POV: It is Valentines Day.
You followed an invitation to a bar on Mount Helicon, for an event called "The Blue Hearts Club". A mysterious invite extended by a total stranger... with the promise of a relaxing night out. Some well deserved Me-Time.
At the door, the owner of the place greets you like she knows you. She says her name is Kalliope, one of the Muses, but you do not know her.
When she points you at a crowded table at the back of the room you follow.
There, of course, you realize what the invite meant by...
... "Me-Time. Uh-huh.... riiiiight..."
The Muse winks at you as she pases, distributing another round of drinks. "Welcome to Valentine's!", she laughs, and from across the table laughter joins: "Yeah, with yourself!!"
For @dxwart — sorry to spring this on you but ... ah... that WAISTCOAT just had to be shown around. 💜 (link to the artwork)
🤩Shoutouts to all the beautiful beautiful people who lend me their designs to play with to make this date happen. You are all AMAZING artists and THANK YOU for all the good vibes here and making Poseidonverse happen!!🤩
From left to right, top to bottom and then right to left again (in terms of order 🤌) because life in the sea is a circle:
In purple and gold, Poseidon by @rin-sith - he is so much fun to draw it is riddiculous.
Next to him, the cheeky lil' king (who really isn't little at all, believe me, everyone else is just so enormous, there is a sizechart but it blew the scale) with the luscious hair and the prettiest scales: Poseidon in a more mortal-ish form by @ruthlessness69
Okay, you all know him and he's half across the table already. This king is having LA FIESTA tonight, because he got a list, and now he got more names. @messymoonmad - he did that all on his own, I swear by Styx. (I love him so much.)
Yeah, canon Poseidon. He was there first, and now he's having a hard time holding onto his drink. 😘
Seacreature at the back is the lower half of @tagzpite glorious Poseidon. He might have just lost a bet, but he is a good sport. Also, checking out that blue-haired devil across the table already. (I just borrowed him last minute, he got dragged along - hope it's alright. He'll be returned intact.)
Next three... most chaotic throuple (if you can call it that) in the history of saltwater. Poseidon of @pink-noah tried to snatch the hand of @kamuch-kommandos hot dark menace. Got snatched in turn and poor him, Tall Dark and Handsome got a death grip. All just because Poseidon by @bigidiotenergytm went to win a dare and smooch the Big Gun at risk of ear-injury.
Guess @melodyartists Poseidon owe's him a drink now. (He squeezed in last minute when I stumbled upon your post where he introduced himself to the popular girls, and of course I had to bring him into this mess. Hope it's alright? :)) )
Poseidon by @anniflamma, but her awesome new design. He wanted a word with @neal-illustrator's (neals not active here afaik but tagging anyway), so they made an appearance. Mostly because...
...you know them, you love them, you windbaarrrghl. Is it Cloudysseus shlepping Cloudseidon in to steal grapes together? Is it Zeus spying on his brother's Valentines date? Nobody knows. @kdpartworks thank you so much for lending them - I'll return them safe and sound when Poseidon gets back home.
To his left... @wukyma - he did the vase-face again. Why is he so cute when he does that? I'm such a big fan this wet grumpy cat, especially with Polites. (And how do you draw his curls??? That was so hard!) Of course he'd sit next to Gorgeous by @arraunean and trade war stories. No armour for the bar, but these two are classic guys and this is Helicon, so the comfy draperies to go with the wine.
And last - your host's 'not-quite-boss': he's mine, :))
Just a quick sketch of them being soft. If you gotta practice lighting and expressions with beards, you should have fun. Too proud of this not to post :D
Two old grumpy guys being soft and silly.
Poseidon's design is mine, Odysseus inspired by WolfyTheWitch. The scene is inspired by Anonymous writer's "We got love" on AO3.
++++ EDIT bc HOLY MOLY GUYSS!!! ++++
I mean, yesterday all my arttags were excluded from search and today I come home from work and this got so much love I don't even know what to say but all of you??? 💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙 you're the greatest really 💙💙💙💙💙💙💙😨😱🥰 I'm so stunned
— for madnurse on AO3, inspired by chapter 6 of "600 deserved strikes" (<- fic rec for the stout of heart) || full edited render of this lineart/sketch
Poseidon's design is neal-illustrator's as referenced in the fic.
"Poseidon’s eyes burned with a terrible, unfathomable light. For a moment, the god said nothing, letting the answer hang in the waterlogged silence. Then, with a slow, deliberate movement, he spread his arms. The gesture was alien, almost human, and it struck Odysseus harder than any blow. It was an offering, an embrace. Odysseus froze, disbelief flickering across his hollowed features. Was this a trick? A final test? ..."
👀 details below 👀
This is the first full render of anything I've done for near three years, and keeping it black and white was enough for practice. I tried colour, but it wouldn't convey the atmo as well.
Part of my resolutions for 2025 is to get back into shape again. Haven't had as much joy painting since the Cyclops Saga aired and gigi's and mircsy's stunning animatics dislodged a real old bottlecap on my joy of the arts. Being part of this fandom brought a huge breath of fresh air to a house full of grief and stale air.
So, ... thank you, the fan creators in the fandom, for your tireless work and passion and your tremendous loveliness.
💙 Happy new 2025 ✨🙇♀️🙏
Bonus for realness, folks, because my painting process is usually smth like this: As long as there's an angry Klingon in there, I AIN'T FINISHED. And yeah - CLIP Studio on my phone, that's all atm, I use pretty much the vanilla brushes and edit for contrast in another app after exporting - so the stuff is probs not very printable aside A6, but maybe in the future I'll do larger formats.
Oh you clueless brainchild. (Gonna be an aunt, soon.)
Quick-thoughted everyone away, tho.
A pact in a comment section must be honoured. So... @ruthlessness69 ... as we discussed beneath chapter 13 of "The man and the sea": Late, but here - Athena wouldn't even let me draw any nsfw, so here's "THE NEWS"™️(back when it was news).
This goes into the "Cronos says"-series, too. More about the kids latersss...
Don't ask me how I did it – I just did it – it was hard.
Late, late entry for @mircsy's 'draw this in your style'-challenge #AthenaDTIYSmircsy
That is as far as I got. So far. Might do reworks later. Actually my first DTIYS - never did one before, but I see the fun in it now. No, really, it was a lot of fun, I learned a ton with this, even if I'm not fully convinced of the result.
Also, when I saw mircsy post it, that was an 'immediate HELL, YES'-moment, because I love her art and designs so so so much. Her Polyphemus is who ultimately sold EPIC to me after a total of 3 seconds screentime. I am seriously amazed at the quality all artists and animators produce for the musical accompanying it on its journey to release, but mircsy's art was special.
👀 more yapping, WIPs and progress notes below 👀
It made me want to draw characters again, brought the fun back to drawing and painting for me, and somehow invited me put them out there, again - I can't put a lot of time into it, but I missed this as a joyful hobby and just watching the animatics breathed life back into it for me. So, this lil dtiys entry is a big heartfelt thanks for a nudge I bloody well needed.
So - if you ever read this, mircsy: Rock it all as hard as you can, superstar, make your mark and just enjoy the ride - you're cut out for it! ✨🎆 Wish you the very best for all your endeavours. 💜✨
Progress notes: I tried to challenge myself with this and do stuff out of my comfort zone (*cough* cell shade *cough*). A few things went well, and I am proud of those (metal parts, hands, wings, lineart, i finished it under 5 hours total, stars were fun) and other things I'll need to practise more (soft light + cell shading wtf was I thinking 🙈, glowy stuff, ornaments, less perfectionism, line dynamics, took more time out of me than expected ... (we don't talk about facial expression ahahaha its a nightmare 🙊 i really need to learn how to shade and light these kinds of angles omg 😨)).
As you can see above - the glowy stuff gave me the hardest nightmares, I had no fucking clue how to do that - that was fun, but also took so much time to figure out. Once I had a concept, it went down fast, but up until then... bzzzzzt braindefunct - it's inspired by the Antikythera Mechanism in the end, so Athena can make complicated astronomical calculus while in quick thought to see where Ody ended up.
... her mouth changes in every single picture... 😭🙈
YAY! Poseidon sketch-dump with everything that has accumulated over the last weeks. I love playing around with different forms and designs for him, but sooomehow he mostly ends up 🍑 ...
Designs 1 and 2: First one is the one I use in 'Queen of Shipbreaker Shoal', second one more based on canon / @wolfythewitch's design with the glowy parts.
Design 3: That's me making a literal creepy cryptid seahorse out of him 🙈
Design 4: What design? 👀 - nah, kidding. There was clothing at one point in the sketch, I swear, but the pose and lighting got so complicated I just gave up on adding any fabric.
Design 5: A friend gifted me new brushes and had me test them on @arraunean's Poseidon, because we are both fawning over him like Edwardian noble girls... 😳 - yes he is wearing a crown that counts as clothing leave me alone!
Rhea's and Cronos's kids. Yes, all together for one pic. No, they didn't fight, I didn't bribe them, no one was hurt this was a peaceful affair I am totally fine and I totally did not stitch single portraits together because it was less of a hassle.
Oh, a few of them transitioned their appearance growing up. They have their reasons.
👀 Detail below from left to right (with a few shoutouts) 👀
Poseidon Enosichthon (Enesidaone) Themeliouchos — The pale, lively kid with the always busy hands. What happened to him? A younger brother and his detached father, basically. He's excited about life in general, but still very bad at saying no to his family (or anything else), so he'll end up doing everything at once and trouble always finds him. Being the middle kid ain't always easy.
Big shoutout to @rin-sith for the huge inspiration her Poseidon design was for his clothes and armour pieces. My Poseidon doesn't believe in clothes, usually.
Demeter Sito Thesmophorus — Though she isn't technically the big sister, she always took to the task of keeping her arms open for her siblings, no matter the grief it brought her. Always will she be singing songs, in part to forget the lot bestowed on her by her brothers and her father and keep on – but also in part to give the joys of life to gods and mortals who walk her realm and feel at ease with her. As Rhea's kid she'll uphold tradition gently and firmly, and feed everyone who comes to her table, even if it costs her.
Hestia — She might be gentle, but she can never be forgotten. To all that come to her hearth she will listen and grant them protection, even if this sacred solemnity cost her the arms of a lover. She is a lover to none, and loved by all, first she receives sacrifice. Herons gave her their wings to stoke flame, brush out cold cinders. She would rather her skin be stained white by flour than black by soot, though. Her baking is still the very best.
Zeus Olympios Panhellenios — Wide are the shoulders of this son of titans, and they carry burdens of judgement across all Greece. Over the years he aquired a thick skin on them, but never do the troubles of his family wear him down for long, although the same family has brought him to the brink of constant paranoia. The jewellery he chose to wear on the day Typhon cleared out Olympus is something he will never again take off, like the memory and fear of defeat it is part of him, conductor to lightning and passion.
A big grateful nod to @justcommander for the long and wonderful talks about Typhon, he is part of all my thoughts about Zeus now.
Hera Syzygia Alexandros — The sharp eyes of this queen of queens will trace you through darkest night. By her fathers sickle and her great veil she safeguards and upholds sacred laws and traditions and unions, and as protector of men her word triumphs. A guardian of women, she neither tolerates betrayal nor does she hold the cutting edge of her jealousy back for the sake of those who must obey discriminating law against those who the same law allows to overstep a hallowed bond of two. The shade of Baphomet suits you, honey.
Hades — In form and might and character he outgrew his father by far. He is still the same quiet and thoughtful person, but despite the darkness, he, too, is a guardian of life, a keeper of flames. In his gentle hand rests the light of life, on his other arm coils the means to give it, to take it away. Fiercely he rules over the line between realms, allowing hardly any crossing, but on a late summers evening he'll walk the golden shaded groves among the company of all flowers of the earth, too.
See, lovely @ruthlessness69 , how confident he has grown? The kindness of your Hades helped him. A lot! Ask Persephone, though, she'll tell you that he can solve his beloved crosswords without extra light, because he is still a big glowing kid in his heart.
All designs by me. Rhea's aspects come with a broader frame, more pronounced colours and animal traits, and no fear to show skin. Cronos shows in matters of lines, contrast and temper, and a certain tendency towards introversion.
