Jesús Sotés illustrates the Odyssey as a series of puzzles for Laurence King Publishing.

Jesús Sotés has illustrated a retelling of the story of Odysseus, returning home to Ithaca, through a series of illustrated mazes, games and riddles. The story, as recounted by Homer in the The Odyssey is full of adventures and surprising events that lend themselves perfectly to this engaging method of storytelling and Jesús’s images perfectly blend classical Greek references with a modern graphic approach while still retaining the surreal nature of the journey.

The project was well planned by the authors, making it easier for Jesús to convey visually, “But there was a turning point for me and it was when I thought about how a boy or girl would like to see it and I even imagined myself as a child, discovering a book with these characteristics and I tried to draw from that place.”

Working with Helen and Ian Friel and Laurence King Publishing, Jesús found the challenge of developing a project of this type invigorating, making sure to give time to even the small details as they were of equal importance to the larger elements; hard work for sure, or as Jesús described it;

“Like all my work, searching for the diamonds in the hard rock …”

Puzzle Odyssey is out now via Laurence King Publishing.