Makara

Matt hooked me up with a cool project- Peter Kato's Astromonger's Monster Challenge show sponsored by Toy Tokyo. We were given the following: "This show explores the relationship between the verbal and the visual by challenging artists to create works based solely on brief descriptions of historical monsters , creatures, cryptids, and yokai. Each artist works from the imagination and in any medium s/he chooses to render the assigned monster. The artists agree not to engage in external reseach; they are barred from viewing existent renditions of these creatures whether online or in print. They work in a visual vacuum. The result is an archive of contemporary representations of the many bizarre and wonderful monsters of the world."
Our assigned creature: The MAKARA (Hindu)

"In hindu mythology , traditionally it is considered an aquatic creature,
with the head the cross between a crocodile and that of a dolphin,
and a body with a mix between a fish & an elephant.
The creature is thought to be a representation of fertility.
It is seen throughout stories as a smart companion or steed to heroes."

Matt and I banged out a few sketches for the painting- Matt came up w/ the final design and look of the creature- I painted it. I tried to give the image a "Glyan" feel. The gallery will be open Jan 16-18 at Toy Tokyo's Showroom in NYC. If you're in the city make sure you check it out. Special thanks to Megan and Peter for hooking this up!