childrensillustrators.com - illustrator - John Aardema - artemis & acteon
childrensillustrators.com - illustrator - John Aardema - artemis & acteon
John Aardema
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illustration - artemis & acteon-This picture is a bit of an extrapolation of the Greek myth of Actaeon.

Artemis is the Greek name for the goddess the Romans later named Diana. Both were goddesses of the forests and also of hunting. When the tales came to Britain, Diana became Titania, and the goddess became the queen of the fairies.

In some alchemical texts (which are concerned with spiritual transformation), the soul of Actaeon is reborn in the numinous realm as Diana’s consort.

Purple represents blood, especially the blood of holy sacrifice—as does wine.

Since Diana was the goddess of the hunt, she was also identified with the moon, specifically when the moon becomes sliver-like and resembles a bow. She also has bows on her bonnet, but of a different kind. - Aardema, John
This picture is a bit of an extrapolation of the Greek myth of Actaeon. Artemis is the Greek name for the goddess the Romans later named Diana. Both were goddesses of the forests and also of hunting. When the tales came to Britain, Diana became Titania, and the goddess became the queen of the fairies. In some alchemical texts (which are concerned with spiritual transformation), the soul of Actaeon is reborn in the numinous realm as Diana’s consort. Purple represents blood, especially the blood of holy sacrifice—as does wine. Since Diana was the goddess of the hunt, she was also identified with the moon, specifically when the moon becomes sliver-like and resembles a bow. She also has bows on her bonnet, but of a different kind.
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Next four illustrations from John Aardema:
illustrator - portfolio - Aardema, John - claude claude the vampire moth-This is Claude Claude. He's the main character in my picture book dummy--Claude Claude, The Vampire Moth-- which won first place in the 2006 SmartWriters.com book dummy division! Yay, me!
illustrator - portfolio - Aardema, John - claude's class-This is Claude Claude's classroom. He's not there because he's skipping school. He must be celebrating the fact that I won first place in the 2006 SmartWriters.com book dummy division.
illustrator - portfolio - Aardema, John - verve-An art director told me she really liked my work, but asked if I could draw a character consistently over the amount of illustrations needed for a picture book. She suggested that I draw some animal characters in different positions and add it to my portfolio.

I wanted animals that were very different from each other, and I decided the group would consist of a mammal, a bird, and an amphibian. South Africa’s indigenous species gave me a variety to choose from. Here is the next character study in the series. Verve is the first character I drew. I picked a vervet monkey because I liked the challenge of drawing a character with a face that is all black. It’s a unique look and it gave me a character that’s very visually striking.
illustrator - portfolio - Aardema, John - crockadilly-Here is the another character study in the series. I drew the bird and the monkey, and had decided the next character would be an amphibian. I wanted a water character to keep the group well-rounded. I chose a crocodile because that would give me a tall, upright character. I also decided to make the crocodile uncrocodile-like by giving her the personality of a little girl. The color pink was an afterthought. Since the other two characters were of a warm palette, and the environment she would be drawn in would either be blue (water) or green (jungle), I picked a color that would visually tie her to the other characters and make her stand out from the background.
childrensillustrators.com - illustrator - John Aardema - artemis & acteon childrensillustrators.com - illustrator - John Aardema - artemis & acteon
childrensillustrators.com - illustrator - John Aardema - artemis & acteon
childrensillustrators.com - illustrator - John Aardema - artemis & acteon
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