Birth of Zeus

This piece is an entry for the Mythology photomanipulation contest.


UPDATE: This piece won the 1st place in the contest!
My most appreciative thanks to Emerald-Depths and the group iManipulate...
...and everybody who donated prizes for the contest: duesterheit, HermitCrabStock and Wesley-Souza.

Kindly featured by:


With the help of the Earth Goddess Gaia, a grieving Rhea surrenders her newborn son Zeus to the nymphs in Crete. The nymphs and their guardians will then protect the baby from Cronos and ensure he grows up to be the ruler of Olympus.

_{Here's a little more backstory:}
After defeating his father, Cronos married his sister Rhea. The two had six children: Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, Poseidon and Zeus. Cronos, after each birth, swallowed the first five children because of a prophecy that claimed one of his children would overthrow him. Rhea tricked Cronos with the sixth child. Zeus, instead of handing Cronos the child, she gave him a rock in a blanket. Cronos swallowed it believing it was the baby. Rhea then smuggled the baby Zeus to the island of Crete to be raised by nymphs. Later Zeus would return to defeat his father in the battle between the Olympians and the Titans.

_{And a link to the full greek creation story: www.godandgoddess.com/the-god-…}


This has for sure been the work I've ever put more time into, by far, but it's finally done! I must say this gave me as much trouble as fun. Once again I managed to learn a bunch of new techniques while doing it, did a lot of painting for this one, as well as used an large amount of stock. Most of the harder work came in the final stages though, once everything was set up and to give it the lighting and mood I wanted... once I figured out what I wanted.

The original idea for this image was meant for the Supreme Regents of the Universe contest, but I was too busy at the time and I couldn't make it before the deadline.
Luckily for me, Emerald-Depths created a new mythology contest, so thought I might as well give that a try.

Also, here's a progress picture if you'd like to see: sta.sh/0po8t5qvppg



Huge, HUGE thank you to all the stock providers!!

Models
Gaia: fierystock.deviantart.com/art/… by fierystock
Rhea: indeed-stock.deviantart.com/ar… by indeed-stock
Nymph: lockstock.deviantart.com/art/N… by lockstock
Nymph: leilanee-stock.deviantart.com/… by Leilanee-stock
Baby: gayleneallgood.deviantart.com/… by gayleneallgood
Bathing nymphs: mjranum-stock.deviantart.com/a… by mjranum-stock
Bathing nymph: mjranum-stock.deviantart.com/a… by mjranum-stock
Bathing nymph: mjranum-stock.deviantart.com/a… by mjranum-stock
Bathing nymph: hannad69.deviantart.com/art/st… by HannaD69

Nature
Cave: skvrnsk.deviantart.com/art/cav… by skvrnsk
Cave: xkenren.deviantart.com/art/Tin… by xKenren
Waterfalls: kbj-77.deviantart.com/art/Wate… by KBJ-77
Mountains: hermitcrabstock.deviantart.com… by HermitCrabStock
Flowers: tw3dstock.deviantart.com/art/T… by TW3DSTOCK
Vine: joybelle.deviantart.com/art/Vi… by joybelle
Path: mirandarose-stock.deviantart.c… by MirandaRose-Stock
Creepers: goblinstock.deviantart.com/art… by GoblinStock
Rock: frostbo.deviantart.com/art/Roc… by FrostBo

Objects and buildings
Cart: www.deviantart.com/art/PNG-Old… by HermitCrabStock
Bucket: tinalouiseuk.deviantart.com/ar… by TinaLouiseUK
Bridge: evelivesey.deviantart.com/art/… by EveLivesey
Fence: mmistress-stock.deviantart.com… by MMistress-stock
Temple: malleni-stock.deviantart.com/a… by Malleni-Stock