Christmas project

 Sorry these pictures are so tiny. I will be taking better ones as the project gets finished. This year for Christmas I decided I really wanted to do a monster book for my kids. If you're an Anthropologie fan like me, you'll have seen their Monster book for kids which is almost as tall as a child. Mine will be a little different. It will still be bigger than normal at about three feet by two feet (-ish), and it will be made of cloth like theirs, only without the hard cover (unfortunately funds won't allow me to go all out in that arena). Also, the artwork is a little different and instead of just made-up monsters (I was lacking creativity at the time), I decided I wanted to do the monsters from legend and myth as well as the imaginary. Here are three of the ones I chose to do:

The Griffin, the Cyclops and Medusa. I also have a Dragon, Fairy, Mermaid, Pegasus ( I know, not a monster, but it is myth and I used to love Pegasus' when I was young), reg. Monsters (the kind that hide under your bed and in your closet), and a Giant. I'm thinking next I will do a Basilisk. They weren't what I thought at all. JK Rowling's idea however awesome (and I really do love it, don't get me wrong), was way off course concerning these creatures. There are real lizards holding the name of Basilisk and they are the coolest animals. They are very small, actually, with cool head gear and poisonous (or so the legend states) and they are so fast when they run that they can actually glide on top of the water. Very cool.

Also, you might be thinking, why is she doing mermaids and fairies etc? Well, they may be 'cute' creatures, but there cuteness actually is their way of charming mortals to their doom, which I find extremely interesting as well as horrifying. And Medusa as far as I have read (and perhaps I should read up more to double check) wasn't as ugly as she is portrayed in the old movies. She used to be a muse, who I assume were beautiful, and was cursed into her snake-hair-stone-making-eye fate. I tried to make her look angry. Hope it worked.

I'm still struggling as to what I should do for my last two characters. I was thinking Vampire and Swamp Thing, but I'm really not set on those. I feel like Vampires are off the path I want to take (and way over done these days) and The Swamp Thing is more of a comic book character, not mythological. So, I'm open to suggestions. Only be quick because I've got to knock this thing out as soon as I can.

After the pictures are all completed I will be sewing it all together between a cloth cover made to look like shiny snake skin (really cool). Then I will do the text so that I can make sure it is evenly placed on the page and doesn't get cut off in the cracks. I will use different kinds of type for that and freehand it onto the cloth. Like I said before, I will take pictures when the project is completed. Cross your fingers that I don't mess up! (I probably do. I'm a pantser when it comes to my artwork). Wish me luck!