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OCELOTL TONATIUH means "Jaguar Sun" in the nahuatl language.

This is an illustration which I've worked on to serve as the cover of the second chapter of my latest comic book/graphic novel, "The Legend of the Five Suns ", which is a not so loose adaptation of the eponymous pre-hispanic Mexica (or Nahua) myth, telling the origin of the world, the creation and destruction or metamorphoses of four different suns/sun-gods, their worlds and its' inhabitants, as well the creation of the fifth world, ours, and the rise of a new sun and a new creation. This also includes other traditional nahua (Central Mexican) folk tales, such as the creation of Octli (a.k.a Pulque, an alcoholic beverage made with the Maguey or Agave plant), the legend of the volcanoes Popocatepetl and Iztaccihuatl, the discovery of maize, and also explores some elements from the nahua, especially Mexica cosmology: the three vital energies (Tonalli, Teyolia and Ihíyotl), the four corners of the world (Tlahuiztlampa - East, Mictlampa - North, Cihuatlampa - West and Huitztlampa - South), the underworld (Mictlán) and its regions, as well the birth of Huitzilopochtli and other concepts related to daily pre-hispanic nahua life.
This comic book/graphic novel is 140 pages long, and is the main subject of my completion of course/graduation work in Graphic Design by UTFPR in Curitiba, Brazil. Currently, I have printed only one sample, in Brazilian Portuguese language, but I'm still studying the possibility to get it published (I would need some financial support if I were to do that), and translated into spanish and english (what I can do by myself).

This chapter deals with the role of Tezcatlipoca as the First Sun, the "Jaguar Sun" (the Jaguar is an animal associated to this god). In some sources, the inhabitants of this era were Quinametzin ("giants"), and in this adaptation they play some major role, despite there are also other humans. I chose to associate different eras of the Nahua cosmology with actual/historical "eras" in Mesoamerican chronology. The inhabitants of the first era, for example, have developed a civilization which aesthetics and overal inspiration calls back to that of the Olmecs ("jaguar people", a name which the Mexica, a nahuatl-speaking people from 14th Century Central Mexico, gave to the ancestral peoples of the tropical lowlands of south-central Mexico, in the present-day states of Veracruz and Tabasco ). One of the earliest known major Mesoamerican Civilizations, the Olmec have left a vast amount and variety of material culture, and are usually believed to have pioneered some techniques and concepts later used by other Mesoamerican cultures in general, such as the extraction and use of rubber, the Mesoamerican ballgame, ritual bloodletting, the count of time through the Mesoamerican Long Count and the invention of the zero concept. There's also the disputed possibility that the Olmecs have developed the earliest logographic writing system in the western hemisphere. There's still debate, however, concerning the belief that the Olmecs are a "mother culture" among Mesoamerica, it's more plausible to consider them as a "sister culture" to many more that, despite undeniably influenced in some extent, were just as old as the Olmec communities. Despite their ethno-linguistic associations remain unknown, some hypotheses suggest that the Olmecs of San Lorenzo spoke proto-Mixe and the Olmecs of La Venta spoke proto-Zoque.
That said, as this story is based on a Postclassic Era (the Olmec were from the Pre-Classic) nahua narrative, part of the "Olmeca - Quinametzin" civilization here have been depicted with some nahua customs as well. Those range from certain expressions which occur throughot the comic (such as "Ipalnemoani" while referring to the Sun, or even to the creator deities Tonacatecuhtli & Tonacacihuatl), and also some weapons that have possibly only came into being in a much later age - like the macuahuitl, what makes this story consciously not an historically accurate depiction of Olmecs, but rather, a nahua view/imagination of the Olmecs. This is why Tezcatlipoca, here, is surrounded by some Olmec style artifacts.

This chapter lasts for a while, and is followed by the story of Popocatepetl, from Central Mexico (outside the Olmec area), that still takes place in the first era. I chose to put a version of Popocatepetl's story (there's a plenty of them, so I mixed elements from more than one, and tried to make it coherent) in this era rather than in others because of the association of the Quinametzin with the shaping of mountains, and, as this era comes immediatly after the capture of Cipactli, it would make sense. Despite that, the earliest known possible representation of the Popocatepetl & Iztaccihuatl mountains, and their human counterparts, is found in the much later Ñuù Savì/Mixteca "Zouche-Nuttall " codex.

Tezcatlipoca is a somewhat negligent and very demanding sun, so Quetzalcoatl, witnessing how people are needlessly suffering and recurring to violence, decides to act against his brother. Quetzalcoatl's good intentions, however, make the case worse as Tezcatlipoca, once cast out from his position, gives place to darkness which witness the transformation of some giants into giant jaguars (this concept of theriantropy in Mesoamerica may be explained by the Maya tradition of Wayob or the nahua tradition of the Nagual, whether or not those have been influenced by colonial era accounts) that have attacked their fellows in the last days of the first peoples. Here, I also added some explanation concerning the Tzitzimime ("star demons", not a literal translation as the etymology of their name is still unknown), Itzpapalotl (a goddess whose name means Butterfly with claws or in some versions Obsidian Butterfly), the Cihuateteoh (the Teyolia of women who died in childbirth), and their association with darkness and the catastrophes that come with the end of the sun.

By the end of this era, Quetzalcoatl becomes the second Sun - in this story, he does so by means of self-sacrifice in the fire. Although the original written accounts of the Legend of the Five Suns don't mention how he became the Sun, they attest that this was the means which the Fifth Sun came into being, so I linked the dots and deliberately used this narrative resource of self-sacrifice to explain his transition. Likewise, Tezcatlipoca became the first Sun by his own sacrifice, as well - he lost his foot to catch Cipactli and create the earth out of her body.

So, I hope you like it as much as I did producing it!

And don't forget to follow and share my work at:

Behance | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter

< THE BEGINNING (prev.)| (next) THE WIND SUN >

Description

OCELOTL TONATIUH means "Jaguar Sun" in the nahuatl language.

This is an illustration which I've worked on to serve as the cover of the second chapter of my latest comic book/graphic novel, "The Legend of the Five Suns ", which is a not so loose adaptation of the eponymous pre-hispanic Mexica (or Nahua) myth, telling the origin of the world, the creation and destruction or metamorphoses of four different suns/sun-gods, their worlds and its' inhabitants, as well the creation of the fifth world, ours, and the rise of a new sun and a new creation. This also includes other traditional nahua (Central Mexican) folk tales, such as the creation of Octli (a.k.a Pulque, an alcoholic beverage made with the Maguey or Agave plant), the legend of the volcanoes Popocatepetl and Iztaccihuatl, the discovery of maize, and also explores some elements from the nahua, especially Mexica cosmology: the three vital energies (Tonalli, Teyolia and Ihíyotl), the four corners of the world (Tlahuiztlampa - East, Mictlampa - North, Cihuatlampa - West and Huitztlampa - South), the underworld (Mictlán) and its regions, as well the birth of Huitzilopochtli and other concepts related to daily pre-hispanic nahua life.
This comic book/graphic novel is 140 pages long, and is the main subject of my completion of course/graduation work in Graphic Design by UTFPR in Curitiba, Brazil. Currently, I have printed only one sample, in Brazilian Portuguese language, but I'm still studying the possibility to get it published (I would need some financial support if I were to do that), and translated into spanish and english (what I can do by myself).

This chapter deals with the role of Tezcatlipoca as the First Sun, the "Jaguar Sun" (the Jaguar is an animal associated to this god). In some sources, the inhabitants of this era were Quinametzin ("giants"), and in this adaptation they play some major role, despite there are also other humans. I chose to associate different eras of the Nahua cosmology with actual/historical "eras" in Mesoamerican chronology. The inhabitants of the first era, for example, have developed a civilization which aesthetics and overal inspiration calls back to that of the Olmecs ("jaguar people", a name which the Mexica, a nahuatl-speaking people from 14th Century Central Mexico, gave to the ancestral peoples of the tropical lowlands of south-central Mexico, in the present-day states of Veracruz and Tabasco ). One of the earliest known major Mesoamerican Civilizations, the Olmec have left a vast amount and variety of material culture, and are usually believed to have pioneered some techniques and concepts later used by other Mesoamerican cultures in general, such as the extraction and use of rubber, the Mesoamerican ballgame, ritual bloodletting, the count of time through the Mesoamerican Long Count and the invention of the zero concept. There's also the disputed possibility that the Olmecs have developed the earliest logographic writing system in the western hemisphere. There's still debate, however, concerning the belief that the Olmecs are a "mother culture" among Mesoamerica, it's more plausible to consider them as a "sister culture" to many more that, despite undeniably influenced in some extent, were just as old as the Olmec communities. Despite their ethno-linguistic associations remain unknown, some hypotheses suggest that the Olmecs of San Lorenzo spoke proto-Mixe and the Olmecs of La Venta spoke proto-Zoque.
That said, as this story is based on a Postclassic Era (the Olmec were from the Pre-Classic) nahua narrative, part of the "Olmeca - Quinametzin" civilization here have been depicted with some nahua customs as well. Those range from certain expressions which occur throughot the comic (such as "Ipalnemoani" while referring to the Sun, or even to the creator deities Tonacatecuhtli & Tonacacihuatl), and also some weapons that have possibly only came into being in a much later age - like the macuahuitl, what makes this story consciously not an historically accurate depiction of Olmecs, but rather, a nahua view/imagination of the Olmecs. This is why Tezcatlipoca, here, is surrounded by some Olmec style artifacts.

This chapter lasts for a while, and is followed by the story of Popocatepetl, from Central Mexico (outside the Olmec area), that still takes place in the first era. I chose to put a version of Popocatepetl's story (there's a plenty of them, so I mixed elements from more than one, and tried to make it coherent) in this era rather than in others because of the association of the Quinametzin with the shaping of mountains, and, as this era comes immediatly after the capture of Cipactli, it would make sense. Despite that, the earliest known possible representation of the Popocatepetl & Iztaccihuatl mountains, and their human counterparts, is found in the much later Ñuù Savì/Mixteca "Zouche-Nuttall " codex.

Tezcatlipoca is a somewhat negligent and very demanding sun, so Quetzalcoatl, witnessing how people are needlessly suffering and recurring to violence, decides to act against his brother. Quetzalcoatl's good intentions, however, make the case worse as Tezcatlipoca, once cast out from his position, gives place to darkness which witness the transformation of some giants into giant jaguars (this concept of theriantropy in Mesoamerica may be explained by the Maya tradition of Wayob or the nahua tradition of the Nagual, whether or not those have been influenced by colonial era accounts) that have attacked their fellows in the last days of the first peoples. Here, I also added some explanation concerning the Tzitzimime ("star demons", not a literal translation as the etymology of their name is still unknown), Itzpapalotl (a goddess whose name means Butterfly with claws or in some versions Obsidian Butterfly), the Cihuateteoh (the Teyolia of women who died in childbirth), and their association with darkness and the catastrophes that come with the end of the sun.

By the end of this era, Quetzalcoatl becomes the second Sun - in this story, he does so by means of self-sacrifice in the fire. Although the original written accounts of the Legend of the Five Suns don't mention how he became the Sun, they attest that this was the means which the Fifth Sun came into being, so I linked the dots and deliberately used this narrative resource of self-sacrifice to explain his transition. Likewise, Tezcatlipoca became the first Sun by his own sacrifice, as well - he lost his foot to catch Cipactli and create the earth out of her body.

So, I hope you like it as much as I did producing it!

And don't forget to follow and share my work at:

Behance | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter

< THE BEGINNING (prev.)| (next) THE WIND SUN >