HOME | DD
Bluesrat — Winter Goblin
Published: 2009-10-03 15:55:07 +0000 UTC; Views: 2619; Favourites: 31; Downloads: 340
Redirect to original
Description
More playing with Photoshop CS4. My scarecrow emboldened me to trying drawing a real monster, which is something I've been wanting to practice for a while. Between the weather last night and this--[link] decided to finally sit down and draw this guy.
Winter Goblin has a story behind him. Between my love of mythology and multiple reads of Changeling: the Dreaming and Rob Thurman's Nightlife series, he's an image I've had in my head for years.
The story goes that there are two courts of the faeries. The Seelie rule in beauty and light in the summer, but at Samhain, the courts change leadership and the Unseelie rule over the harsh, unforgiving winter. The winter night is filled with these frightening fairies who lurk beyond the light, waiting to "play" with people who venture too far from home after the sun goes down. Winter Goblin hides in the shadows under trees, so he looks just like more snow-covered branches...till he leaps out to get you!
I grew up around the woods, so they don't hold much fear for me, but I've found spots that don't feel safe at night. I can imagine things like this lurking in those places. I can imagine packs of them skittering over rocks and logs on their nightly hunts through the forest.
Originally my winter goblin was supposed to be another two-color piece like the scarecrow, but he wanted to be monochrome. With a mouth like that, I'm gonna listen to him.
Related content
Comments: 14
This is totally the image of the Auphe I had in my head. Way to give me nightmares bro.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
YAY ROB THURMAN FAN! \o\
Oddly enough, while he's got some distinct similarities to my conception of the Auphe, this guy isn't actually meant to be one. This bugger first came into my head from reading up too much on fairy tales and folk lore, and I had a variant of him in my head a couple of years before I discovered Cal and Co.
But I *love* getting this comment (you are not the first to tell me it looks like an Auphe) because 1: woo fellow fans! and 2: the Auphe and the winter goblin did cross-pollinate in my head, so I think it looks a lot like one too. So I feel successful when people tell me it looks like an Auphe.
Sometime soon, I really need to draw an actual Auphe. They are, in my mind's eye, a deader, deadlier white, have nothing of the coy about them, and are less reassuringly blurry. The winter goblin could be a trick of the moonlight on snow, but there's no such comforting lie you can tell yourself when you see an Auphe.
In fact, now that I think about it, I do believe I might have the picture in my head. 
(And once I draw an Auphe, I want to follow it up with a Cal at some point, because I believe their lineage is expressed somehow in his bone structure and mannerisms, and I'd love to explore that.)
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Oh my god, scarier than that. Your discription gives me chills. I would LOVE to see the resulting picture! (Yay! I inspired an art!) And I want to see the Cal one too.
If you're interested, you can submit your art here:
[link]
[link]
^These are the two cal leandros groups on Deviant art! I would love to see your art there, and other fans would probably love it too!
Also, check out the forum here:
[link]
It is mostly dead, but whenever a book release happens, activity picks up.
Anyways, it is so good to meet a fan, and I absolutely adored your picture. I'm gonna favorite you just so I can see more awesomeness! Keep up the awesome work.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Hah! I looked at the image and my first was was Auphe! Sort of. Interesting backstory to this, and fantastic job!
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Definitely inspired by. 
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Very nice! Your work has been featured in my journal [link] Have a nice week!
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Oh wow, thank you! Frankly I think it doesn't hold a candle to some of the other phenomenal pieces you've got in there, but I'm honored that you think it belongs. That's a pretty awesome journal entry, really; I'm glad you linked me to it.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
You are very welcome, and don't sell your art short, it's great!
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
There's a bizarre shyness to him.
Ditto on what Jagash said.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Awwww, he's just playin'.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
I love the texture of the skin and the menacing/creepy posture. The monochrome seems quite appropriate.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
I'm glad the monochrome works, because the winter goblin was very insistent.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
He's quite creepy. I like the way his skin almost seems luminescent. He sort of glows!
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
He's very reflective. Like snow. All shiny white. But he stays in the shadows and under the trees, so he just looks like more snow-covered branches...till he leaps out to eat you!
👍: 0 ⏩: 0