35 Fantasy Art Masterpieces of character design history

About: Gonzalo Ordóñez Arias (GENZOMAN)

Gonzalo Ordoñez Arias, Is an extraordinary digital artist and painter of fantasy art. He was born in Arica, in the north of Chile (a port city) and now lives in the capital, Santiago. He started copying drawings of his favorite cartoonists and comics at school. At that time, manga and videogames were a huge hit and as such became a huge inspiration. He now dedicates his full-time on freelance fantasy art & character design Illustration.

All work shown here may not be used without the explicit permission of the fantasy artist, aka Genzoman.

Jump to: Greek Mythology | Religion, Angels & Demons | Egyptian | Mermaids | Oriental | Other Legends.

Pirates & Historical Middle Eastern Character Designs

• Aladdin The original story of Aladdin is a Middle-Eastern folk tale. It concerns an impoverished young ne’er-do-well named Aladdin, who is recruited by a sorcerer from the Maghreb (who passes himself off as the brother of Aladdin’s late father) to retrieve a wonderful oil lamp from a booby-trapped magic [more]
• Sinbad the Sailor is a persian story-cycle of ancient Middle Eastern origin. Sinbad, the hero of the stories is a sailor. These stories recount the fantastic adventures of Sinbad during his voyages throughout the seas east of Africa and south of Asia as told in The Book of One Thousand and One Nights [more]
• Blackbeard, Edward Teach or Edward Thatch, was a notorious English pirate who operated around the West Indies and the eastern coast of the American colonies during the early 18th century. He quickly acquired his own ship, Queen Anne’s Revenge, and from 1717 became a feared pirate. [more]
• The Hashshashin (from which the word assassin is thought to originate), was the Persian designation of the Nizari during the Middle Ages. Tthey became famous in the XI century by their strategic activity of targeted assassinations against political, military leaders or kings. During this period, was their [more]
• Emiliano Zapata is one of the most important figures of the hispanic history. Emiliano Zapata Salazar was a leading figure in the Mexican Revolution, which broke out in 1910, and which was initially directed against the president Porfirio Díaz. He formed and commanded an important revolutionary force [more]
• Shajar al-Durr (Arabic: "Strings of Pearls") was the widow of the Ayyubid Sultan as-Salih Ayyub who played a crucial role after his death during the Seventh Crusade against Egypt (1249-1250). She was regarded by Muslim historians and chroniclers of the Mamluk time as being of Turkic origin [more]
• Scherezade is a legendary Persian queen and the storyteller of One Thousand and One Nights. The frame tale goes that every day Shahryar would marry a new virgin, and every day he would send yesterday’s wife to be beheaded. This was done in anger, having found out that his first wife [more]
• Morgiana is a clever slave girl from Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves. She is initially in Cassim’s household but on his death she joins his brother Ali Baba and through her quick wittedness she saves Ali’s life many times and eventually kills his worst enemy, the leader of the Forty Thieves. As reward [more]

Greek Gods, Heroes and Fiends From Mythology

• Zeus in Greek mythology is the king of the gods, the ruler of Mount Olympus and the god of the sky and thunder. His symbols are the thunderbolt, eagle, bull, and oak. In addition to his Indo-European inheritance, the classical "cloud-gatherer" also derives certain iconographic traits from the [more]
• Hades, In Greek mythology, Hades and his brothers Zeus and Poseidon defeated the Titans and claimed rulership over the universe ruling the underworld, air, and sea, respectively; the solid earth, long the province of Gaia, was available to all three concurrently. Because of his association with [more]
• Poseidon (Also known as Neptune) was the god of the sea and, as "Earth-Shaker," of earthquakes in Greek mythology. In most accounts he is swallowed by Cronus at birth but later saved, with his other brothers and sisters, by Zeus. However in some versions of the story, he, like his brother did not [more]
• Leonidas ( literally "lion’s son") was a king of Sparta, who was believed in mythology to be a descendant of Heracles, possessing much of the latter’s strength and bravery. The date of Leonidas’ birth is not known, although Paul Cartledge argues he must have been born around 540 BC. This, [more]
• Ares, In Greek mythology, Ares is the son of Zeus and Hera. Though often referred to as the Olympian god of warfare, he is more accurately the god of bloodlust, or slaughter personified: "Ares is apparently an ancient abstract noun meaning throng of battle, war." He is an important Olympian god in the [more]
• Medusa, from greek mythology was a monstrous chthonic female character; gazing upon her would turn onlookers to stone. She was beheaded by the hero Perseus, who thereafter used her head as a weapon, until giving it to the goddess Athena to place on her shield. In classical antiquity and today [more]
• Delphi is perhaps best-known for the oracle at the sanctuary that was dedicated to Apollo during the classical period. According to Aeschylus in the prologue of the Eumenides, it had origins in prehistoric times and the worship of Gaia. In the last quarter of the 8th century BC there is a steady [more]

Fantasy Art of Egyptian Gods, Pharaoh’s and Prophets.

• Anubis is the name for a jackal-headed god associated with mummification and the afterlife in Egyptian mythology. Anubis was the most important god of the Dead but he was replaced during the Middle Kingdom by Osiris. He takes names in connection with his funerary role, such as He who [more]
• Ra is the ancient Egyptian sun god. By the Fifth Dynasty he had become a major deity in ancient Egyptian religion, identified primarily with the mid-day sun. In later Egyptian dynastic times, Ra was merged with the god Horus. He was associated with the falcon or hawk. When in the New [more]
• Ramesses II (known as Ramesses The Great and also known as Ozymandias in the Greek sources ) was the third Egyptian pharaoh of the Nineteenth dynasty. He is often regarded as Egypt’s greatest, most celebrated, and most powerful pharaoh. He is believed to have been the Pharaoh of the Exodus. [more]
• Moses is a Biblical Hebrew religious leader, lawgiver, and prophet. He is the most important prophet in Judaism, and also an important prophet of Christianity. According to the book of Exodus, Moses was born in a time when war threatened and Pharaoh who was worried that they might help Egypt’s [more]

Religion, Demon & Angel Fantasy Art Illustrations

• Bath Kol (Hebrew: daughter of the voice or daughter of a voice) is a "heavenly or divine voice which proclaims God’s will or judgment, His deeds and His commandments to individuals or to a number of persons, to rulers, communities, and even to whole nations." It was "identified with the [more]
• Michael is an archangel in Jewish, Christian and Islamic tradition. He is viewed as the field commander of the Army of God. He is mentioned by name in the Book of Daniel, the Book of Jude and the Book of Revelation. In the book of Daniel, Michael appears as "one of the chief princes" who [more]
• Gabriel, is an angel who serves as a messenger from God. He first appears in the Book of Daniel in the Hebrew Bible. In some traditions he is regarded as one of the archangels, or as the angel of death. He is also known as Saint Gabriel to some Christian denominations. [more]
• Lucifer generally refers to the Devil, although the name is not applied to him in the New Testament. The use of the name "Lucifer" in reference to a fallen angel stems from an interpretation of Isaiah 14:3–20, a passage that speaks of a particular Babylonian King, to whom it gives a title that refers [more]
• Lilith, Legends told about Lilith are ancient. One story is that God created Adam and Lilith. She demanded equality with Adam, failing to achieve it, she left him in anger. This is sometimes accompanied by a Muslim legend that after leaving Adam Lilith slept with Satan, thus creating [more]
• Count Dracula is a centuries-old vampire, sorcerer and Transylvanian nobleman, who claims to be a descended from Attila the Hun. He inhabits a decaying castle in the Carpathian Mountains. Contrary to the vampires of Eastern European folklore, which are portrayed as repulsive, corpse-like [more]
• Eve was, according to the Book of Genesis, the first woman created by God, and an important figure in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Her husband was Adam, from whose rib God created her to be his companion. She succumbs to the serpent’s temptation via the suggestion that to eat the forbidden [more]
• Goliath, is the Philistine warrior, famous for his battle with the young David, the future king of Israel. Post-Classical Jewish traditions stressed Goliath’s status as the representative of paganism, in contrast to David, the champion of the God of Israel; Christian tradition gave him a distinctively Christian [more]

Oriental Mythology, Fantasy Art & Folktales

• Guanyin, commonly known in English as the Goddess of Mercy, Guanyin is also revered by Chinese Daoists (Taoists) as an Immortal. However, in Daoist mythology, Guanyin has other origination stories which are not directly directly related to Avalokiteśvara. [more]
• Kaguya Hime, one day, while walking in the bamboo forest, an old, childless bamboo cutter came across a mysterious, shining stalk of bamboo. After cutting it open, he found inside it a baby the size of his thumb. He rejoiced to find such a beautiful girl and took her home. He and his wife raised [more]
• Amaterasu is described in the Kojiki as the sun goddess who was born from Izanagi’s left eye. She was also accompanied by her siblings Susanoo, the storm deity, and Tsukuyomi, the moon deity. In the Kojiki, Amaterasu is described as the goddess from which all light emanates and is often referred [more]

More Mythology Character Designs & Female Mermaid Art

• Merrow is the Scottish and Irish Gaelic equivalent of the mermaid and mermen of other cultures. Merrow-maidens are reputed to lure young men to follow them beneath the waves where afterwards they live in an enchanted state. Merrows wear a special hat called a cohuleen druith which enables [more]
• Sirens of Greek mythology are sometimes portrayed in later folklore as mermaid-like; in fact, some languages use the same word for both bird and fish creatures. Much like sirens, mermaids would sometimes sing to people and gods and enchant them, distracting them from their work [more]
• Iara, also spelled Uira or Yara, is the name of a figure from Brazilian mythology based on ancient Tupi and Guaraní mythology. The word derives from Old Tupi yîara = y + îara (water + lord/lady) = lady of the lake (water queen). She is seen as either a water nymph, siren, or mermaid depending upon [more]
• Alraune, The basis of the story of Alraune dates to the Middles Ages in Germany. The humanoid-shaped Mandrake root or Mandragora officinarum was widely believed to be produced by the fluids of hanged men under the gallows. Alchemists claimed that when hanged men broke his necks, vital fluids [more]
• Brynhildr is a shieldmaiden and a valkyrie in Norse mythology, where she appears as a main character in the Völsunga saga. Brynhildr is the daughter of Budli. She was ordered to decide a fight between two kings: Hjalmgunnar and Agnar. The valkyrie knew that Odin himself preferred the older king [more]

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