Artist Feature: Rowan
“Lore Olympus has helped me grow by giving me a community that supports each other’s art and providing me with constant ideas for it. It’s given my art a new life.”
How long have you done art? What mediums have you tried?
I’ve done art since I was a kid. I used to mostly play around in ink and geometric style animals, and eventually I ended up using spray paint. When I decided to start regularly putting work on Instagram in Spring 2020, I hadn’t done any art in over 2 years. Nowadays, I stick to gouache and acrylics, and for the first time in my life, I’m regularly painting people. I can count on one hand the amount of faces I had drawn before this in my life, and I’m starting to develop my own style for it.
How would you describe your style?
I’d say that you can tell it’s my style through the vibrancy paired with the traditional methods I use. I try to keep the skin tones of the characters bright and full, whether I’m painting them realistically or more stylized. It’s definitely a trait I cling to from when I used to do street art. I loved the bold, opaque colors of spray paint, and I always used to think that painting people meant using muted tones. Lore Olympus has given me a way to explore that love of color in a whole new way.
Tell us your Lore Olympus story.
As a kid, I always loved Greek mythology, and as a teen, I ended up studying Latin and falling in love with many of the older texts that discuss the original myths. As an adult, I found myself falling head-over-heels for the endless interpretations of the lore - whether that be Hadestown, arguing with people over the translated relationship of Hades and Persephone, Ukrainian texts, and eventually, Lore Olympus (thank you, webtoon advertisements - they definitely work). I stayed in part due to the artwork and in part because I enjoyed the way Rachel retold their story. It is an original take I hadn’t seen before.
How has the fandom received your work?
I’d like to think it’s positive. The fandom has been incredibly supportive, warm, and kind. I don’t think I’ve ever seen any other fandom that tries so hard to uplift newer artists and spread their work. It’s incredible. Artists like hebe_jeebies, clogged_toilet, silverwillow99, and peachydeazy have helped create the art side of this fandom into a warm, welcoming place.
If you could body snatch one LO character for a day, who would it be?
Zeus or Apollo, so I could just take that chance to make a total idiot of either of them.
Which Lore Olympus fan art are you most proud of and why?
This piece, without a doubt. I was still figuring out how the hell faces work and I shredded three paintings mid-way while making this one. If not for that piece and the confidence boost it gave me that I CAN paint and I WILL figure out how to make my work look nice (regardless of how much I struggle), I think I completely would’ve stopped due to my massive frustration while creating it.
How has fan art changed your style or helped you grow?
Fan art has 100% helped me grow. Before quarantine, I don’t think I had ever even done fan art, at least not to the best of my memory. As I mentioned earlier, I’d barely drawn people before this. Lore Olympus has helped me grow by giving me a community that supports each other’s art and providing me with constant ideas for it. It’s given my art a new life. I wouldn’t still be growing in skill at the rate that I am without it.
Do you have any goals or aspirations for your fan art?
I just want to enjoy it. I spent years in a school with an art scholarship, being told I need to create hours upon hours every day, getting graded on that constantly, and being told my work was never enough. I took a break for two years because that school crushed me and any desire I had to create. Now, my goal is solely to find my love for art again.
Any advice for someone looking to build their art skills?
Just keep trying. Don’t compare yourself to other artists. We all do this at our own pace, and you won’t achieve anything by rushing or pushing yourself into a corner.
Just for fun: Who did you get on our Hades' dog character quiz? And do you agree?
I’m Cordon Bleu. This was 100% expected and 100% true. In real life, I’m a small gal full of rage despite usually looking like I should be baking cookies. It fits.
Rowan is a student at Barnard College at Columbia University, specializing in Russian Literature and Political Science. She is currently studying on Zoom and lives with five cats. When she’s not trying to solve the Da Vinci code of how to paint people, she’s binging anime, fighting to make election information more accessible, and working on local campaigns. You can follow Rowan at:
