Illustration Friday

         This week's Illustration Friday word is mythology. Here is a work done in notan. Notan (or nōtan, 濃淡) is a Japanese design concept using the illusion and placement of dark and light elements as they relate to one another in a composition in imagery. Nōtan is often presented in ink, paint, or cut paper, but it is recognizable in a number of contemporary illustration techniques. This work in particular is cut paper. The subject is Icarus, the man of Greek mythology who flew too close to the sun with the wings his father had made for him.

Descent of Icarus

Flyboy of Sky World

     Here are some concepts, old and new, of a world in the clouds. The characters of this story might be messengers or a sort of 'eye in the sky' for their cause. Da Vinci's helicopter and ornithopter were definitely inspirations for these concepts.