Illustration Friday: Phobia

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this week's word required a lot of thought. it didn't really take long to execute once the image i wanted to create came to me, but getting it was not easy.

In Greek mythology, Phobos ("Fear") was the personification of fear and horror. He was the son of Ares and Aphrodite. He, his brother Deimos, and the goddess Enyo accompanied Ares into battle, along with his father's attendants, Trembling and Panic. His Roman equivalent was Timor.

-wikipedia

based on that i considered doing something mythological, but that didn't really grab me. so i checked the Phobia List .
coincidentally (or possibly synchoniously) i was just discussing phobias last week with some friends of mine on the IRC so i already had it bookmarked. overwhelmed with the number of phobias to choose from i decided to go with a general phobia theme rather than focusing on one in particular.
doing this illsutration took me to a dark place. growing up i had several fears, most of which i've overcome through strength of will. when i was in high school i read Frank Herbert's Dune trilogy. in it i found the Bene Gesserit Littainy against fear, and it's stayed with me ever since. it goes:

I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.

also of possible interest, in the middle ages the word "fear" was equated with "respect" which is where the concept of "fearing God" came from.
this illustration was done completely in photoshop. it's more or less a photo montage with filters and layering effects added.
finally, i'd like to thank everyone for their many generous comments last week. unfortunately because i switched to Blogger Beta it won't let me leave comments on anyone's blog that's still using regular blogger. hopefully they'll have that fixed soon. peace and thanks for dropping by.