Odin | Wotan

Here's my humble version of the old man, Wôtan.

There are numerous versions of Odin out there. There's his godly aspect, his wanderer aspect, his superhero, comic book version (which I dislike), etc. A good friend of mine asked me to draw him, but he didn't really tell me what he wanted, so I felt free to twist his wish into what I wanted to paint. I really like the idea of Odin as a wanderer, as a traveler, as a beggar. I like the idea of an old god living amongst humans, ignored, scorned, despised. I thought his spear could be turned into a staff, or a walking stick. His clothes would be dirty and patched and his beard would always look greasy. He would take care of pigeons by day, and ravens during the night, and he'd closely watch what humankind has turned into. Yep. I kinda like him like this.

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Odin (/ˈoʊdɨn/; from Old Norse Óðinn) is a major god in Norse mythology, the Allfather of the gods, and the ruler of Asgard. Homologous with the Old English "Wōden", the Old Saxon "Wôdan" and the Old High German "Wôtan", the name is descended from Proto-Germanic "*Wodanaz" or "*Wōđanaz". "Odin" is generally accepted as the modern English form of the name, although, in some cases, older forms may be used or preferred. His name is related to ōðr, meaning "fury, excitation", besides "mind", or "poetry". His role, like that of many of the Norse gods, is complex. Odin is a principal member of the Æsir (the major group of the Norse pantheon) and is associated with war, battle, victory and death, but also wisdom, Shamanism, magic, poetry, prophecy, and the hunt. Odin has many sons, the most famous of whom is the thunder god Thor.

Odin is also associated with trickery, cunning, and deception. Most sagas have tales of Odin using his cunning to overcome adversaries and achieve his goals, such as swindling the blood of Kvasir from the dwarves.

(source: Wikipedia)

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2 sessions of sketching and painting on ArtRage 4 + Wacom Intuos4 tablet

I was (as always) highly influenced by the photographic genius of Eugene Atget, and this can be considered a homage to his work.