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Poseidon and Amphitrite by ~Morgalahan:iconMorgalahan:

Categories Digital Art > Paintings & Airbrushing > Fantasy

©2009-2010 ~Morgalahan
:iconmorgalahan:

Artist's Comments

In ancient Greek mythology, Amphitrite (Ἀμφιτρίτη;) (not to be confused with Aphrodite) was a sea-goddess.[1] Under the influence of the Olympian pantheon, she became merely the consort of Poseidon, and was further diminished by poets to a symbolic representation of the sea.

Poseidon was a son of Cronus and Rhea. In most accounts he is swallowed by Cronus at birth but later saved, with his other brothers and sisters, by Zeus.

However in some versions of the story, he, like his brother Zeus, did not share the fate of his other brother and sisters who were eaten by Cronus. He was saved by his mother Rhea, who concealed him among a flock of lambs and pretended to have given birth to a colt, which she gave to Cronus to devour.[4] According to John Tzetzes[5] the kourotrophos, or nurse of Poseidon was Arne, who denied knowing where he was, when Cronus came searching; according to Diodorus Siculus[6] Poseidon was raised by the Telchines on Rhodes, just as Zeus was raised by the Korybantes on Crete.

According to a single reference in the Iliad, when the world was divided by lot in three, Zeus received the sky, Hades the underworld and Poseidon the sea.

- Taken from Wikipedia

I imagined that yes, Amphitrite could indeed have been the consort of Poseidon, however, there must have been some courtship involved. Here we have a scene of the two Sea Gods, Poseidon offering a beautiful magical sea shell to Amphitrite as a gift to win her love. She seems somewhat amused by his blatant attempt to win her affections. Will she accept his gift and fall into his arms, or will she spurn him and play hard to get?

I didnt plan the composition all that well when I started, and struggled to figure out what I would do for a background...eventually decided to make it look like a mural.

This is my contest entry for =AzraelEvangeline's competition.

These are =AzraelEvangeline's character Lekmee on the left, and :yami-caffeine:'s character Sul on the right.

The theme of the competition was to take two or more of their characters, a myth, and to combine them into a picture.

All textures from cgtextures.com

Painter X and Photoshop CS3 Demo
About 3 weeks worth of work.

Close up of their faces: [link]

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:iconlittlefluffie:
~littlefluffie Apr 24, 2009, 12:00:18 PM
I would write a stunning critique, except apparently you need a subscription to do so... nevertheless, I will be writing an abridged version.

Firstly, my critique is divided into two parts: an irrelevant part that you can largely ignore, and the substantial part, which you may read and absorb if you wish.

The irrelevant part has to do with your subject matter. Being a Classicist, I do notice the absence of a beard on Poseidon, and that he is a bit scrawny. But that is, as I said, irrelevant to the matter at hand, but I felt I should express my puritan up-stuck-ness somewhere ;)

Now for the relevant part. Overall, a subtle render of the subject. Its not flashy, and does not need to be, as the characters' poses convey the message by themselves. The only small flaw I find is Amphitrite's gaze... she does not seem to be focusing on anything in the picture, which can be distracting to the viewer, whereas Poseidon is clearly adoring his Queen. The unique characterisation is successful, I think. A very bishonen interpretation of the Greek god, but if interpreted in this light, succeeds. The subtle contrast of skin tones against each other is very nice. The only thing I fault in the colour scheme is the trident. I feel the black and red don't fit in with the rest. Perhaps a bronze would have suited better, to reflect Poseidon's skin tone (and the fact that his trident would have been Bronze, at least in the Iliadic times). Finally, excellent use of texture. The characters are brought alive by the careful attention to skin texture, combined with the aging of the bowl/disc in which the picture stands.

That's my 5 cents worth... tell me if I'm being pretentious
:iconmorgalahan:
~Morgalahan Apr 24, 2009, 12:52:31 PM
As to the irrelevant part: These are the characters of the contest hosts, therefore I had to try and keep it looking like them. By rights not only should he be brawnier with a beard, but she should be mostly naked, or at least have one breast showing. I didnt want to have to flag this picture as mature tho =P

Hmm, I see what you mean about her line of sight, didnt notice it until you mentioned it tho. Dont see how I could change that without having to redo her head, since it's the angle of her head that creates the problem. For the most part, I think it's ok.

As to the tident *goes and double clicks on the photoshop icon, preparing to take Fluffie's advice and change the colour*
:iconazraelevangeline:
=AzraelEvangeline Apr 24, 2009, 2:00:25 PM
Thank you for your beautiful entry! :heart: Your style is so detailed - you have so much painting skill! It's really cool to have a Poseidon myth added - I enjoy he's stories a lot. Good luck in the contest!

--
:blackrose: Reigning Master of Sorcery to *Lolth-Scourge, the Drow Club :blackrose:
:iconmorgalahan:
~Morgalahan Apr 24, 2009, 2:08:17 PM
Thanks, I hope it stands up to the already great entries you've received. :aww:
:iconyami-caffeine:
~yami-caffeine Apr 24, 2009, 2:14:03 PM
What a lovely entry! I love Poseidon ... and Sul's a fantastic fit for him ((beard or no beard! ;P)). Their hair and the seashell are awfully pretty - you've got skill!

Thanks for the entry and good luck in the contest. <3

--
:bulletblue: NEW ACCOUNT =MoonyIce :bulletblue:
:iconmorgalahan:
~Morgalahan Apr 24, 2009, 2:28:41 PM
Haha! Yeah, Sul did fit nicely. I really enjoyed painting him, he's inspired me to paint a lot more male characters from now on. This is my first real painting of a guy :giggle:
:iconyami-caffeine:
~yami-caffeine Apr 24, 2009, 2:30:11 PM
Wow, well you did a fine job! C: He looks great.

--
:bulletblue: NEW ACCOUNT =MoonyIce :bulletblue:
:iconlittlefluffie:
~littlefluffie Apr 24, 2009, 11:56:53 PM
Oooh... I see. Well, then I blame the contest people ;)

What you could do is simply make her eyes look down, not her head. It will make her look demure, and draw the attention more to the seashell a bit.
:iconl3ishop:
~l3ishop Apr 25, 2009, 1:12:15 AM
I only worry about the positioning of the arms. The one holding the trident in the background is reminiscent of Morgalahand holding her spear 'at attention', in that it should be psoed more naturally. The arm in the foreground of the pic is perfect, but combined with the arm in the background they both start to look a bit clunky. Did you use Poser to work out the character's positions relative to each other?

Nothing else to really add to the volumes of compliments about the pic. As soon as ou figure out character positioning there'll be nothing the rest of us can say anymore ;P

--
'I am the lies I've spun
Fighting who I am
To be who I've become.'
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April 24, 2009
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