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G is for Ga-gorib

According to the Hottentot peoples of southwestern Africa, Ga-gorib is a horrid monster that sits on the edge of a deep pit and challenges passers-by to hurl stones at him.  The stones always rebounded and killed the thrower, whose body would topple into Ga-gorib's pit.  But along came a hero named Heitsi-eibib - he waited and waited and waited until finally, when the monster's gaze was averted, he drilled Ga-gorib in the noggin and toppled him into his own corpse-filled chasm.  

The homeplate umpire then warned both dugouts.

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F is for Fafnir

Fafnir lived in the Germanic world of giants, dwarves, greed, and deceit.  Oh yeah, and of dragons.  When fan-fave Loki killed Fafnir's bro, Loki had to compensate the misdeed by filling the corpse with red gold (or something silly like that).  Alas, the treasure was cursed and caused all sorts of greed-fueled intrigue - eventually leading to Fafnir having to turn into a tremendous dragon to guard the gold.  Faffy was eventually slain by the hero Sigurd.

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E is for Echidna

I wasn't going to do Echidna at first since I have drawn plenty of snake-bodied weirdos in my career.  But upon a little more research I discovered she wasn't just any old snake-bodied weirdo - she was the mother of pretty much every freakish monster in Greek mythology - from the Hydra, to Cerberus to the Sphinx!  That's more than enough to get you a spot in my little alphabet project.

I find it amusing how genes and cross-species sex mean nothing in ancient myths.  Humanoid gods are always knocking boots with bulls and snakes and amalgamations and then giving birth to dragons and chimaeras and such.  Thank the sky that this isn't the case with modern human society - can you imagine the anxiety going in for that ultrasound?  Is it a boy?  Is it a girl?  No, it is a three headed dog that is destined to guard the gates to hell.  I mean, how do you decorate a nursery for that?

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D is for Dharmapalas

There are eight of these protectors of the Dharma (the Truth) in Buddhist lore - and, fortunately for me and having fun with this sketch, the Tibetan versions are particularly terrifying (even though they fight against evil).  

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C is for Cerberus

The three-headed dog that guarded the gates to Hades welcomed the freshly dead to enter, but any jerk that wanted to flee Hades and bop around ancient Greece once again would most likely be too horrified by Cerberus's howling or too horrified (and sickened) by the stench of its breath.  I can vouch for dog breath - it can be pretty damn putrid.  As with seemingly everything the Greeks could conceive, Heracles ended up besting it - most likely with the help of Cesar Millan.

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B is for Bachue

In South American mythology (specifically  Columbians), she is the Mother Goddess and the protector of crops.  Based on my very minimal research, I decided that this meant she was a nurturer of both humans and food plants.  The name Bachue, according to the book I have, means "large-breasted"  - that's about as obvious an invitation to draw some gratuitous skin as I will have on this project.

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Starting today, I'm going to get a little ambitious with my daily sketches in order to make up for some gaps in my frequency of posts.  My ambition will take the form of an alphabetical series of Mythological Figures .  Obviously, we start with A:

Anubis

The Jackal-headed  guardian of the Egyptian underworld has been portrayed countless times in fantasy art - mostly weak movies and video games.  There are actually a handful of "A" mythological figures that would have been fun to draw - but I've loved Anubis since I was a grade schooler (I did a report on Egypt once and I think I devoted half the report to Anubis!).  That said, I have a feeling Anubis might have had some early influence on my career path - so, I felt I should give him the seat of honor in kicking off my alphabet.  Before he and Thoth weigh my dead heart against the feather of truth,  maybe Anubis can take me on the scenic rout to the Hall of Judgement.

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I mustered up just enough energy for a cliche giant.  Cliche giants have terrible posture, crappy clothes, none-too-good hygiene, cows on their heads, and play with rocks.

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I have nothing to say about this.  Nothing at all.  I will instead, go to bed.

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Don't touch that.

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Tetanus from an unclean fork wasn't nearly as worrisome to Gil as the possibility of getting a case of West Nile.

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Micky was a trouble-seeker and when there was no trouble to be seeked, he made trouble.  You name it - racin' cars, shopliftin' cokes, smokin' in gym class, loitering at The Tar Pit, trampling cromags, cussing - he did it all.  One might say he was the most delinquent of the delinquents at Mastodon High.

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Just finished up my second to last big project.  Don't have much time for anything high-concept tonight so chew on this until I can get my brain gears back on track.