talisman (1)

sketches

I recently scanned some sketches I made at the zoo back in october. Some of them are the base for a series of colorful birds I'm drawing.
Others are just awesome. Look at these frail legs of the rabbit-dog-kangaroo, how can they stand?

vicugnas and maras

maras

keas

blue aras

pampas cat, lady amherst pheasant, and some owl

ostrich

ostrich

sarcoramph king

kookaburra and some other bird

flamingo

fireworks

A quick animation I made with a friend.

masques 3

a third batch of masks.

Une troisième série de masques

unicorns

So I drew unicorns.

Glitters.
Magic moon unicorn.

 You know how fawns survive by having no odor and so being overlooked by predators, gnu kids by learning to run in three minutes, and muskoxes' calves by having big scary parents? Well unicorn's foals use neither of these methods. Instead, they are a pink so bright, and smell so strongly of raspberry, that any predator that approaches it too much gets blinded and smell-blinded for hours, sometimes even days.
By the way, the first few days after birth, their horn is not yet hard.

 This one is a badly-known subspecies of unicorns; some say they are now extinct, since the males tended to fight when in rut, and to stay locked together 'till they died of hunger (you can't remove a unicorn's horn without killing it); some say they are just well-hidden, as they're living in marshes, where there are very few humans, and are very smart (you have to be, with a horn like that, not to get hopelessly entangled in something every time you move your head).

 I know unicorns are supposed to be maiden's companions, and to be sweet and gentle, but how do you suppose the species survives ? There's got to be foals, and so there's got to be stallions.
And a unicorn's gotta piss too.

 That one is not a unicorn, just a sheep that got only one horn at birth. But it got bullied so much in its herd that it went to the unicorns. It's still bullied for being different, but going back home would only make it worse.
Unicorns rarely live in herds, but near sheeps or goats they tend to, in imitation.
And the sheep is not pink, it's a legitimate light brown.

 It's a sea unicorn. One-horned pinkish creature, right? Horn, check, pink, check; it's definitely a unicorn.

 Rainbows!

 Olden unicorn of maiden and deep woods.

I learnt if they say only a maiden can capture a unicorn, that's not because unicorns are sweet and gentle, but because opposites attract each other: the unicorn is a bloody powerful and violent beast. That's what makes it so hard to catch, too.
Anyway, this one went berserk on a pack of wolves. Gambles on who'll have the upper hand are on.

chimeres

I did some chimerae drawings some time ago, so I thought I'd make more:

Cows are really useful, they give out milk, they're stupid enough to be easy to breed... but stags' antlers are so much better. So a mad scientist invented the stag-cow.
--
Les vaches c'est utile, ça donne du lait, c'est assez con pour être facile à élever... mais les bois du cerf sont quand même vaachment plus chouettes.

The ziger is a great predator. It lurks in asian forests, looking for game that, fooled by its harmless look, falls under its teeth.
--
Le zègre est un prédateur redoutable: il hante les forêts d'asie à la recherche de proies, qui, trompées à la fois par son camouflage et par  son apparence paisible, tombent victimes de ses crocs.

A mad scientist made it, 'cause what sane one would ?
--
Un savant fou l'a créé, parce que quel savant sain d'esprit le ferait?

In most latin languages, the same word (close to "siren") is used for both "mermaid" and "siren".
So meet the sirmaid: part bird (american harpy actually) part fish (who said dolfins weren't fishes?).
--
Voici la sirène, mi-sirène mi-sirène.





This mad scientist was french, I guess. Cause the pun only makes sense for french-speaking people. Or not-french-speaking people with a french-not-french dictionary.
--
Chauve-souris-souris.

Ever dreamt of seeing a worm spit fire? Here you are!
--
Vous n'avez jamais rêvé de voir un ver de terre cracher du feu? Moi, si.

"Here is the parrot-pigeon. No, it's not a pure-bred pigeon, it's a parrot-pigeon. You want to see its mother? There, a red ara, beautiful and bright-colored. Yes, I know, the cross-breed doesn't look like much. Must be the town-atmosphere that makes it gray. Shame for my project of making cities merrier."
--
"Voici l'animal dont je te parlais. Non, ce n'est pas un pigeon, c'est un croisement avec un perroquet. Tu veux voir la mère? Regarde-moi cet ara, n'est-elle pas magnifique? Je sais, je sais, le petit n'a pas grande allure; ce doit être la pollution urbaine. Dommage, moi qui comptais rendre les villes plus gaies..."

It has a pouch like a kangaroo, the head of a dingo, and striped hindquarters like the okapi.
... What do you mean it's a tasmanian wolf?
--
Le kangourou-dingo-okapi a la poche d'un kangourou, la tête d'un dingo, et l'arrière-train rayé d'un okapi.
... Comment ça, c'est un loup de tasmanie?

To succeed in exterminating once and for all cockroaches, that are so fast they're had to kill, someone sent elephant-roaches to the main cockroaches colonies, so that they may interbreed, and the roaches get the slowness of the elephant-roaches.
Sadly, the cockroaches thought about the same thing: they bred with elephant-roaches, to get huge and powerful, in a few generations, and exterminate once and for all human beings.
That one is slow-roach, not power-roach.






Both have eight arms, it must be a sign from my god! Thought the mad scientist.
--
Ils ont tous les deux huit bras, ce doit être un signe de mon dieu! Se dit le savant fou.




J'avais des dessins de chimères dans mes tiroirs, et j'ai décidé d'en faire quelques-uns de rab