From Idea into Form: Ptah Creates

Mixed media: Sharpie pen, colored pencils, and digital additions/alterations
© Joan Ann Lansberry, 1-5-19

This is an illustration of the Memphite Theology, in which Ptah creates the other gods and all else 'through his heart and through his tongue', from the ideas arising in his heart and mind, and then being made into reality, for an upcoming anthology of creation myths. I've chosen a symbolic representation of our world; although this symbol would be foreign to the ancients, it is one we understand readily. Also, I like the idea of "he's got the whole world in his hands...".

For references, I mostly looked at a profile photo I took of the Tutankhamun Ptah and sketch drawings I did for my Ptah statue, along with coloring ideas from other images of Ptah found in various tombs.

At first I did a line drawing, which I scanned and neatened. I then added part of the text via Photoshop:

Pdf underneath

The original format was roughly an enlarged version of 6.1 x 9.25 inches, which is fairly close to the 4 x 6 ratio:

I pulled the glyphs up higher as it looks better in the narrow format.

5x7 size

6x8 size

8x10 size, I had to stretch things out to make it work.