We are constantly living in a world of turmoil, the rock we inhabit constantly spinning from night to day and back again. The stars on the other hand seem to be mute observers, silently viewing the various human follies.
Perhaps this very nature of theirs to remain the same inspired our ancestors to see shapes in the sky and ascertain that we were influenced by them and that our destiny could be divined by them. Perhaps these groups of stars unmoving and yet mesmerising considered us their pawns in the chessboard of life.
Now try and imagine the Zodiac’s themselves as beasts which fight battles of their own, humanoids with talons, claws and everything in between. That’s exactly what Damon Hellandbrand seems to have done with his reimagining of the Zodiac, recreating them as humanoids with attributes which draw heavily from mythology.
As a bonus Damon has also extended beyond just the Western Zodiac and drawn a couple of illustrations for the Chinese Zodiac as well.
Working in a variety of mediums be it Pencil, Watercolors and Acrylic, Damon says that he believes in working with whatever he is in the mood for and then finishing off the drawing on the computer using Corel Painter.
Inspired by artists like Ralph McQuarrie, Boris Vallejo and Frank Frazetta, and it’s easy to imagine that Guillermo Del Toro might number among his influences as well. His work is available as prints from his website as well.
We are sure that Damon would appreciate the vibrancy and depth that the General Charcoal pencils would be able to provide him in his work and urge you to try out the same for your next Mythology inspired creations. Perhaps a re-imagining of our epics is on the cards for you as well?