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TriffRaff β feral on the path
Published: 2010-08-28 14:35:00 +0000 UTC; Views: 1877; Favourites: 20; Downloads: 44
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So, I've been meaning to include Sphinxes into my Vistallah setting....But before I did, I felt I shoud look closer at the legends of the sphinx to see if there is any historical basis for the sphinx design usually seen here at D-Art. You know--full human torso, cat ears, wings, at a size similar to the famous statue in Giza. Alas, no such historical basis could be found. That design, while neat and fan-servicey, seems to be purely a contemporary creation...I did, however, come across a different fan-servicey design; one where the sphix had a full human torso (bare chested, which I sort of backed away from here) but with lion-legs coming down from her shoulders. So that's what I tried here! With a scale approaching that of the statue of Giza, of course....
....I think I'll end up using both designs. This will be the natural 'feral' design and most Sphinxes like this will stake out road and harras passers-by. The other design will be for magically enhanced 'imperial' bloodlines, who will serve as instraments of royal authority.
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Comments: 38
Given the look of the weapon I'm guessing he's trying for a more direct approach of clearing the path then answering a riddle.
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Heh, well, sometimes violence is in fact the answer...
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Iβm in agreement with some of the others who said she looks like sheβs wearing a fur suit, rather than being furred herself. The transition around her neck is very abrupt and she has no fur at all above that point. Either thinning out the fur as it moves up her neck, and/or adding a little fur above that point might help the overall look.
As for the scene β hope that guy has very fast reflexes, otherwise heβs about to be swatted by that paw something fierce. Cute heraldry on the shield, by the way. 
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The shield heraldry was an indulgance, I admit. 
Yeah, I also agree that it looks like a fur suit.... Part of it may have been that I origially sketched something fancy, then thought it sucked and erased most of it in photoshop... Next time I'll start with a simple V-neck to the fur and try to make it better from there...
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Mythological research leads to fuzzy boobs! I applaud you, sir.
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Well, research led to bare boobs, actually. But my inner-puritain made me make them fuzzy instead...
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...Now I want to see the other version, prude.
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she looks really cool man^^ but i think they would look also nice if they had some fur also in their faces not much but a little
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Yeah, that might be difficult. Putting some scruff on her face without making her look masculine...Or like an anthro....That's probably walking a pretty fine line.
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"Did you hear? There report of a Sphinx along the northern road."
"Again? Ugh, I swear I'm going to start trading further south. At least down there I hear those one's at least give you some sort of chance."
"How so?"
" Way I heard it, they ask you riddles."
"...that's the most absurd thing I've ever heard."
"Really? What about that bridge-troll with the knock-knock jokes? Or that Cyclops that recited his own poetry?"
"Ehrg. I really considered having him eat me than listen to one more of his odes."
"And nobody believed us."
"Right up till the next traveler came along and his ears were bleeding..."
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Ha-hah! Trouble at every turn! No wonder everyone is so provintial...
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I really like this pic. The sphinx lady looks really cool.
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Great pic dude. Nice job, but it does look a little like she's wearing a fur coat. I'm not really complaining (death 2 baby seals!) but I reckon the pic would've looked funnier if he distracted her with a giant ball of yarn. lol.
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Hm. Not sure how I can justify a ball of yarn *that* big, but just think of the havok she could wreak on a linen merchant!
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The title is somewhat misleading. She looks not so much feral as she does unamused.
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'Feral' as in not refined or all that pretty... But yeah, definately not amused...
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Ah. Not 'feral' as in ravenous vicious monster with neither morals or pity that attacks whatever moves, but 'feral' as in more animalistic than the refined ones.
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Yup!
...But some are known to be viscious...
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A feral Feral would be interesting to see, then.
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Need to work on your sphinxes a bit. Looks like shes wearing a costume.
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Yeah, yeah she kinda does...
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Then again it seems like many of the monster girls on DA do, Nagas with knees for example.
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Actually, I find it kind of neat when the snakes/mermaids look a little remeniscent of a human pose...
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Yeah a little, but not too much. The "legs fused together" look gets wierd fast.
Back to the drawing though I think the transition at the neck is possibly too abrupt, but I couldn't say how to draw a "fuzzy" neck to soften it.
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Probably a V-neck would be the way to go for a better transition...
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Yeah, full torso version of the sphinx is a recent thing, drawing more from the concept of the centaur than any existing myths. I know the Sumerian, Babylonian, and ancient Egyptian sphinxes were the lion body with a man's head, the eagle's wings being optional depending on cultural reference. In some circles, I've seen the 'centaur' version of the sphinx referred to given its relevant type: liontaur, tigertaur, etc.
Still, you have a pretty good idea here with this. Vistallah's getting well populated with strange and wondrous creatures.
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Enough variety so that I should never get too tired of drawing the same thing! Anything I want to do that's fantasy-related...
The wings may have been a Greek thing.
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No, the wings were definitely Babylonian, as depicted on numerous bits of pottery, walls, and other bits of excavated remains. If the Greeks had any influence on the sphinx, it was by way of the centaur.
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Well, I know I remember seeing the wings on some Greek statues, so that's what I was going on...
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I wonder if "The Sphinx" wasn't originally carved as all lion and then the head had a succession of pharohs faces carved onto it, making it smaller each time.
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Nope. The Sphinx as it is known in Egypt today was constructed as a monument to either the Pharoh Seti or one of his successors. The face is in smaller scale to the rest of the structure due to engineering limitations. You can only do so much with sandstone on that scale. The nose was destroyed by French soldier using it for target practise when Napolean invaded north Africa.
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No. The Sphinx was originally a lion or a jackal. The head was carved on much later and is the head of a black African (possibly a Kushite pharaoh).
I'm not sure where you got the idea that it had anything to do with Pharaoh Seti.
Orthodox Egyptologists attribute it to pharaoh Khafre/Chephren (reign 2558-2532 BCE), while many other people (myself included) feel that the rain erosion on the Sphinx place its carving at a minimum date of 5000 BCE.
You were correct about the Napoleon thing though.
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Yes, there is indeed evidence the Sphinx at Giza was originally a lion or a jackal. The human head it now has was carved on a lot later and facial analysis shows it to be the head of a black African (possibly one of Egypt's Kushite pharaohs).
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I think I read somewhere that the body showed signs of erosion that weren't present on the face. Don't know if it was sound archeology or not though.
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Correct. The body shows clear signs of rain erosion. This would place the carving of the sphinx at a time when Egypt's climate was a lot wetter than what it is today.
I'd say the latest date the Sphinx was carved would have been around 5000 BCE (and it could, of course have been even earlier).
As I said earlier, the Sphinx would have been a lion before (or a jackal or dog), and the head was carved on much later.
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