what I feel the clouds are doing to us. Deliberately. With a smirk on their faces.

On the other hand, though, just driving around makes me feel like I'm in the first Star Wars movie. The plowed snow banks are so high that it looks like I'm flying in the channel to destroy the Death Star. All I need are some Tie Fighters (or, conversely, a better grasp of reality) and I'm all set.

A New Sketchbook, and a Daughter's Request

Been off this blog for a while (although I've been keeping up with the lunch notes). The main reason is that I've been working on something, potentially for a publisher, so I can't post anything yet for copyright reasons – not a bad thing. But, in the meantime, I finally broke in the new sketchbook that Santa dropped off in my stocking this year. While I was sketching, my three-year-old asked me to do a drawing of a ghost. After I did that, she asked for a scared dog. How can you say no to a three-year-old? Well, in a case that doesn't involve running with scissors or playing with Mr. Wall Socket, that is.

After, she asked me to draw the "dog rectangles." It took me a while to figure out what she meant, but I eventually realized she was talking about the thick dashed motion lines from the Frog Prince book I did for her. So the second one is the dog running away, rectangle style.

WooHoo! It's posted!

My Ginger Scallion fish recipe is up on They Draw and Cook! I'd post the image, but it's better to see it in situ. Click here to go there.

Happy New Year, everyone!

Fairy Tale Christmas

Time for a Christmas illustration for the blog. Last year it was Viking Santa, this year Goldilocks.

This is a perfect example of how deadlines drive illustrators. I came up with this one as a birthday card ("Someone's been eating my cake!"), drew a rough sketch, and then promptly forgot about it. Then along comes Christmas and I realize I have no drawing. So (to quote my three-year-old) ta-da – POOF! It turns into a Christmas drawing, and I get it finished.

They Draw and Cook - the recipe half

Good news and bad news with this. The good news is that they liked it over at the They Draw and Cook site. The bad news is that it doesn't qualify for their holiday contest. My mistake, really – I thought it was to get a recipe to them in time for the holidays, but what they meant was a recipe for the holidays. So, as much as I'd have liked to have gotten it in to the Food Network contest, even I have to admit that the fish swordsman doesn't really match the theme. Even reworking it with a santa hat instead of a samurai helmet probably isn't going to do the trick.

However, if the Food Network ever celebrates something like Ninja Month, I'm soooo sending it in.

On a side note, big big big thanks to my wife for the recipe!