I Hate How Everything's Called Devices And Apps Now. Those Are Frail Words With No Weight And Show No

I hate how everything's called devices and apps now. Those are frail words with no weight and show no respect like machine and program do.

The Wily Hreksong

My response to this week’s BestiaryPosting challenge from @maniculum - two pictures this week, the first, the forest-dwelling Hreksong;

The second, the type of Hreksong that lives in your house;

Jinhao shark fountain pen with fine, hooded nib, with Monteverde Raven Noir ink, over initial pencil sketch.

Reasoning below the cut;

"The Hreksong is called [etymology redacted]. It is cunning by nature; when it has produced its offspring in its nest, it carries them from place to place, settling them in a series of different locations. It hunts snakes and mice. There are two kinds of Hreksong. One, of very different size from the other, lives in the forest. The Greeks call these [redacted]; the other roams around in houses. Some say that Hreksongs conceive through the ear and give birth through the mouth; others say, on the contrary, that they conceive through the mouth and give birth through the ear; it is said, also, that they are skilled in healing, so that if by chance their young are killed, and their parents succeed in finding them, they can bring their offspring back to life."

Firstly, what sort of beast is this? We have a mention of ears, so it must be a beast rather than a bird, serpent, or any other type of animal (I know I've used the mention of 'nest' as an excuse to draw more birds before, but I don't think this works in this case!).

They roam around in houses? That means they either they have been domesticated, or they are sneaking around when everyone is asleep (I suppose if they were big and/or scary enough, they might be wandering around when everyone is awake too… it's their house now 😮 ). There's no mention of domestication, and I would hope that there'd be a bit more knowledge about the mating habits of domestic animals (though at this point I feel like the scribes writing these entries are probably terminally obtuse when it comes to sex…). Thus, we have the smaller, urban Hreksong sneaking around the rafters and beams of the house, trying to steal your snacks…

We also have the forest Hreksong, carrying around one of its babies by the scruff of the neck. It has large ears (to give birth out of, I suppose), and as we know this is a fearsome predator of rodents and serpents, so a body plan resembling mustelids or mongooses (not particularly closely related, just convergent evolution into the perfect mammalian body shape!).

This also ties in to what I (now) know of mustelid magic from the Lays of Marie de France…

I really wanted some more practice drawing people (and clothes, oh my goodness clothes are hard!). I'm coming to the conclusion that, to start with at least, less is more; once I'm a bit more confident with the basics, I can start filling in more of the details!

behold: what has been taking up my time for the past two and a half weeks!

this piano was a public art commissions for the city! it's covered in dinosaurs that have actually been found (and in the case of 3 of them, discovered) in my home state of colorado. i'm super happy with how it turned out and i had a blast painting it :^)

[image id: a piano painted with various dinosaurs. the left half of the piano represents the dinosaurs in their fossilized form as bones surrounded by fossil leaves and debris. the right half of the piano is the dinosaurs alive in their natural environments. among the species featured are fish, ammonites, orthocones, a plesiosaur, pterosaurs, a brontosaurus, a triceratops, a stegosaurus, and a fruitadens]

You're strong. Your undead minions are plentiful and loyal. The skulls motif in your tower is not "tacky". Your enemies are afraid of you. You don't need the approval of the living.

I don't know how auto clicker extensions work, but I am determined to win.