Thursday, October 9, 2008

from the archives: Turtles in Tunics, circa 1990



When I was in elementary school, we studied Latin. And to make it more fun & interesting, all the kids who studied Latin in the city got together once a year for the Latin Olympics. There were contests in many areas, including oratory, vocabulary, ancient Roman costumes, miniature model villa building, the quiz bowl style certamen (which just means "contest"), and the poster contest in which the drawing above won a ribbon of some kind. I was a huge Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fan at the time, so of course my obsession led me to realize the relationship between the green-skinned crime fighters and the history of Rome. The Romans were well-known for their innovations in sanitation, and the Turtles live in the sewers, and later they invented pizza, the Turtles' favorite food. And notice the color-coordinated tunics and gladiator sandals, and my reluctant use of perspective. I was at the age where I was beginning to want to make my drawings look more "real," even though I hated perspective drawing.
And a translation:
"Rome: First in Turtle technology. And first in pizza too, dudes!"

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