Reading about Greek Goddesses I fell in love with the story of Asteria the Titan goddess of nocturnal oracles and falling stars. Asteria was an inhabitant of Olympus, and like her sister, Leto was beloved by Zeus. In order to escape the amorous advances of the god, who in the form of an eagle pursued her, she transformed herself into a quail and flung herself into the Aegean Sea. It was there that Asteria metamorphosed into the island Asteria (the island which had fallen from heaven like a star) or the "quail island" Ortygia. This then became identified with the island of Delos.
Layout Explorations + Sketches
When doing a concept, I like to first start with pencil and paper and bring them to photoshop. Once I know I've locked the layout, I then start to add colors. For Asteria, I decided to go on a nighttime palette. Since she's the Goddess of nighttime divinations and falling stars, I wanted her to be surrounded by a magical environment that involved stars, waters, and of course the Quail and Zeus. Since Asteria transformed into a Quail, both of them have eye colors and the Quail keeps her color progression. The Eagle has Zeus lighting mark on this head.
