My take on Aphrodite's family tree
(slight wip cuz some kids are missing + Aphros being Aphrodite's foster dad, etc. again thanks to Sapocipo for the idea xx)
Now to get into little details .. especially Aphrodite (This is inspired by Sapocipo again such an inspiring artist I love them)
(credits to @ / kyleesarthell for the Eros concept )
(Btw I have nothing for Ouranus he's just.. sky, clouds, with faint stars because why not, the sun mark on his head is also to symbolize the sky during the day when there's light, the head wings .. yk why, cuz the sky and sky creatures fly)
Small details first, her beauty marks ; two are regular dark ones but one of them is gold
The tips of her eyelashes are inspired by butterfly proboscises, but I was aiming more for butterfly bottom wings' tails
You know how in a way, if we're being literal sorta
Other than being Ouranus' kid, she's also Thalassa's in some versions? And like, Thalassa is depicted with crab claw horns ..
And I've been wanting to give Aphrodite something similar but at first not horns, just a second pair of wings (my OC Aphroula canonically has four sets of head wings like Sugar Swan for example)
But I've been struggling to show it properly on Aphrodite so I've been stuck on just giving her two head wings right ?
But then I did a little bit of digging and decided to grab a little bit of inspo from the sea and Thalassa,
By, yes, sort of giving her horns
The horns are false wings shells
While her regular real wings are from Ouranus
I also like the idea that instead of golden hair like how she's apparently described, she has red hair with a golden glow, being adorned with pearls and gold accessories that she's practically radiant and 'golden'. Ykwim??
The rest are more vague I was only hyped to show Aphrodite SHWUDNEH
I mostly focused on making Thalassa be referenced to this mosaic of her
So I wasn't aiming for anything special, just kept the seaweed dress, clab claw horns, etc.
But I did want to make her look less 'human' due her personifying something, I added extras such as more droopy sea nymph ears and neck gills + her more droopy light blue eyes— the droopy aspect I was aiming for that of water droplets, she's also adorned with pearls (they're her eyebrows too yum), coral reef etc etc.
I added some red tones to her to make her seem alive and warm but also a bit unsettling? Red because it symbolizes the living things within the sea but unsettling as in many, whether animal or human, have died there too— I guess to sort of symbolize blood? (That and for Aphrodite's red hair tones as well)
There's not a lot on Dione but I do like that she's a kid of Oceanus and Tethys but I ALSO wanna keep her a titaness, since Aphrodite is powerful
She's like Styx, maybe she's one of the oldest? It's a bit confusing, but I feel like being a Titaness means she can go beyond the fresh waters, plus she doesn't really have a specific domain in watery areas like Styx... unless I'm confused
I decided to give her pale gold and light blues for her main colors, the glowing third eye on her forehead is supposed to symbolize her being a goddess of the Oracle of Dodona so something connecting to prophecies + greenish hair for her oceanid roots + she has Oceanid ears and gills but they're bigger and sticks out, which is a way to show the power difference to her other oceanid sisters who aren't titanesses
I also gave her the Mycenaean makeup (I hope I got this wording right I might get thrown rocks at me) which covers up the oceanid face markings she has sobs.
Then her clothes, of course, woven from waters — the same goes for Aphrodite's gown
Dione's clothing is decorated with fresh water conches, little vines and black dove wings (because she's associated with doves, I heard black doves but I wasn't sure, still stuck to it tho)
I read that she was also associated with the oak tree so that's what her hair has for decor, I also tried giving her a hairnet (but not as intense, I can't say more traditional and simpler can I??) and a little plant vine headband ?? I think I failed miserably but there was an attempt at least
I didn't have much going on for him, I've read that he's usually adorned with something golden— especially the color of his wings and robes
So I made his robes look like they were combined with sea waters 🫡 and made his wings warm golden with more clear and colored patterns, the tones more or less to show his original origins (Primordial Eros)
Same goes for his hair, they're dark red with a warm gold glow yes— but there are very dark purple colors to subtly hint at himself before his current form
He has beauty marks under his eyes like Aphrodite, except they're made out of pale gold AND the little dot markings on his body — they're like freckles but imagine like bubbles or 'sea foam' markings.. do I make any sense? It's like being marked by the sea in a way
I also see in his vase arts that he usually wears a circlet so I did that in gold with heart motives, patterning and pearls ofc
Said circlet has the Erotes bow and arrow as extra decorations and a symbol of his and the other Erotes
Ahhh that's all I got for now, have my lil baby pies (insert the OCs here...)