I had this idea about Atlas from a very long time but I could find the right model for it. I wanted to get out of the usual cliché – the middle aged beefed up superhero that holds a globe above his head. I needed another type of man – one that looks mature enough but also has something childish in his appearance. And so I came across that portrait by Patrick Lentz:

Michael -18, originally uploaded by Violentz.

I wrote him a letter and he agreed to let me use it. That was almost a year ago. I think I started in January, I made the cutout and then I stopped for some reason… I had other work to do and it was quite distracting. Then in April I continued painting various backgrounds and sets but as it happens usually – I ran out of inspiration. So this artwork had to wait a bit longer than usual. It was not until July that I seriously started to gather my thoughts and in addition, I had a quite relaxed agenda this summer and I was able to dedicate it as much time as I needed. I completed it 11 days ago. More about the idea behind it can be found on the original Flickr page and in this small set which shows some work-in-progress details.