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!