FamiliarOddlings on DeviantArthttps://www.deviantart.com/familiaroddlings/art/Medieval-Griffon-128536937FamiliarOddlings

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Medieval Griffon

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(Any suggestions for the category? There really should be a way to indicate that it was made with both traditional and digital methods.)

Here is the painting/drawing I've been talking about for so long now. It's a very late birthday present for one of my best friends. She loves griffons.

For her I wanted to show-case the traditional facets of the griffon: lion/eagle, sky and sun/earth and plants. The four creatures in the corners are just a collection of "magical" animals that I think of as part of the sky or earth: dragon flies through the air; the elephant is heavenly because of its height; the echidna lives in the earth close to the ground; and the hermit crab crawls along the ground but also includes the ocean. I felt that their pairings on each side of the painting kind of tied them together: the elephant and echidna both have long snouts and the hermit crab and dragon are part of two worlds, sky/earth ocean/earth. (I know the symbolism of the hermit crab is a little weak, but I love them and I thought a painting with a griffon and a hermit crab would be awesome.)

It went through a few permutations before it arrived at this. The process was interesting but stressful. Here's what it involved:

After doing extensive research on medieval bestiary illustrations, I sketched all the different elements separately: the griffon, the dragon, the elephant, the trees, the clouds, the plants, etc. I printed them out on bristol board where I then painted them with watercolor washes. I went over them with ink, markers, and colored pencils and pastels where I felt it needed it. Then I scanned them all into the computer and assembled them in this composition, adding in the background and borders. I had to draw in the sun and rays on the computer, which was a pain. I think the hardest part was fitting them together in the composition. I had planned it out before starting, but I guess I didn't have the proportions very well.

So what do you guys think? The birthday girl received it well. ^_^
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