X is for Xing Tian

This week's entry for AlphaBeasts! is a Chinese character called Xing Tian, a menacing headless giant with eyes in place of nipples & a mouth where his navel ought to be. He runs around like a giant with its head cut off, wielding a deadly battle ax (also a shield, not included).

Admittedly I took some liberties adding the nose & adjusting the mouth... but that's just the kind of NEW MEN I build! Do YOU want to be one? Give me 7 days... I'll see what I can do. ;-)

Acrylic (with a bit of Photoshopic trickery) on an ad scanned from True Detective magazine, March 1939, ~3.5"x8"

Q is for Qirin

This week's entry for AlphaBeasts! is Qirin, better known to beer drinkers by its Japanese spelling, Kirin. 

This beast has many confusing manifestations, both Chinese & Japanese. It is sometimes known as the Chinese Unicorn, although in most depictions it has two horns. Some versions are very close to Longma (with dragon-like head & scales & a horse-like body), some more deer-like, & some like a giraffe. There is speculation that this creature may have been inspired by travelers' descriptions of the giraffe, & in fact, the modern Japanese for "giraffe" is "kirin."

I chose a combination of deer- & giraffe-like elements, along with the traditional flames.

Acrylic on an illustration (~5"x7" ) scanned from St. Nicholas Magazine, July 1920. I love the caption, & it explains golf to me, since the 20% that is visible to outsiders seems unbearably boring. It makes me wonder what on earth all those straight-laced dudes in polo shirts are imagining out there on the links! (Of course the article was actually all about visualizing the shot, but I like my version better.)

P is for Penghou

This week's entry for AlphaBeasts! is a Chinese creature, though also known in Japan by the name Hōkō. It strikes me as a sort of Cheshire Dog: it is a tree spirit, with a dog's body but a human-ish grin, & according to Wikipedia, it tastes just like dog. :-O

edit: I forgot to include the medium &c.!
Acrylic on illustration scanned from Chatterbox 1882, ~7"x9.5"

L is for Longma

This week's entry for AlphaBeasts made it in just under the wire. I couldn't find any Japanese beasts that began with L so I went for a Chinese dragon-horse. It took just a wee bit longer to paint than I'd planned!

I do love painting highlights, & golden scales call for lots of 'em! If you'd like to see a couple of process scans, here's my Longma post on Curious Art Lab.

Acrylic on text scanned from Young People's Natural History, 1901

By the way, 2012 will be the year of the Dragon, although the new year won't officially happen until the 23rd.

Edit: Prints of this painting are now available in my Etsy shop: http://www.etsy.com/listing/90845784/longma-signed-archival-art-print-year-of