Happy Saint Patrick's Day, mythology fans!
For this festive Irish-filled holiday, I have decided to upload this image of the Six Invasions of Irish mythology.
This portrait is an update of my original picture of the Six Mythical Invasions of Ireland.
Following my tradition of depicting mythical figures as their Dungeons and Dragons equivalents (hence why the Fomorians are portrayed as cosmetically-challenged purple giants and Balor is depicted as a demon), my original representation of the Firbolgs was based on their appearance in D&D 5th Edition.
However, for this new drawing, I decided to go back a few editions and depict the Firbolgs as burly half-giants.
The Firbolg is also portrayed as wearing a tunic indicative of an Ancient Greek robe.
Since the Firbolgs had spent so long in Greece, they could have adopted some elements of Greek culture.
The Tuatha De Danann are shown as ambiguous glowing figures not just to show their divine nature, but also since there are so many different deities in Irish mythology (as with any polytheistic mythology) that fitting them all inside the panel would be time-consuming and would clutter up the whole panel.
Since the Milesians (the ancestors of the Irish) came from Galicia in northwestern Spain, I researched Galician traditional dress and so decided to portray the Milesians wearing said traditional dress.
You may also notice that in this image of an Irish myth, there is only one redhead.
Recently, taking into account the fact that only about 10% of Irish people have red hair, I have been making sure to have some blond and dark-haired representation in my Ireland-themed cartoons (including this one).
That is why Parthalon is blond; and Nemed, the Firbolg, and the Milesians all have dark hair.
As in this cartoon, the Tuatha De Danann are said in mythology to be the last divine rulers of Ireland.
This, in my mind, suggests that the peoples of Cessair, Parthalon, and Nemed were divine beings.
I hope you have enjoyed my explanation for the creative process behind this updated representation of Ireland's origin story, as well as the time and effort that went into it whilst I had nothing much to do at work.
I myself am part-Irish on my mother's side, and that part of my family comes from Connacht...where the Two Battles of Moytura took place.
These were the Tuatha De Danann's fights with the Firbolgs and the Fomorians.
Happy Saint Patrick's Day once again!
Have an incredible start of spring (in the North of the World).
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