Mythological Creatures

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KUI


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YALE


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KAPPA (face and profile)

Hi!
Not so long ago, I discovered "Cloud Clay"(also available by Crayola) , a material that looks like cplaydough, but feels like soft plastic when it dries. I start by making a structure with wood, glue, clay, metal wire and silliccone. When the structure is ready, I put the Cloud Clay paste on it and sculpt détails. When it is dry, I paint the figure and varnish it. Among my pièces, I made mythological creatures.

The first one is a YALE. Yales are from english mythology and heraldry. It looks like a horse, but has goat hooves, goat beard and a very short tail. It has tusks like a boar and horns the animal can swivel in any direction.

The second one is a KUI. Kui, also called "K'nei", is from chinese and japanese mythology. It looks like a yak or a sheep, but it stands on only one leg. It can create and announce rain storms with a little dance of its own.

The third on is a KAPPA. Kappas are from japanese mythology. They look like turtles, but they have frog limbs and a monkey's head. On top of the kappa's skull, there is some sort of a skin and bone "vase" filled with water. They are malevolent, since they love human children meat. However, they have two weaknesses: their incontrolable love for cucumbers and their extreme politeness. When someone bows at a Kappa, the creature will almost surely bow as well; this way, the water in its cranial vase will verse and the Kappa will lose all its will... until its vase is filled again.

Very interesting as usual and you're very talented in several artistic areas. I think the Yale could result in a very attractive figure for a fantasy line of a mainstream brand. Thanks for sharing!

Yes !! You have a multitude of talents, - and a great phantasy

They are wonderful

Very interesting creatures and very nicely made.
Thank you for sharing

Thank you! I also made a Nue and a Manticore, which I will show you eventually; a Luwu and a Zhar-Ptitsa are on process.

Bowhead Whale wrote:

Thank you! I also made a Nue and a Manticore, which I will show you eventually; a Luwu and a Zhar-Ptitsa are on process.

I can't wait

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NUE



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MANTICORE


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LUWU

Here are three more that I made (my Zhar-Ptitsa is not finished yet): Nue, Manticore and Luwu. Sorry for the delay, the humid summer gave me trouble with the drying of my modeling paste... Anyway, to me, those three ceatures look like that if they existed, they would be in the very same zoological family as the Egyptian Androsphynx: humanoid face on feline-like body and paws.

NUE
The Nue is from japanese mythology. They have the body of a racoon dog, legs of a tiger, the head of a snow monkey and its tail is a snake. They are very ferocious and they have a particular power: they can fly by surrounding themselves with a magical dark smoke cloud (the cloud disappears to reveal the true form of the animal when it dies). They bring disease and bad luck.

MANTICORE
Now, this one is very well known! Manticores come from Persian mythology. They have the body of a lion, the tail of a scorpion which throws poisonous needles and a blue-eyed human face with three rows of pointy teeth. Some of them have dragon wings (more recent depictions). They eat exclusively meat and they are known to leave nothing behind them after a meal.

LUWU
Luwus are from chinese mythology. They are one of the many imaginary animals that dwell in chinese mountains. Luwus look like tigers, but their face is human and they have nine tails. Their behavior is neutral, though their direct link with number 9 brings good luck to them.

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Here are three scannings of my Zhar-ptitsa.

The Zhar-ptitsa is a bird in slavic mythology. It looks like a white peacock or pheasant, but its feathers glow light like a fire (or a modern lightbulb). A single feather from this bird can lights up a whole room. It eats golden apples and drops pearls from its beak when it sings. To represent the glowing feathers, I inserted fake stones and pièces of broken mirrors in my Zhar-ptitsa's plumage, which I painted otherwise in metallic colors.

I understand the urge to make mythological creatures into 3D.
To try and make them "be" and get a chance to see/feel/smell them in real life.

I wandered off to that place once and stayed, because I liked it.

My question is: where do you keep them after you made them?
Do you display them or are they your secret pleasure?

They're incredible! It is nice to see that you put all your talent and effort in these figures and they result really great! Once more you're sharing with us very interesting informations about the immaginary world.

Amazing models !!!  
Your style is fantastic  !

Wow, very interesting to learn something about Slavic folklore and mythology. I come from that region so I presumably should have known that bird but I didn't! I think that myth is very interesting.

So I'm just reading about it in Wikipedia now and in the Polish language, its name is apparently "Żar-ptak" and it is actually widely known and there is even a Russian ballet called "Fire Bird" inspired in this myth.
That creature seems to have something in common with Pheonix.

Bloodrayne: I display them! To give you more detail, they are about the size of the Papo Chimera.

Suzanne and Roger: Thank you for your complements!

Ana: It's not surprising that the Zhar-ptitsa has a link with the Phoenix: many european mythological creatures come from myths of Egypt, Greece and Mesopotamia. Examples:

1- Fairies. Fairies come from the greek "Fatas", three spirit women who controlled destiny. They became smaller and funnier when they "travelled" through England and Germany.

2- Goat-legged Devil. That christian depiction of the devil actually comes from the greek satyres. Satyres were followers of Dionysos and were pretty hedonist beings. Christianity saw them as totally demonic (like this religion did with many other things).

3- Gnomes. These underground-dwelling fellows actually are a germanic version of the northern Dvergr, the Dwarves. These fellows, while travelling through Europe, gave birth to the English "Duergar" (lantern-carrying little people) and the germanic Gnomes.

So, it's not surpriseing that the Phoenix also gave birth to the Zhar-ptitsa while travelling through eastern Europe.

By the way: a "Xixi Zhi Yu" is now on process. You will see it eventually here.

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Here is my Xixi Zhi Yu. Xixi Zhi Yu comes from the Ancient Bestiary of China. Like many others, it lives in the rivers of the mountains. The Xixi Zhi Yu is a flying fish with five sets of wings. It is said that eating the meat of a Xixi Zhi Yu would cure jaundice.

Beautyful, fascinating model of another strange creature

Amazing so many strange creatures they have in China

Well, China covers a huge area...and as far as I understand, there are places where people could find fossiles, giving food for stories of strange beasts ?

Talking about food, - it seems that curing illness by eating rare animals is an old specialty of (some parts of) China

SUSANNE wrote:

Beautyful, fascinating model of another strange creature  

Amazing so many strange creatures they have in China

Well, China covers a  huge area...and as far as I understand, there are places where people could find fossiles, giving food for stories of strange beasts ?

Talking about food, - it seems that curing illness by eating rare animals is an old specialty of (some parts of) China    

The mountains in China seem to play about the same role as the sea for the Europeans: an impenetrable, mysterious world where people imagine lots of weird beings living there...

A Sirrush is now on process.

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Here is now the Sirrush!
The Sirrush can be found on blue glassy brick walls in the ruins of Babylon. It is a dragon-like scaly animal with leonine front paws, bird-like rear legs and a long, thin tail. Sirrushes are represented along with bulls and lions, which makes its legend's origin very mysterious: if bulls and lions are real animals, what was Sirrush inspired by?

Youhou! Anybody there?

Anyway, now, a Tlanusi is on process.

Bowhead Whale wrote:

Youhou! Anybody there?

Anyway, now, a Tlanusi is on process.

Valérie, apparently everyone is distracted with Safari figures for 2017 but there is no doubts that your last work is among the most interesting ones you presented until now. I admire your preserverance and your talent!

Yes ! I am here  
Or partly here...I have been so crazy to decide to give my house a good, thorough cleaning......now I know what the creatures are, that I find among the dog's hair etc : Sirrushes in my green ruins

I love that Sirrush

I knew these creatures before, they are on the Ishtar Gate In the books about art history they are sometimes called just "dragons" but clearly they don't look like most typical dragons' depictions. Very interesting!

I think your work looks great. I like the golden colour in a darker shade you've chosen.

Babylon had also other rather strange mythical creatures. If I remember right they had, for example, some kind of 5 legged human/bull with wings called Lamassu?

Ana wrote:

I knew these creatures before, they are on the Ishtar Gate In the books about art history they are sometimes called just "dragons" but clearly they don't look like most typical dragons' depictions. Very interesting!

I think your work looks great. I like the golden colour in a darker shade you've chosen.

Babylon had also other rather strange mythical creatures. If I remember right they had, for example, some kind of 5 legged human/bull with wings called Lamassu?

Thank you all for your compliments!

Lamassu looks like it has five legs, but it's because it is represented in two postures in the same sculpture. If you look at drawings, you will see Lamassu is a "normal" four-legger.

My Tlanusi is now ready: you will see it here very soon.

Very interesting topic, like the other one, with your drawings :)
Very nice and interesting choice of making these Mythological creatures, not only on drawings , but also on sculptures.
Lovely colors, technic and materials...
and of course, interesting story behind
Keep showing your work to us :)

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Thank you costicuba! As I said earlier, for my figurines, I choose mythological animals we don't see often. This way, I want to give not-so-well-known cultures a chance to be seen.

Here is my TLANUSI. The Tlanusi is a giant leech from Cherokee culture. It is said to be as large as a bungalow house and red with white stripes in color. It is located in the junction of Valley River and Hiwassee, in Murphy, Noth Carolina. When it attacks a prey, the water foams and boils, before suddenly sweeping the prey into the water. Humans that have been attacked are later found dead off the shore, with ears and nose missing. A very Dangerous animal indeed.

What a terrible, horrible, scary creature