30 Days of Cryptids Day 22: The Hydra

Here is the fearsome mythological beast - the hydra, a sea serpent (of sorts) with nine heads on average. I've been working on this bad boy...girl...thing...for over a month now, mainly to get the color scheme right. Haven't quite cracked it, but rather than have all of you wait for another illustration for another month, decided to go ahead and post what I've already got and when I get the colors right I'll post that too. See - two for one! That's how much I like all of you.


I originally drew it on a piece of 11 x 17 paper that's way too big for my scanner, so I scanned it in two parts.


Then I combined the two images into one and digitally inked it on a second layer.

I then deleted the original layer leaving a nice, crisp drawing. Pretty, isn't it?

30 Days of Cryptids Day 21: The Sphinx

Here lies the majestic Sphinx, creator of riddles, challenging Oedipus on his journey.
According to Encyclopedia Mythica,

The Greek Sphinx was a demon of death and destruction and bad luck. She was the offspring of Typhon and Echidna. It was a female creature, sometimes depicted as a winged lion with a feminine head, and sometimes as a female with the breast, paws and claws of a lion, a snake tail and bird wings. She sat on a high rock near Thebes and posed a riddle to all who passed. The riddle was: "What animal is that which in the morning goes on four feet, at noon on two, and in the evening upon three?" Those who could not solve the riddle were strangled by her.Finally Oedipus came along and he was the only who could answer that it was "Man, who in childhood creeps on hands and knees, in manhood walks erect, and in old age with the aid of a staff." The Sphinx was so mortified at the solving of her riddle that she cast herself down from the rock and perished.

Friendly sort, wasn't she?

30 Days of Cryptids Day 20: Griffin

The famous griffin, half eagle,half lion. I went with a more Indian-design theme for the background and like how this turned out. I also experimented with creating fur. Turned out alright I think.

30 Days of Cryptids Day 19: Valkyrie

Not to be confused with Wagner's Opera or the Tom Crusie comeback vehicle of the same name, a Valkyrie was a maiden in Norse mythology. Legend has it that these sometimes winged, sometimes horse riding immortal women would take dying men on the battlefield to the famed halls of Valhalla. The most famous of all Valkyries was Brunhilde, from the Icelandic epic poem The Poetic Edda. The tome featured one of the first heroes of recorded history, Sigurd, who saved Brunhilde and was himself 2/3rds god and 1/3 man. Yeah that's right, fuzzy math. God genes outpower those of ordinary mortals.

Now On Deviant Art

I joined Deviant Art today and began to post all manner of cryptidity-goodness. You can check out my profile under Zephyr-Art.
Do post a comment or two and I'll be sure to visit your Deviant Art awesomeness as well.

I'll be adding more Cryptids to this site and also to theirs in the coming weeks.
Been working on something extra special for the past week that I will hopefully have finished by this weekend.

Have a great evening folks!

30 Days of Cryptids Day 18: Loch Ness Monster

Here she is! Nessie, one of my favorite cryptids of all time, deserves special recognition. Legend has it that in the lake of Loch Ness in Scotland exists a creature of terrifying proportions. Is it a plesiosaur from the bygone Mesozoic era? A hoax? A monster all onto its own? No one knows. But she has her own website, so if you are so inclined, check it out.

30 Days of Cryptids Day 17: The Dragon

When I was a kid, I wanted a pet dragon. I wanted to fly through the air, find my enemies and have my pet burn them to a crisp.

I owe my love of dragons to two sources:
Pete's Dragon ("Pleased to meet you, sir!") and, you guessed it, The Neverending Story. The latter deserves its' own post to be sure, that movie influenced my childhood self more than any other.

I present to you one of my favorite creatures of all time, the fire-breathing dragon. Are there any other types that are so cool? I think not.

30 Days of Cryptids Day 16: The Aspidochelone

The what now? The Aspidochelone (don't ask me how to pronounce this) is our cryptid for Day 16. This is a creature of the deep that is rumored to resemble an island. Sailors come to it only to discover that it is indeed alive. In many stories, it is often portrayed as a sea turtle (for instance, in The Neverending Story) however, it's not necessarily a turtle, but a monster of some type.

Thanks to all of you for your wellspring of patience. I've been spending the vast majority of my time job hunting. Not fun. My heart goes out to my fellow unemployed, underemployed, and job-seeking readers. I've discovered that Colorado does not have much in way of a publishing industry. In fact, there is next to nothing. There are not too many editorial jobs to be found here. I started looking for account executive positions and public relation jobs as a result. Companies always need sales people, and I like selling things, so hopefully I will find something very soon.

So for all of you like me who are looking for jobs, know that you are not alone in your quest!

30 Days of Cryptids Day 15: Elf

Here he is! I am glad to present the midpoint of Cryptids, #15, the musically talented elf. Note his mastery of the mandolin. Is it a part of elf culture? Well...no. I just thought it looked cool.

Enjoy!

30 Days of Cryptids Day 14: Spectral Apparition

Happy Halloween Everybody!

30 Days of Cryptids Day 13: The Unicorn

Who doesn't love mythical horses with horns jutting out of their skulls? No one I know!

Here's how I made my magical-horned horse.

How to make your own Fancy-pants Unicorn

Step 1



Make a rough sketch.

Step 2


Make a final sketch.

Step 3



Using the hue/saturation tool, set Cyan and Blue levels to 100%. This will make the blue lines disappear. Then set to grayscale. Set contrast to 25& and fiddle with curves levels until all the weird grainy dots vanish. Then set back to RGB.

Step 4



Color on different layers using the pencil tool and the paint tool set to 32 tolerance.

Step 4



I grouped all of the unicorn layers together (color, two shadow layers and highlights). I also used the dodge/burn tool for the unicorn's skin and horns.

Step 5



I used the paintbrush tool to apply a final shade of blue to the trees in the background and an extra shade of brown to the cliff side. Voila! Instant unicorn.

30 Days of Cryptids Day 12: Nymph and Faun

Here's my first two-fer - the Faun and his tree Nymph girlfriend, (also known as a dryad for you myth buffs out there).

Unlike mythology involving other fauns though, in particular, Pan, my Faun is a friendly little guy.

30 Days of Cryptids Day 11: The Genie

Hi everyone,

after much MileHiCon and other assignment fun I'm back with more Cryptidity-goodness. Today we feature one of my faves, the Genie, a whimsical creature said to grant wishes.

Anyone who has seen Aladdin, I Dream of Jeannie, The Fairly OddParents, heck, any numerous cartoons knows what I'm talking about.

I enjoyed working on the background for this one - after the Yeti this is the most detailed background work I've done for an illustration. This picture almost didn't get made today. The power went out in my apartment complex, but I discovered after calling the apt. manager that the complex is served by two separate grids, and my apartment happened to sit dead in the center of them. So one room had no power, and the other room did, so using various extension cords and thanking the heavens that my desk is on wheels, I reconfigured everything so I could do my work. Yes folks, I go to great links to provide art!

Hope you enjoy it and more cryptid fun tomorrow!

© 2008 Angela Entzminger

Cryptids Day 10: The Minotaur

Part man, part bull, the Minotaur of Greek mythology inhabited the Labyrinth, a vast maze not to be confused with the 80s Muppet movie starring David Bowie of the same name.

Cryptids Day 9: The Werewolf

Here he is in all his feral glory.

Cryptids Day 8: The Phoenix

My personal favorite of all the cryptids is the Phoenix, a mythical bird of fire that sets itself aflame in order to rise from the ashes, reborn.

Cryptids Day 7: Pegasus

Here is my magical flying Pegasus - winged horse of Greek mythology, son of Poseidon, born of Medusa (her blood or neck, depending on the story). Enjoy!

Cryptids Day 6: The Yeti

Hi folks! This image took longer than expected due to using a new technique I learned online with opacity and paint brushes. But it turned out well and I'm proud of it. Hope you like my Yeti - or Abominable Snowman if you will - and his prey!

Here's how I did it.

How to Make a Fearsome Yeti: The Tutorial



1. Scan your image.



2. Add finishing touches to the image. I changed it so that the Yeti's fur went in the direction of the wind.



3. Fill in the background layer at 100% opacity.



4. Give your Yeti bluish/white skin set to 86% opacity.



5. Using a 16 point brush, create the first overcoat layer of fur.



6. Using that same 16 point brush, but with the brighter white, create coat #2.



7. Use a darker color for shadows and color the nails.



8. Select a cold, deathly brown for your dead mammal of choice on the Yeti's shoulder. Use a lighter color for the antlers and a slightly darker color for the antlers' shadows.



9. Use a darker brown for the dead mammal's shadows.



10. Set the brush to 40% opacity to create blood seeped fur.



11. At 100% opacity, choose a brighter shade of white for snow and after choosing a shade of gray, use an 11 point brush for snow shadow lines.



12. Using a specialty brush of your choosing, (or the one I found here) create the appearance of windblown snow.

And voila! You have your fearsome creature of the tundra. Remember to use different layers for each step and to save often.

Have fun!

© 2008 Angela Entzminger

Cryptids Day 5: Centaur

Here's my Chronicles of Narnia inspired Centaur. To arms!

30 Days of Cryptids Day 4: The Banshee

After nearly a week hiatus that is. Thursday morning my computer began shutting itself off of its own volition. I took it to the Apple Store and discovered that many of the early 20 inch iMacs have a manufacturer's defect regarding the power supply. Some of you may have seen information on forums to that effect. They kept it over night and then called to say they would replace the power supply, which would take 2-4 days. The next day (this is now Saturday) they called to say that the power supply didn't work, and that they would be giving me a new computer, and would I like a data transfer of all my info? Sure!

So today I now have a new machine, 1 GB more of space than I had before, and no weird mysterious shutting off problems. I highly recommend to all you Apple users out there that you get Apple Care - it's worth they price and my replacement computer ended up being free as a result!

So now that I have my baby back, I bring you:

Cryptids Day 4: The Banshee



Known as the Bean Sidhe in Irish folklore and the Caoineag in Scottish folklore, the banshee is a wailing spirit believed to traverse the hillsides who appears near homes when someone is about to die. She's also the daughter of Oberon and Titania for all of you Gargoyles fans.