You wake up floating amongst lost starlets upon an ethereal plan towards a city hidden amongst the clouds when gravity retakes and you begin plummeting back towards the realm of man. As you fall you can spot castles hidden within the lush overgrowth housing untold traps and treasure, mountain trolls carrying entire forests on their backs and swamps filled with death and decay that any who enter are surely doomed; is that flicker of fairy fire that lies on the horizon a beacon to freedom or only a farce of the mind?
These are only a small section of the vast worlds that RAW artists Jon Sideriadis has sprung forth from his mind using only the basest materials of oil paint, pen, and pencil. After having the opportunity to sit down and thoroughly pick through all the colliding worlds inside his head, we learned just what is it that makes Jon Sideriadis tick.
Currently employed with the University of Hartford’s Hartford Art School where he teaches sequential art and illustration, Jon also teaches a course about comic books at MCC as well as works as a freelance illustrator. When he is not teaching Jon spends most of his free time writing and developing his new book, “Astromythos”.
Taken from a Greek translated word meaning “Star Myth”, Astromythos is an entirely new mythology that takes place in a universe populated with characters that are produced entirely from Jon’s imagination. “Astromythos was meant to carry on the tradition of my ancient forefathers by creating a new, original mythology foretelling of the final stages in the Greek mythological cycle and the human race at the end of time.” The book is inspired by such noteworthy poets such as Homer, Milton, and Dante with the artwork being influence by Greek Orthodox and Byzantine styles; “Astromythos is a story set eons in the future, but is still notably primal in its storytelling.” What does this mean you ask? Well simply put, Astromythos is a fantasy story written entirely in Hexameter verse, much like Homer’s Iliad and Aeneid, the reason for this is to give it that ancient history feeling. With all of these entities combining it will guarantee to be a work that bends the very fabric of fantasy and science fiction into one that will be remember much in the same way as Tolkien.
Like a majority of artists and writers, Jon pulls inspiration from his own background. The characters names and places are heavily based on his own Greek background. “Much like Homer, I’ve named my characters and settings by combining a series of words together to give a brief background to the character.”
Currently you find Jon’s most recent work at http://astromythos.wordpress.com/ there you can find images of Jon’s work as well as more information on the upcoming book “Astromythos” along with ways of getting into contact with him.
Check out Jon’s and all the other RAW artists on Thursday April 4th for “Marvel”; a one night event at the Russian Lady, located on 191 Ann Uccello St, Hartford CT. Tickets can be purchase from the artists of your choosing for $10 or at the door for $15. Doors open at 8 and remain so till midnight, for tickets, artists and more information about RAW can be found at http://www.rawartists.org/hartford
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