An Inspired Chat with Jon Sideriadis

We’re looking forward to introducing you to Jon Sideriadis. Check out our conversation below.

Good morning Jon, we’re so happy to have you here with us and we’d love to explore your story and how you think about life and legacy and so much more. So let’s start with a question we often ask: When was the last time you felt true joy?
The last time I felt true joy, I was sitting in my Art Show booth at DragonCon after a very long load-in and set-up day. A returning customer came back to my booth this year to tell me they loved reading my book and it truly inspired them. They told me to never stop creating my books and paintings and to remember them when I become famous one day! This really caught me by surprise, but I told them that their kind words meant so much to me, because I’ve been busting my hump every day for the past twenty-five years to create an entire world with no guarantees that it would ever amount to anything. It also reminded me why I created the Astromythos series in the first place, to inspire people to live life with conviction and courage – to embrace every new challenge as an opportunity for personal growth.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Astromythos is the original illustrated mythology of the stars, an epic poem inspired by Ancient Greek and Nordic Sagas (among other folk tales and fables throughout the world). I’ve mythologized astronomy to create characters like Red Giants, White Dwarfs, Pulsars, Magnetars, and Black Holes. The living stars struggle to protect the universe from voracious black holes called Photovores, the most destructive force in existence. Part one and two of the series are published, as well as a Dungeons and Dragons adventure book based on the story and setting. Astromythos is soon to be a comic book series and animated film.

Before the success of my book series, I was an Illustration Program Coordinator and a full-time professor at the University of New Haven. I spent years working as a freelance illustrator on projects for film, television, video games, novels, comics, album art, board games, and trading cards. I’ve also worked in Hollywood as a creature-effects artist and sculptor on feature films like Godzilla and Underworld Evolution. All of these experiences really helped me build my world, paint, and write better characters and myths.

I’m currently launching a crowd-funding campaign on Gamefound.com in November for Astromythos Book Two. The fifth-edition D&D adventure book published by Hit Point Press will also be offered in the campaign, so I’m very excited to see how it all turns out.

Amazing, so let’s take a moment to go back in time. Who were you before the world told you who you had to be?
I grew up with ADHD thinking that I would never do anything special because I could never put my mind to anything for a long period of time. I was always interested in telling stories and making art, though. I spent much of my boyhood in the woods, catching salamanders and frogs or playing with my 1980’s action figures in ponds and brooks. During that time, my mom would read Greek mythology to me and I loved hearing about characters like Hercules and Theseus. After taking my first astronomy course in college, instead of partying with my roommate and his friends, I spent most weekends there visiting the library during the day and drawing every night. I eventually sketched my first anthropomorphized star characters while note-taking in Astronomy class. I remember seeing an image of the horse head nebula there, and that was the true source of inspiration for my series.

What did suffering teach you that success never could?
Suffering taught me to appreciate those who love me and everyone else on Earth that suffers too – to take the good with the bad – in spite of all the sickening and insane tragedies in our world. It helped me find my purpose as a young man and use what little time I have on this planet to help others do the same.

Sure, so let’s go deeper into your values and how you think. Whom do you admire for their character, not their power?
As a Greek-American, I grew to appreciate the stories of the Ancient Greeks and consider Homer and Hesiod as my heroes. I admire them for their character and their contributions to literature, not their power. My stories evolved drastically after I started reading books written by Joseph Campbell, his contemporaries, and authors like Bruno Bettelheim. These authors analyzed myths, fairy tales, and folktales so well that they helped me understand the brilliant structure of such timeless stories. This made it much easier for me to transform fun ideas for paintings and stories into powerful and meaningful tales when I became an adult. John Bauer, Gustave Dore, Howard Pyle, William Blake, Pindar, and Edmund Spencer are some more people that I admire, to name a few. I certainly became a professor and author because of Tolkien!

Before we go, we’d love to hear your thoughts on some longer-run, legacy type questions. When do you feel most at peace?
I feel most at peace when I’m sitting on some moss in the woods with my wife and listening to the bubbling of a nearby brook while my son wades through the water looking for little bugs and snails.

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