About Me

Professional illustrator/cartoonist. Currently lives in Cambridge, UK.

Heroic Beginnings: Mini Myths Takes Shape


Hi, I'm Russ.

I'm a freelance Illustrator and because I work from home I need stimulus to stop me going a bit mad!

I love watching movies while I work and started buying the big 50 movie box sets to keep me entertained, without breaking the bank!




Back in 1981, when I was 9, my mum took me to see " Clash of the Titans" and I spent the rest of the summer pretending to be Perseus. As an adult I've always loved the great myths of ancient Greece but it wasn't until I bought a huge box set of old Peplums (60s Sword and Sandal films) that my imagination really started firing off!

My cartoons and illustrations are often influenced by old movies.

These great, but often overlooked films were big in the early-mid 1960s. They were mainly produced in Italy with stars like Steve Reeves, Reg Park and Mark Forest. 

Steve Reeves in Hercules Unleashed

Reg Park in Hercules in the Haunted World
Mark Forest

 
A good time to be a bodybuilder who could swing a rubber club or throw a polystyrene rock.
 
These films display an all together different charm to the CGI drenched "epics" of recent years.

 
So it was from the enjoyment of watching these old movies that I came up with the idea of presenting the classic adventures of ancient Greece in a punchy/cartoony comic book for kids. Back in 2008 I formulated the concept of "Mini Myths", short, concise adventures geared towards the modern children's book market.

2008 Promotional Art
 
I wrote and illustrated two stories, "Perseus and Medusa" and "Theseus and the Minotaur". I was happy with them but they needed something else. They were a bit flat. Work got busy and I placed this project on hold for a while, concentrating on earning a living instead.

 
Fast forward to the beginning of 2011, my day job got hectic. I had numerous large projects with similar deadlines. I sacrificed my social life and worked seven days a week for 4-5 months. My reward at the end of all this craziness was four allotted months off from paid work to concentrate on my passion, "Mini Myths"!


 
So from October 2011 to March 2012 I beavered away at revamping my pet project. My enthusiasm was immense! Most of the characters were given an overhaul, the stories made more fluid and fun. But the biggest new element was the role of Zeus and the other Gods of  Mount Olympus who were to become more pivotal. They were the glue that bound the stories together.


 
Now "Mini Myths 1: Heroic Beginnings" is almost ready to publish as an eBook. This is, hopefully the first book in a series of four. The stories in book one are "Perseus and Medusa", "Perseus and Andromeda" and "Theseus and the Minotaur".


 
These stories are produced for boys and girls aged 9 and above.  

Hopefully people will enjoy reading "Mini Myths 1: Heroic Beginnings" as much as I enjoyed producing it.


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