Reimagine Theseus And The Minotaur

Learn how to create a new setting for a classical Greek myth with concept artist Sina P. Kasra.

- Sina P. Kasra

Discover how to give a classic myth an oriental twist…

In this tutorial I will show you how to use myths and legends to create new worlds without being faithful to the original. You can be inspired by these stories to create your own themes and genres, but you should also add something of yourself in order to create something new that hasn’t been seen before.

We will be looking at the story of Theseus and the Minotaur, however, I want to change it up a bit and change Theseus into a woman in futuristic armor. We will also change the location from Classical Greece to a place with a touch of the Far East. We will look at using different brushes to speed up the work, adding props and objects, using effects, and adding details. This tutorial will only use brushes from start to finish.

01 Preliminary design sketch: Creating good composition is a vital part of having a good final picture; the scene and composition should act as guides, leading the viewer’s eyes around the page towards the main focus.

Start this process with big simple brushes. You are looking for a suitable composition that tells the story and focuses on the characters. Try not to think about details as you want to get as much information down as you can with as few strokes as possible. You can begin to introduce your main color – I add red to the columns to set the mood of the piece. With the scene set up you can roughly develop the character’s shapes and pose. This will help with checking the overall composition and backbone of your illustration.