junior: ABC book

i called my ABC book caterva ferus commenticius, which means a flock of imagined creatures in latin. the cover's pretty sad but i loved working on the interior, and i hope to one day come back to this project and revamp it. i think it could go somewhere further.

junior: ammit

the ammit is from ancient egyptian religion. she is a demon with the body of lion and hippopotamus, with the head of a crocodile.

junior: basalisk

the basalisk is called the king of serpents. he can cause death with a single glance, and leaves a trail of deadly venom in his wake. its weakness is the smell of weasel!

junior: catoblepas

the catablepas is from ethiopia, and it translates to "look downwards". it has the body of a buffalo, the head of a hog, and scales down its back. its stare or breath can either turn you to stone, or kill

junior: dragon

the dragon is just what you think it is, and they're featured in cultures all over the world.

junior: ent

the ent is from tolkien's fantasy world, middle earth. they are a race of tree-like people, and they care for the forest

junior: fenrir

fenrir is from norse mythology and is simply described as a monstrous wolf.

junior: griffin

the griffin is a well known mythological creature with the body of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle. (he used to have wings but i plucked em off!) because the lion is considered the king of all land animals, and the eagle the king of all birds, the griffin would be considered elevated above even that.

junior: haetae

the haetae is from chinese and korean mythology. he "resembles a lion but is, in fact, a fire-eating dog." haha i love how they word that. he is the guardian against disaster and prejudice. awww :) too bad we hunt those here...

junior: indrik

the indrik is a russian beast named the kind of all animals. he lives on the holy mountain where no other animals live. when it moves, the earth shakes. he is a giant bull with the head of a horse and a horn on his snout, and is the biggest land mammal to ever live

junior: jackalope

this is the image that started it all! the jackalope is a jackrabbit with the horns of an antelope, and he comes from the big US of A

junior: kraken

the kraken is a mythical sea monster from the noway/iceland region. it is said their creation is derived from real sightings of giant squid.

junior: leviathan

the leviathan is a sea monster from the bible. apparently he is one of the seven princes of hell! not much of a description, but a lot of images show a serpent-style monster.

junior: merlion

this one should have come out better :( as suspected it's got the head of a lion and the body of a fish. because he's their mascot, there's a famous fountain of him in singapore!

junior: nue

the nue is from japanese folklore. she has the head of a monkey, the body of a raccoon dog, the legs of a tiger, (which is kind of ignored!) and a snake for a tail. they can also metamorphose into a black cloud and fly

junior: orthrus

this one turned out to be one of my favorites, and i was so scared to start it! orthrus is a two-headed dog from greek mythology. interesting: he was owned by the three-bodied giant, geryon... how do you have three bodies? two heads makes so much more sense. i'm serious. it does

junior: peryton

a peryton is described as a winged deer. i didn't include it, because i didn't want to mention humans in the book, but what makes the peryton more interesting is that it's got the shadow of a man. also they were involved in the fall of the roman empire... haha ok

junior: questing beast

this is a strange one, coming from arthurian legends. it is the head and neck of a serpent, the body of a leopard, the haunches of lion and the feet of a hart (deer-like animal). apparently it makes a strange barking noise, comparable to "thirty couple hounds questing", which is where it got it's name. can you imagine a snake barking???

junior: rainbow fish

i can't find the description anywhere, but i remember that the rainbow fish was described to be the size of a whale, and obviously very colorful.

junior: shachihiko

the shachihiko (which i find out now is actually spelled shachihoko) is a japanese creature, commonly featured on roofs because he is believed to cause rainfall. i find out now (what was wrong with me!?) that it has the head of a DRAGON (not tiger) and the body of a carp.