How to draw a cyclops step by step

The Cyclops are a species of first-generation Titans born to Gaia! First and foremost, the Cyclops themselves, round-eyed creatures mentioned by Hesiod in Theogony, are described very sparsely. We will see that they usually appear in only one situation: they forge lightning bolts for Zeus and various other useful things. Hesiod names them:

Gaia also gave birth to the Cyclopes with haughty souls.

Three in number, named Brontes, Steropes, and Arges.

They made lightning for Zeus-Cronus and gave him thunder.

He goes on to say that they are similar to other gods in everything except for the single eye in the middle of their faces: “that is why they were called ‘round-eyed’ or ‘Cyclopes’.” This feature of theirs is wittily, though perhaps not very convincingly compared by Robert Graves in his ethnologically inspired version, an adaptation of Greek myths with the custom of blacksmiths in the era before protective goggles to cover one eye with a leather bandage so that in case of damage to one eye by sparks from the furnace and anvil, the second eye would remain unharmed.

Let’s draw cyclops and have fun while learning about the origins of these amazing creatures! But whether this is true or not, for Hesiod, the Cyclopes are primarily blacksmiths. And these three appear primarily in iconography in the forge of Hephaestus, who was known to the Romans as Vulcan. We will encounter them there repeatedly.

Not only will they make lightning bolts for Zeus-Cronus, but they will also appear in various situations in the Iliad and the Aeneid, forging weapons for heroes. As we will see later, they will also appear in classical art, for example, in the decor of the Mountain Institute. But that is not what concerns us now.

Their placement in the forge is preserved from the Pompeian frescoes, one of which we see before us, to the triumphs of the gods of the early Renaissance — for example, as in the work of the Ferrara masters of the Palazzo Schifanoia in “The Triumph of Vulcan,” naturally feature cyclops, who in this case are forging, judging by the shield with the Capitoline she-wolf, the weapons of Aeneas, illustrating, for obvious reasons, not Homer, but Virgil, right up to the 18th century, when Luca Giordano uses this theme to create, in essence, a genre painting associated with the interior of a smithy. But here we have one question.

Very, very rarely in art before the 19th century do we see Cyclops with a single eye in the middle of their forehead. Either the eye is deliberately hidden, or the rule is simply ignored, as in Luca Giordano’s painting. There are exceptions, such as apotropaic symbols, a kind of talisman, monstrous masks, one of which can be seen in the lapidary of the Colosseum, where everything is quite obvious.

But what is remarkable is that often in such images, similar to apotropaic symbols, it is not the firstborn Cyclopes or the older Cyclopes (Brontes, Steropes, and Arges) who are depicted, but their much more popular brother, whom we will focus on. This is the younger cyclops Polyphemus, much younger than them; he is the son of an Olympian, the son of Poseidon and the sea nymph Phoosa, who appears in several situations. But, as a rule, the reader is most familiar with his adventures related to Odysseus, with his blinding by Odysseus and his companions. He lives in Sicily, in a cave. We will return to him again. But in these images that we see before us, we see a situation where the already blinded Polyphemus lets the sheep out of his cave, seeking to find Odysseus, who is hiding under the belly of a sheep, and we see him in profile.

Another version of the same adventure is more interesting, simply because it is at an earlier stage. These are mosaics from a villa in Sicily, in the place where he actually lived. As we will now see, it is no coincidence that he lived near the present-day city of Taormina in Sicily. This mosaic decorates one of the rooms of the Villa Piazza Armerina. It dates back to the early 4th century. It depicts the story of how Odysseus tries to get Polyphemus, who has already devoured several of his companions, drunk on Dionysus’ vines.

Let’s get started drawing a cyclops right away!