Artist Spotlight

Athina K. Poda

Pseudonym Achen089 on deviantART, a traditional artist from Greece, Ms. Poda has a gift for conjuring three dimensions from those sacred two-dimensional collections of words that we call stories.  

Beauty and the Beast

A visionary for Middle Earth and Narnia (oh yeah, and Hogwarts--are you paying attention now?), she has also created a fairy tale series that is both very realistic and original.  In my opinion, not an easy thing to accomplish.

The Little Mermaid

Fairy tales lend themselves well to stylized artistic depictions, and that seems to have been the trend in the last half of the 20th century.  But Ms. Poda's style reminds me of the the more realistic, albeit unnaturally graceful, illustrations of the early 1900's.

Snow White

Some of her fairy tale paintings seem to reveal knowledge of the composition of the literary tales, placing the costuming and background in their corresponding geographical areas and time periods.

The Princess and the Frog

The soft watercolors over pencil sketches, with white (ink?) highlights give all her pieces a dreamy, floaty look.  How appropriate!

I also detect a slight art nouveau influence.  (But what do I know?)

You can support this fairy tale artist by purchasing from her etsy shop or commissioning her. 

Note:  The main function of the fairy tale, poetry, and artist spotlights is to bring attention to and support and encourage fledgling fairy tale creators .  If you or anyone you know writes or illustrates fairy tales, is not published or well-known, and would like to be featured, please contact me or leave a comment.