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QUIAHUITL TONATIUH means "Rain Sun" in the nahuatl language.

This is an illustration which I've worked on to serve as the cover of the fifth chapter of my latest comic book/graphic novel, "The Legend of the Five Suns ", which is a not so loose adaptation of the eponymous pre-hispanic Mexica (or Nahua) myth, telling the origin of the world, the creation and destruction or metamorphoses of four different suns/sun-gods, their worlds and its' inhabitants, as well the creation of the fifth world, ours, and the rise of a new sun and a new creation. This also includes other traditional nahua (Central Mexican) folk tales, such as the creation of Octli (a.k.a Pulque, an alcoholic beverage made with the Maguey or Agave plant), the legend of the volcanoes Popocatepetl and Iztaccihuatl, the discovery of maize, and also explores some elements from the nahua, especially Mexica cosmology: the three vital energies (Tonalli, Teyolia and Ihíyotl), the four corners of the world (Tlahuiztlampa - East, Mictlampa - North, Cihuatlampa - West and Huitztlampa - South), the underworld (Mictlán) and its regions, as well the birth of Huitzilopochtli and other concepts related to daily pre-hispanic nahua life.
This comic book/graphic novel is 140 pages long, and is the main subject of my completion of course/graduation work in Graphic Design by UTFPR in Curitiba, Brazil. Currently, I have printed only one sample, in Brazilian Portuguese language, but I'm still studying the possibility to get it published (I would need some financial support if I were to do that), and translated into spanish and english (what I can do by myself).

This chapter deals with the role of Tlaloc as the Third Sun, the "Rain Sun", following the end of the previous, second era. As stated previously, for this story I chose to associate the Five different eras of the Nahua cosmology with the actual/historical "eras" in Mesoamerican chronology (for example, the civilizations from the First Sun Era feature pre-classic period Olmec aesthetics, despite displaying some nahua customs, because the story is told from a post-classic nahua perspective). For this chapter and era, I chose to represent a group which the nahua call the Toltecs, and that refer to more than one ethnical, sociopolitical and historical group, as it's a generic term to define the ancestors of a diversity of communities which left traces of their civilizations in abandoned sites which were eventually found by the late post-classic nahua peoples, including the Mexica, and other groups which revindicated the ancestry of the Toltecs.

In this sense, Tolteca (which is often translated as "artisan, craftsman") is used to refer to sedentary, agriculture-based civilizations in contrast to Chichimeca that was used as a generic, sometimes derogatory term to refer to a large diversity of semi-nomadic hunters, especially in an area of the Bajío (nowadays states of Aguascalientes, Jalisco, Guanajuato and Querétaro) north from the Nahua area. Some peoples contemporary to the Excan Tlahtoloyan ("Triple Alliance", between the altepeme / cities of Tenochtitlán, Texcoco and Tlacopan, the political corpus of what we often are led to mistakenly call "Aztec Civilization/Empire") were also called Chichimeca. In this story, the narrator also refers to the people of the Second Era as Toltecs, even though they draw aesthetic (in architecture, clothing, artifacts and material culture) influence from the historical Teotihuacan and Olmeca-Xicalanca (for example, Cacaxtleca , which in turn draws influence from the Maya) cultures. It's the next generation of their brethren, in this chapter, the Third Era, that actually display more aesthetic inspiration from the Toltecas of Tollan-Xicocotitlán . Anyone with basic references of Mesoamerican pre-hispanic history can tell that by looking at the Chacmool type of Cuauhxicalli and the Tulan Atlantes displayed in this illustration, right?! The Chacmool however isn't exclusive to this period, and not even to the Central Mexican area, as they are found in well attested southern Mexican Maya areas, such as Chichén Itza (that displays several characteristics from Central Mexican architecture, what has developed a large debate over the years among archaeologists and historians), and as far south as Costa Rica!
Besides that, there's my own version of Tlaloc the Rain, Thunder and Sky God, and his four Tlaloque (some kind of helpers who are said to bring forth the rain from jars, each one associated to a direction, here distinguishable by their colors: Black is the North, Red is the East, Blue is South and White the West). This chapter is arguably one of the most colorful ones, alongside the next.

As I stated inthe description about the previous chapter, The Legend of the Five Sun comes from two major written sources, one included in the Codex Chimalpopoca and another in the document known as History of the Mexicans by their paintings, and while both versions share some similarities, they also have their differences, sometimes contradicting each other . I added to this era some traditional nahua stories that don't particularly match any chronological setting - like the capture of the fertility goddess Xochiquetzal by Tezcatlipoca - as well some that are logically set in the fifth era, like the reign of the famous Toltec ruler Huemac, and the fall of Tollan. Tollan is sometimes used as a generic concept referring to some important urban center, just as Toltec is sometimes used to refer not to one community or people in particular, but to the concept of an urban, sedentary, mostly agriculture-based ancestral civilization in central Mexico. Here, however, the "Toltecs" are the inhabitants of Tollan-Xicocotitlán, which is a city that has its own toponym, and the time where I have set this fourth Sun Era in this story, is thus that of the time when said city has been largely inhabited, and until its' abandonment (in the first half of the 12th century). Tlaloc oversees the Tolteca and Chichimeca peoples alike, however he has a predilection for the Toltecs, who have kept alive the traditions of their ancestors, including the count of time through calendars analogue to the 260-day Tonalpohualli and the 360+5 days Xiuhpohualli. The Toltecs expand their area of influence through trade, political relations and warfare, and start demanding tributes from a series of different cities, forming a network which would later be classified as an "empire". Huemac rule the capital during its height, but the people start to suffer a series of losses as they fall ill to tricks made by a mysterious sorcerer, Toveyo, who is actually a disguise of Tezcatlipoca. I've got to admit, in this chapter I drew some influences from the folklore written by the 20th century journalist Lewis Spence, attesting such stories are traditional in Central Mexico, some of them, dealing with the fall of Tollan. I won't spoil it, however all I can say is that this chapter portrays the sucession of Huemac to his son, Acxitl, who is less than eager with the situation of the world, the gods, and creation - especially after it stops to rain and the people face years of drought and hunger, because Tlaloc has refused to let it rain until Xochiquetzal is returned to him - and that won't happen, as this catastrophe is the reason Tezcatlipoca kidnapped the rain god's original wife in first place. Eventually, a rain of fire destroys what remained of Tollan, and some of the survivors became a variety of birds which we know today. The gods then must come up with a solution to ease Tlaloc's wrathful resolve, and change his mind about creation.

So, I hope you like it as much as I did producing it!

And don't forget to follow and share my work at:

Behance | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter

< THE WIND SUN (prev.)| (next) THE WATER SUN >

Description

QUIAHUITL TONATIUH means "Rain Sun" in the nahuatl language.

This is an illustration which I've worked on to serve as the cover of the fifth chapter of my latest comic book/graphic novel, "The Legend of the Five Suns ", which is a not so loose adaptation of the eponymous pre-hispanic Mexica (or Nahua) myth, telling the origin of the world, the creation and destruction or metamorphoses of four different suns/sun-gods, their worlds and its' inhabitants, as well the creation of the fifth world, ours, and the rise of a new sun and a new creation. This also includes other traditional nahua (Central Mexican) folk tales, such as the creation of Octli (a.k.a Pulque, an alcoholic beverage made with the Maguey or Agave plant), the legend of the volcanoes Popocatepetl and Iztaccihuatl, the discovery of maize, and also explores some elements from the nahua, especially Mexica cosmology: the three vital energies (Tonalli, Teyolia and Ihíyotl), the four corners of the world (Tlahuiztlampa - East, Mictlampa - North, Cihuatlampa - West and Huitztlampa - South), the underworld (Mictlán) and its regions, as well the birth of Huitzilopochtli and other concepts related to daily pre-hispanic nahua life.
This comic book/graphic novel is 140 pages long, and is the main subject of my completion of course/graduation work in Graphic Design by UTFPR in Curitiba, Brazil. Currently, I have printed only one sample, in Brazilian Portuguese language, but I'm still studying the possibility to get it published (I would need some financial support if I were to do that), and translated into spanish and english (what I can do by myself).

This chapter deals with the role of Tlaloc as the Third Sun, the "Rain Sun", following the end of the previous, second era. As stated previously, for this story I chose to associate the Five different eras of the Nahua cosmology with the actual/historical "eras" in Mesoamerican chronology (for example, the civilizations from the First Sun Era feature pre-classic period Olmec aesthetics, despite displaying some nahua customs, because the story is told from a post-classic nahua perspective). For this chapter and era, I chose to represent a group which the nahua call the Toltecs, and that refer to more than one ethnical, sociopolitical and historical group, as it's a generic term to define the ancestors of a diversity of communities which left traces of their civilizations in abandoned sites which were eventually found by the late post-classic nahua peoples, including the Mexica, and other groups which revindicated the ancestry of the Toltecs.

In this sense, Tolteca (which is often translated as "artisan, craftsman") is used to refer to sedentary, agriculture-based civilizations in contrast to Chichimeca that was used as a generic, sometimes derogatory term to refer to a large diversity of semi-nomadic hunters, especially in an area of the Bajío (nowadays states of Aguascalientes, Jalisco, Guanajuato and Querétaro) north from the Nahua area. Some peoples contemporary to the Excan Tlahtoloyan ("Triple Alliance", between the altepeme / cities of Tenochtitlán, Texcoco and Tlacopan, the political corpus of what we often are led to mistakenly call "Aztec Civilization/Empire") were also called Chichimeca. In this story, the narrator also refers to the people of the Second Era as Toltecs, even though they draw aesthetic (in architecture, clothing, artifacts and material culture) influence from the historical Teotihuacan and Olmeca-Xicalanca (for example, Cacaxtleca , which in turn draws influence from the Maya) cultures. It's the next generation of their brethren, in this chapter, the Third Era, that actually display more aesthetic inspiration from the Toltecas of Tollan-Xicocotitlán . Anyone with basic references of Mesoamerican pre-hispanic history can tell that by looking at the Chacmool type of Cuauhxicalli and the Tulan Atlantes displayed in this illustration, right?! The Chacmool however isn't exclusive to this period, and not even to the Central Mexican area, as they are found in well attested southern Mexican Maya areas, such as Chichén Itza (that displays several characteristics from Central Mexican architecture, what has developed a large debate over the years among archaeologists and historians), and as far south as Costa Rica!
Besides that, there's my own version of Tlaloc the Rain, Thunder and Sky God, and his four Tlaloque (some kind of helpers who are said to bring forth the rain from jars, each one associated to a direction, here distinguishable by their colors: Black is the North, Red is the East, Blue is South and White the West). This chapter is arguably one of the most colorful ones, alongside the next.

As I stated inthe description about the previous chapter, The Legend of the Five Sun comes from two major written sources, one included in the Codex Chimalpopoca and another in the document known as History of the Mexicans by their paintings, and while both versions share some similarities, they also have their differences, sometimes contradicting each other . I added to this era some traditional nahua stories that don't particularly match any chronological setting - like the capture of the fertility goddess Xochiquetzal by Tezcatlipoca - as well some that are logically set in the fifth era, like the reign of the famous Toltec ruler Huemac, and the fall of Tollan. Tollan is sometimes used as a generic concept referring to some important urban center, just as Toltec is sometimes used to refer not to one community or people in particular, but to the concept of an urban, sedentary, mostly agriculture-based ancestral civilization in central Mexico. Here, however, the "Toltecs" are the inhabitants of Tollan-Xicocotitlán, which is a city that has its own toponym, and the time where I have set this fourth Sun Era in this story, is thus that of the time when said city has been largely inhabited, and until its' abandonment (in the first half of the 12th century). Tlaloc oversees the Tolteca and Chichimeca peoples alike, however he has a predilection for the Toltecs, who have kept alive the traditions of their ancestors, including the count of time through calendars analogue to the 260-day Tonalpohualli and the 360+5 days Xiuhpohualli. The Toltecs expand their area of influence through trade, political relations and warfare, and start demanding tributes from a series of different cities, forming a network which would later be classified as an "empire". Huemac rule the capital during its height, but the people start to suffer a series of losses as they fall ill to tricks made by a mysterious sorcerer, Toveyo, who is actually a disguise of Tezcatlipoca. I've got to admit, in this chapter I drew some influences from the folklore written by the 20th century journalist Lewis Spence, attesting such stories are traditional in Central Mexico, some of them, dealing with the fall of Tollan. I won't spoil it, however all I can say is that this chapter portrays the sucession of Huemac to his son, Acxitl, who is less than eager with the situation of the world, the gods, and creation - especially after it stops to rain and the people face years of drought and hunger, because Tlaloc has refused to let it rain until Xochiquetzal is returned to him - and that won't happen, as this catastrophe is the reason Tezcatlipoca kidnapped the rain god's original wife in first place. Eventually, a rain of fire destroys what remained of Tollan, and some of the survivors became a variety of birds which we know today. The gods then must come up with a solution to ease Tlaloc's wrathful resolve, and change his mind about creation.

So, I hope you like it as much as I did producing it!

And don't forget to follow and share my work at:

Behance | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter

< THE WIND SUN (prev.)| (next) THE WATER SUN >