How it all started

Our timing is impeccable, don’t you think? Because, really, when’s a better time to upload a new blog post than mere minutes away from ringing in the New Year? :D 

In the previous entry, we talked about “slipping into collaboration”; we weren’t planning to go into detail about it, honestly; although it’s a fun story and all, we don’t want to bore people with things that only make sense to us.

But the thing is, it’s necessary to talk a bit about it, otherwise this entire project won’t make sense.

So, here’s the short, compact version of how this project came to life:

We’ve already mentioned we’ve met on deviartArt; by the time I joined, Eirini was already a member, so she had quite a few things uploaded already, including a series of sketches of her original characters; the bits of the story she had shared were quite interesting, but when asked about it, she always responded that she sucked at writing (or something along these lines). I’ve always thought that it was a shame, since it was a rather intriguing story, but that was about it.

At some point though, she had uploaded a drawing featuring two of said characters, and I was immediately hit with an idea and wanted to write a piece about it; so I sent her a note, asking if she'd mind if I did so; she didn't, so I wrote it and sent it back to her. After that, one could say we started working on that story, without actually agreeing on it, because we are weird like that.

I still can't decide what exactly it was about that particular piece that caught my attention, but I am really glad it did! :D 

So, how did we go from a rather undefined project to working towards making a book? A little over a year ago, I was visiting Thessaloniki (Eirini’s hometown, because yes, we live in different cities too) for a conference, and naturally we had arranged to meet up because that’s what friends do; it was then when Eirini dropped the bomb on me and suggested we started working on this project. :p

I was already familiar with the myth of Eros and Psyche, but it had been a long time since I had lastly read it, so Eirini immediately launched into refreshing my memory and she was so excited and passionate about it, that I immediately agreed.

Of course back then, neither of us had realised what exactly we had agreed to or how challenging it would actually be, but somehow we’ve managed just fine; we’ve learnt a lot already and we keep learning as we go.

What was so intriguing about this myth though? 

Seriously? Do you even have to ask? The myth has inspired many artists, such as the following, because, reallly, who wouldn’t want to do a story about the god of love falling in love himself?

Psyche at the throne of Aphrodite (Edward Matthew Hale,1883)

Psyche in the Underworld (Ernest Hillemacher, 1865)

Psyche opening the Golden Box (John William Waterhouse, 1903)

All jokes aside, it’s quite different from the majority of myths; you won’t find many like this one. And it’s so full of allegories, that one reading is not enough; if you pay close attention, you’ll find many gems hidden between the lines.

As for the practical bits, it’s relatively easy to handle, meaning that there’s enough room for properly adapting and illustrating it.

And really, when it comes down to it, it’s a nice story, and we want to tell our version of it!

Assuming we haven’t bored you, we’ll see you all next year, when we’ll -finally!- start talking about the actual project.

Here’s to a happy, fulfilling and prosperous 2014! Oh, and fun too!

Hello and Welcome!

Opening lines are supposed to be interesting and eye-catching.

Ours wasn’t particularly impressive, but apparently you were willing to look past it, since you’re already reading the second sentence, so thanks for that.

On that note, hello there! We’re delighted to meet you!

Since you’re here, we are going to assume that you either found the link on our profiles on deviantart (here and here) or that you’ve searched ‘Eros and Psyche’ on the internet. Unless someone told you about it, which is even more amazing! The point is, anyway you’ve found us, we’re glad you did.

Now, allow us to introduce ourselves and explain what it is we are doing.

We are Myrto and Eirini, Eirini and Myrto, and we are writing/illustrating a book –a comic-ish one, both in Greek and English. It’s going to be an adaptation of the myth of Eros and Psyche, with a bit of a twist thrown in for good measure, and in this blog we’ll be attempting to give you an insight to the whole process until we finally reach the point of calling it finished.

Good manners require that I introduce myself last, so let me introduce you to Eirini first, the girl responsible for the visual part of the entire project. She’s 26, an archaeologist and a history freak (her words, not mine). She’s an amazing artist as it is, but she’s currently taking some courses too, because she wants to take those insane skills of hers to a whole new level (and because she’s a bit shy and modest about said skills, please let me tell you that she almost threw a fit when she first read the draft –and yes, I am teasing).

As for me, I am Myrto, I am 30 years old, I am a librarian and I love researching and learning new things (call it professional perversion). I am also an amateur photographer and aspiring author, so, as you might have guessed, I am doing the writing part of the deal. I will also be doing most of the writing on this blog, unless of course we can convince Eirini to contribute too.

We've met through deviantart a little over two years ago (although it definitely feels like we’ve known each other longer than that). I loved Eirini’s stuff, so at some point I commented on one piece of hers, we started talking and, to make a long story short, we slipped into friendship and collaboration.

Our way of perceiving things is quite similar, and that’s probably what makes working with each other so easy and fun. It’s very comforting knowing you’re working with someone who knows exactly what you are talking about, gets your quirks and is excited to listen to each and every one of your crazy ideas.

So, one could say this entire project is the end result of a crazy idea taken too far. :p

Stick around, because that’s what we are talking next; how we got started.