Dexaray Porter
Samantha Mudd
Visual Analysis Essay
18 May 2010
Clash of the Gods in My Mind
Imagine this, an all out war of greed, anger, and the hunger for power. Two gods, two brothers battle to prove whose better, only mere mortals suffer from their wrath. Mighty Zeus, the god of the sky and ruler of the Olympian fighting. With his almighty thunderbolt against his brother Poseidon. Poseidon, the god of the sea protector of all waters, fighting with his golden trident. Quarrelsome personalities and pride thunder, boom, and splash all over the place. Zeus comes from the sky with his army while Poseidon comes from the great seas with his. This isn’t your ordinary battle this is a battle of pride and a battle to prove who the better god is.
The artist for my picture is Dehong He. It’s called marvelous journey. Dehong He is a Chinese illustrator, who works with concept are for games. He has very clean and realistic art that is full of intricate details that is based on Chinese folklore. Dehong He has said that his art work, gives him the biggest possible stage to work with. It is as if you are God, you can create a new world. Dehong He had the ability to impress his parents since he was very young. He was a fine arts student at a university, he started working with comics and a year after finishing college, Dehong He moved on to work as a concept artist for games. About his work process, Dehong He says that he puts his work’s quality and the themes in which he expresses first. Style comes second. With the passage of time, he feels his own style will emerge naturally. Dehong He has won a number of prizes, this includes, three prizes for game illustrations four prizes for his comics, and one for The Journey Begins’ CGChallenge on the CGSociety. Most of Dehong He’s artwork is produced for game companies and book covers.
In this picture are deep sea blue’s, marble colored whites as well as dark grays. The lighting in this photo is mixed. It is dark in most areas but has a tiny section of lightness. On the left side it is dark gray with tints of purple in the sky. In the corner on the left hand side of the photo is a deep dark blue. Towards the middle of the portrait is a ship that is sinking into the sea. Above it is where the colors blend, this is where the marble colored whites and sky blues blend. To the right of the portrait this is where the marble colored white looks like clouds. There are figures of men on dolphins or what appear to be men made from water, coming from the top of a wave. Below the wave a little boat with about five men in it can be seen. These clouds made of men and horses with gold armor. Some of these horses have wings. Below this towards the right hand corner of the photo it is dark, dark with tints of purple, blue and orange. I believe the purpose of this image is to show two worlds colliding in the midst of a battle.
I feel like the left side of this image is Poseidon, the god of the sea protector of all waters, territory. It is a deep blue color and it has sea creatures made of water. They look as if the men and sea creatures are made from the waves. The wave is a big one; it is touching the sky to reach its battled opponent Mighty Zeus in whom is positioned on the right side of the portrait. The right side of the portrait is brighter but not too bright, just bright enough to show a difference in battle and character. There are white cream colored horses covered in gold armor, this to me shows some sort of royalty. This looks like a battle, and it looks like people got hurt in the middle of it. I only think this because of the sinking ship in the middle of the sea, and the little boat towards the left hand side of the photo. This where the five men look as if they are trying to escape from the middle of the battle.
I ask myself is this portrait intended to mean what I think it means. Or is it just a picture that shows water and the sky coming towards each other to fight for a purpose? Maybe Poseidon is tired of being known second to his brother Zeus, if they worked together along with their brother Hades to over throw their father Cronus. This doesn’t put a doubt in my mind they will battle each other to be crowned number one. This battle to me is a battle of two very power hungry gods who want the ultimate title. The texture of this photo should say a lot. They are intense and smooth at the same time. Its vibrant colors pop off the picture and draws your eyes to the transition of colors. The center of the picture is the best to me because it shows a color change, as well as a change in characters. It goes from bright deep turquoise blues, to marble colored white. Then it’s from water warriors to cloud warriors. I feel like the artist was in a mythological day dream when creating this photo because that’s how I feel when I look it. This photo shows a mythological theme which makes it very deep and different. Mythology consists of characters like gods, mermaids, genies, dragons, warlocks, elves, leprechauns, witches, etc. From reading about the artist this doesn’t surprise me at all. He is an artist that feels that art comes originally from life, and his inspiration may come from games, films or comics. But if you observe everything around you, you will find that you can freely imagine a small story and paint a portrait based on them. I chose this photo because it intrigues me. It brings up memories when I was in high school, coming home and wanting something to do. So I would play God of War with my uncle Duran. The game was so intense, the battles were so realistic, and all I wanted to do was win. We played for hours and hours at a time and I learned a lot about mythological creatures. This is what drew me to the photo. Not only was it the color and the textures, but the way the water and clouds are shaped as armored warriors. This is very different; it makes you look closely to observe the different elements of the photo. This is why it so strange to me how there is a sinking ship in the middle of the photo and then a little boat not far from it. It makes me ask questions like, why did the ship sink? What were those men doing in the middle of the battle? Were the men just at the wrong place at the wrong time? These questions could go on and on. But from my observation the water to me over powers the clouds. It takes up so much more of the photo, from the top left corner of the photo, to the bottom left corner of the photo, even on the bottom right corner of the photo. Although the clouds are in the photo they are just a mere section of it which is the top right corner of the photo.
I feel that in this battle Poseidon would win because Zeus doesn’t have as much of winning element. The water takes over the photo while the clouds are only a glimpse of it. Why did Dehong He feel the need to make the water most of the photo? I ask this question because from reading Greek mythology, Zeus is the most powerful of them all. So why would Dehong feel the need to limit the space for that particular god. Is Zeus not his favorite or maybe he just has a thing for water. Or maybe Dehong just went with the flow of his artistic capabilities and had more of a vibe when he was creating the water element of the photo. With all this said this photo is like no other and is a great photo at that. It draws your attention and I’m pretty sure if different people view it, they could get there own personal story from it. Just as I did. I hope whoever views this photo will look into it deeply and try to make sense of it as if it were their own creation. Because this is a photo that deserves just that in my opinion.
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