Khrathnu - Tumblr Posts

cheapsweets
1 year ago

The Guileful Khrathnu

A sepia pen and ink sketch of a dog-like creature, lying in its right side on the ground. Its fur looks somewhat unkempt, and its mouth is open with its tongue lolling out. Its left eye is closed, but the right eye (closest to the ground) is open. There is some grass behind, and in the air above are three stylised birds.

My response to this week’s BestiaryPosting challenge, from @maniculum

Quick one this week. Pencil sketch, then lines in Sailor fude nib fountain pen, using Diamine Sepia ink.

Thought process under the cut…

"It is fleet-footed and never runs in a straight line but twists and turns. It is a clever, crafty animal. When it is hungry and can find nothing to eat, it rolls itself in red earth so that it seems to be stained with blood, lies on the ground and holds its breath, so that it seems scarcely alive. When birds see that it is not breathing, that it is flecked with blood and that its tongue is sticking out of its mouth, they think that it is dead and descend to perch on it. Thus it seizes them and devours them."

Not a lot of info this week. This reads as a Beast to me from what little we do have, though it could be a Serpent too, since there is no mention of fur or hair.

As such, we have vaguelly dog-shaped creature. Having rolled around in some red earth it lays with its tongue lolling out, waiting for one of the birds circling above to take the bait...

Given that we really don't have much of a descrption, I didn't want to make it too fluffy (particularly the tail, as in some previous creature descriptions the author has definitively mentioned when a beast has an excess of fluff!

Tags :
Khrathnu maniculum bestiaryposting bestiaryposting my art art challenge
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cheapsweets
1 year ago

These are all excellent creatures, and I absolutely love the variety of styles and mediums we're seeing here :D

(I had a bit of a suspicion about this one - mostly due to it being a crafty critter - and was trying hard to get the balance right between not being too influenced by that suspicion, while also not overcompensating too much either... I know there have been enough times that I was pretty sure I knew what animal a particular description related to, and I was completely off-base!)

It took me a few moments to realise that one of those generic birds had hold of the Khrathnu's tongue... Think we know which bird will be getting munched on first!

Bestiaryposting Results: Khrathnu

We've got kind of an interesting-yet-vague entry and a variety of responses to it, so let's get into that. Please forgive any sloppiness I am slightly inebriated.

For anyone who doesn't know what this is about, please see https://maniculum.tumblr.com/bestiaryposting.

The entry from which our artists are working in this post can be found here:

maniculum.tumblr.com
Bestiaryposting -- Khrathnu
As a reminder, all previous entries in this series can be found at https://maniculum.tumblr.com/bestiaryposting . It is fleet-footed and nev

And if you want to join in, the next entry is here:

maniculum.tumblr.com
Bestiaryposting -- Nisegwag
As a reminder, all previous entries in this series can be found at https://maniculum.tumblr.com/bestiaryposting . The Nisegwag is a seabird

Art below the cut:

A drawing of a furry quadruped abruptly grabbing a black-and-white bird in its mouth. A sketch of the same quadruped is visible in the corner. The beast in question has four-toed hooves, brown skin, sparse fur, long but rabbit-like legs, and a rodent-esque head.

@silverhart-makes-art (link to post here) has drawn something in the enjoyable genre I have taken to thinking of as "nonspecific mammal" -- i.e. a creature design that is clearly mammalian and entirely plausible-looking without being any specific known animal. The action shot is very well-executed I think, and I encourage the reader to check out the linked post to learn more about the inspiration for the various aspects of this animal.

A sepia pen and ink sketch of a dog-like creature, lying in its right side on the ground. Its fur looks somewhat unkempt, and its mouth is open with its tongue lolling out. Its left eye is closed, but the right eye (closest to the ground) is open. There is some grass behind, and in the air above are three stylised birds.

@cheapsweets (link to post here) has a very good rendition of some kind of canid playing dead as described in the entry -- note the single open eye to allow it to spring its trap. Again very good and quite believable -- the linked post has a few more details regarding the thought process behind this design. (And thank you for including alt text.)

A picture of a sketchbook. The background is soft shades of orange. At the top is the handwritten text, "POV: You are a crow or perhaps a vulture." In the middle is a fictional animal playing dead. The animal has a white face and belly, an orange back, cheek, and tip of the tail, a dark stripe running down the side, and dark legs, ears, and tail. It has the pointed face and hand-like front paws of a possum, the back legs and general shape of a fox, and the long ears and short tail of a rabbit. To show it is playing dead its pupils are stylized as X's. At the bottom is an inset panel of the animal chomping down on the leg of an unsuspecting black bird. This panel is black and white, with bright red lines symbolizing both the motion of the animal's jaws and the bird's blood. Only the bird's leg, one loose feather, and tip of a wing are visible. The animal's long ears are now standing up, breaking the border of the panel. Its pupil is stylized as a five-pointed star.
Close up on the middle of the page, focused on the animal's face and front legs. There are a variety of shading techniques, including stippling, hatching, and crosshatching.
A close up on the bottom panel of the animal chomping down. It's clearly very excited its clever trap worked.

@wendievergreen (link to post here) has another good Nonspecific Mammal, stylized in a way that I find interesting. I don't know enough about art to describe it, but it looks super cool, and they've also provided these nice close-ups and some alt text (thank you for that). There's some additional explanation in the linked post -- I think this one has a certain flair that I really enjoy.

A medieval-style illustration with a decorative border and a gold-foil background. There are floral details from stylized plants filling much of the available space. At the center of the image is a colorful parrot-like bird, but the actual focus is the brown-furred quadruped playing dead on the grassy earth below it. The quadruped in question is noticeably thin, with a long tail, round ears, and clawed feet. It lies on its back with its tongue protruding, but one eye is open and watching.

@coolest-capybara (link to post here) has an interesting concept here where the art itself seems to give the Khrathnu the "nothing to see here" treatment -- after all, the bird (which long-term readers may recognize as a Lumchagg) is more colorful and closer to the center of the image. However, the clever Khrathnu is the true star here, luring its prey to its doom. Very good composition, check the linked post for inspiration, explanation, and an interesting link.

A long, weasel-esque creature striped in brown and white. It is curled in a near figure-eight, and from its protruding tongue and closed eyes we can tell that it is playing dead.

@strixcattus (link to post here) has done a solid weasel-like critter here, clearly playing dead in the interest of luring in some prey. In the linked post you will find a brief in-universe-perspective description of this animal, and as usual I encourage you to go back and read all of Strixcattus's posts in this project.

A medieval manuscript illustration with a blue-and-red decorative border and a gold-foil background. The center of the illustration is a canid beast with reddish fur laying on its back with its mouth and eyes open and its tongue lolling out. Descending on it are eight birds of a somewhat raptorial design in shades of orange, blue, and brown; perched on its hind legs is a single black-and-white bird that is almost certainly a Eurasian magpie. In the ground on which the beast is lying are six burrows; from each of them the head of a similar beast protrudes.

Okay, so this is the fox.

I feel like between the illustration and the thematic elements of the entry, this is an "oh, that makes sense" kind of situation. Of course the fox is crafty and deceitful in its methods of catching prey. And sure, the artist here got pretty close to an accurate fox depiction. It's canid at least. All good, no problems.

Things I cannot explain:

What's with the other foxes in the burrows there? Yes foxes like to live in burrows, but (a) that's not in the entry and (b) weird way to depict it.

Why is there one (1) magpie present in addition to the various generic birds of prey?

The world is full of mysteries, but please speculate at your leisure.

Tags :
maniculum bestiaryposting bestiary bestiaryposting Awesome art fox Khrathnu
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