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GavinMichelli — King Leonidas in Color
Published: 2007-12-29 03:43:49 +0000 UTC; Views: 9023; Favourites: 135; Downloads: 59
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Description
Based on the real guy, not the one from 300
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Comments: 52
Great artwork. Not so sure about "the real guy" statement, but he looks really cool.
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Thanks! I based his look on a 5th century statue of a Spartan commander, so, since there are no existing contemporary portraits of the man himself, that's about as close as I can get. Of course, his body is stylized and cartoony, so I guess it's not real in that sense. But anyway, I appreciate the comment
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Oh! another ancient themed drawing! I must admit you have really great style
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Thanks very much! Yeah, there are a few historical drawings in my gallery. I actually have a whole binder of them that I haven't even posted, because they're mostly original characters and takes on historical figures. I was working on a personal project while I was in school that was set in Rome circa 410 AD, so I've got a ton of character designs for different ideas I had.
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So why don't you post them? 
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I'm just not too hot on posting original designs and ideas on DA, so I only post designs that I know I'm not going to use. For example, I don't plan on using this one [link] because I don't think the segmentata armor is appropriate (the main characters are immortal, so there are a lot of anachronisms to suggest that they come from different eras), so I posted that one. DA is pretty rife with thievery, so I keep my good stuff hidden, just in case I get around to publishing this thing some day.
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Ah got it 
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Awsome drawing. The outfit he's wearing actually looks a lot like the one worn by King Leonidas in this old 60s movie I have called "The 300 Spartans".
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I've never actually seen it, but Frank Miller said it was his favorite movie back in the day. Apparently, that flick was the whole reason why he wrote 300. I hear it's pretty good.
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Yeah, I heard that before too, that Miller wrote the original graphic novel sometime after seeing the flick.
And it is actually a good movie once you look past some of the obvious "cheesy" stuff that comes with really old films 
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Well, you can kinda tell just by looking at it that it's not made to be a documentary, you know? The people who were complaining about nit picky historical details in 300 just baffle me. And you're right, it's not that off. If you read Herodotus' account, most of the main ideas are in the film. Hell, they even pulled a couple of quotes.
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Exactly. I too sometimes get a bit irritated when someone trully "puts down" 300 just because of its lack of historical accuracy. I too have read the Histories (very good book) and as I read about the Battle of Thermopylae I also felt that both films did a more than good enough job at "recreating" the battle.
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That's the way critics (and nerds) are- they always have to be smarter than whatever they're watching.
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Lol that's often true. Lucky for me I am a "nerd" on this thing, but also a die-hard fan of the film ^^
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For sure. I'm a die-hard nerd myself
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Ancient history as a whole (Greek being just one part of it all) is something that I've had a strong passion for, for quite a while now in my life. It and mythology.
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Oh me too, definitely. I'm partial to ancient Rome, specifically, but anything that happened around the Mediterranean before 500AD will catch my interest. I probably would have gotten out of college sooner if I had stuck to the art classes, though
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I'd say my range of interest is 1500s and back, all over the world.
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by the way the plumage is actually more like a mohawk then a sideways mohawk
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Not all of them. The side-to-side crest on a helmet was (sometimes) used to set higher ranks apart from regular hoplites. In fact, there are a few miniature statues from the period depicting Spartan kings with the horizontal crest. The Roman army later adopted this custom for its centurians.
Yes, I am a dork
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a big one at that but, a dork of history and, that is something i can respect. just don't get too caught up in details as sometimes they have been known to detract people from the bigger picture.
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Oh, and BTW: how do you think they breathe in that thing? That little... head gear thing? It must be really hard.
But then again, they could probably use that as a weapon, too! WHOOO!!
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IRL the nosepiece juts out a bit to allow some space, but the purpose of of all that armor is to keep the face, head, and torso well protected, so that they wouldn't permanently stop breathing. You can be sure that it wasn't comfortable (they were wearing almost 100 lbs of metal in the middle of the summer in Greece...they were probably cooking alive!) and I would think that shortness of breath was probably an issue at times, but it beats getting stabbed in the face
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So much metal! I wouldn't be able to do that! They must have smelled! :yuck:
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I'd put money on it
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How much?
*money eater!*
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Oooh, yey! *plans on stealing*
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Keep your wenis off the table while mastacating!
Wow, that's way good. Coloring and shading is much excellente! MUY BIEN!!
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I can't help it, I'm a compulsive mastacator 
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Everybody is.
Yeah, you know you love mastacating!
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Wow I love this picture! Love the movie 300, though many things in that movie is historically incorrect. Nyah! I saw the real last stand of 300 on History Channel. Great work!
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You could say "incorrect", but "stylized" sounds so much better, doesn't it? 
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Haha everytime it comes out I watch it. Can't get enough! Even if it is dorkie!
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I never thought spartans were so shiny. I still think 300 would have been better if they made it more HISTORICALLY accurate and everyone was running around nekkid.
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In the comic, they were naked at least half the time. In fact, in the scene where Leo kicked the Persian into the pit, all he was wearing was a cape and a scowl. When they went into battle in real life, however, they wore up to half their body weight in armor. That's why the lightly-armored Persian infantry had such a problem beating them. They're so scantily clad in the comics because Frank Miller used Greek sculpture as inspiration, and the Greeks traditionally portrayed their heroes in the buff. I don't think I would be quite as enthusiastic about a movie featuring 300 floppy wangs, though
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They made the Spartans the way they are in 300 because they based it on Greek sculptures and vase art (which showed Spartans half-naked), but also on the King Leonidas statue in Thermopylae.
He made the Spartans half nude so that he can emphasize the fact that the Spartans were bred for warfare, and that they were that much better than the others (for example, the Arcadians, the Persians and the Immortals)
But I guess 300 wouldn't look too bad if the Spartans had a little extra armor on them.
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Absolutley true on all counts
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It's a film technique, I guess. So he really did start with all that armor.
Frank also made the Spartans (from what I've notice) appear like an elite version of the Greek Hoplite.
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cool man. i like the style. nice colouring too, it's suits the style of the drawing.
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Thanks. The animated-style coloring seems to be the style that fits me best- simple, but effective. There's still tons of cool tricks and effects that can be applied, too (once I learn some, that is). Anyway, thanks again.
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